The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is one of the masterpieces by Agatha Christie and it features Hercule Poirot as the lead detective. It is one of Christie's best known and most controversial novel, its innovative twist ending having a significant impact on the genre.

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The book is set in the fictional village of King's Abbott in England. It is narrated by Dr. James Sheppard, who becomes Poirot's assistant. The story begins with the death of Mrs. Ferrars, a wealthy widow who is rumored to have murdered her husband. Her death is initially believed to be an accident until a distraught Roger Ackroyd, a widower who had been expected to marry Mrs. Ferrars, invites Sheppard over to his house, Fernly Park for dinner, having something urgent to tell him.


After dinner, Sheppard is brought into Ackroyd's study, where Ackroyd tells him that Mrs. Ferrars had confided in Ackroyd that she was being blackmailed by someone about killing her husband. Moments later, Ackroyd receives a letter that Mrs. Ferrars had posted, but he decides to finish reading it later, once Sheppard leaves.


On the walk home, Sheppard bumps into a stranger outside the gates. After returning to his home, where he lives with his gossipy spinster sister, Caroline, Dr. Sheppard receives a telephone call just before going to bed, and he rushes out, telling Caroline that Parker, Ackroyd's butler, had found Roger Ackroyd murdered. Upon arrival, however, Parker claims to have never made such a call, but finds that Ackroyd has indeed been stabbed to death.


Hercule Poirot, who happens to be cultivating vegetable marrows next door to the Sheppards, comes out of retirement at the request of Flora Ackroyd to investigate the murder, since Ralph Paton, who stands to inherit his stepfather's fortune, is the primary suspect but is nowhere to be found. Paton's footprints are found on the ledge of the window that Ackroyd had previously asked Sheppard to bolt. Raymond and Blunt both report overhearing Ackroyd speaking to someone from his study, and Flora's testimony of having spoken to her stepfather before leaving for bed place Ackroyd's death into a narrow time frame for which Parker, Raymond, Blunt, Mrs. Ackroyd, and Miss Russell, the housekeeper, all have alibis. The telephone call placed to Dr. Sheppard is traced to King's Abbott station.


While the police are convinced that Ralph is the killer, Poirot is uncertain, focusing his investigation on several small details, such as the representative of a Dictaphone company who had visited Ackroyd some days previously, the exact time at which Dr. Sheppard met the stranger at the Fernly Park gates, and the repositioning of a chair in Ackroyd's study. Poirot also finds a goose quill and a scrap of starched cambric in the summer house, as well as a ring with the inscription "From R." in the backyard pool. Poirot also notices that Ursula Bourne, a parlormaid who had resigned earlier in the afternoon, had no alibi for the murder.


Poirot brings together five people related to the case -- Sheppard, Flora, Mrs. Ackroyd, Raymond, and Blunt -- and states that all of them have been concealing something from him. Dr. Sheppard aids Poirot in finding out what these secrets may be, as well as conducting research into Ursula Bourne. Raymond and Mrs. Ackroyd both soon reveal that they were in debt, which Ackroyd's death would have resolved, and Flora eventually confesses to having stolen money from Ackroyd's bureau, but had to tell Parker she was there to bid her uncle goodnight in order to cover up what she was really doing. This leaves Flora, Blunt, Raymond, and Mrs. Ackroyd without alibis.


More issues are resolved -- the goose quill was a heroin holder belonging to the stranger that Sheppard has met, who is actually Miss Russell's son; the ring belongs to Ursula Bourne, who had secretly married Ralph Paton. Dr. Sheppard, unbeknownst to the reader, had been helping Ralph hide the entire time. Peculiarly, although Poirot claims to know the killer's identity, he does not reveal it to the assembled group before he dismisses them.


The book ends with an unprecedented plot twist. In fact, Dr.Sheppard, who has not only been Poirot's assistant, but also the story's narrator, had stabbed Ackroyd just before leaving the house. 

The reason why I totally recommend everyone who loves detective novels to read this novel is that whenever you pick up this book to read, you can't stop reading it until you finish the whole story. Even if I follow every step of how Poirot solves this complicated puzzle, when I know who is the murderer, I am still very surprised. Also, I admire Poirot for the methods that he used to solve this case. One is the use of ratiocination; the other is the gossiping practiced by almost all of the inhabitants of King's Abbott, especially Caroline. Last but not least, Poirot never omit any details and he takes everything, some of which may seem unimportant, into account. Sometimes, those negligible things are the key to solve the case.

After reading this novel, I also have interests in the film which was adapted from this movie. I hope I can get some time to watch the movie and experience this interesting journey with Poirot again!