At the time of this writing, I have just finished listening to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie and I am still in shock. I have read a handful of Christie's mysteries, most recently Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None, both of which feature crimes under bizarre circumstances in exotic locations and with unexpected endings. With this one the setting and mystery are different, but no less confounding.
Set in the quiet English village of King's Abbott, inhabitants are rocked by the suicide of a wealthy widow, Mrs. Ferrars, and, days later, the murder of her fiancé Roger Ackroyd. Enter Hercule Poirot, who has recently moved to the village and is persuaded out of retirement by the victim's niece. Assisted by our narrator, local doctor James Sheppard (and by Dr. Sheppard's nosy gossip of a sister, Caroline), Poirot joins the police in investigating the murder of Roger Ackroyd. As expected from an Agatha Christie mystery, the suspects are quickly narrowed down to a small group of people. Each turns out to have a motive for murdering Roger Ackroyd and, as Poirot notes, each one has something to hide.
I am not blessed with "little grey cells" as gifted as Poirot's and while listening to the story I suspected pretty much every character at some point or other. There is the parlor maid recently and abruptly fired by Roger Ackroyd; the butler, who has a shady past; the step-son, who is now nowhere to be found; and others. Christie's writing is clear and precise; it is easy to visualize the manor house and the room in which the murder takes place, easy to create a relatively accurate timetable of each character's movements during the time of the murder. What is not easy (at least for me) is piecing together all of the little clues to create the big picture of what really happened.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was published in 1926 and is the third novel to feature Christie's famous Belgian detective. It is widely regarded as her masterpiece, significantly impacting the mystery genre, and in 2013 the Crime Writers' Association voted it the best crime novel ever. Having read the book, it is easy to see the influence it has had on many of today's modern mysteries and thrillers.
With that in mind, don't forget that the #WeKnowBooks Reading Challenge for October is to read a book that is discussed at an FCPL book club or included in a NextReads newsletter. Check out the book now and join the overBOOKed book club on Thursday, October 21 at 10:00 a.m. at the Cumming library. Find out for yourself who killed Roger Ackroyd.
The eBook and eAudiobook versions of this classic mystery are available through OverDrive. Anyone with a Forsyth County Library card can sign up for a free OverDrive account. Sign up for a free card today to start enjoying FCPL's digital catalog from wherever you are!
Melissa
Information Specialist
Cumming Library
#WeKnowBooks
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