The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Poirot) Book

It's an oldie but a goodie: Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, the third of her novels to feature Hercule Poirot, is one of the Grande Dame of crime's best known and most controversial books. Wonderfully written, extremely well plotted and with an innovative twist ending, it is considered to be one of the most influential crime novels ever written.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd takes place in the picturesque village of King's Abbott and is narrated by Doctor James Sheppard, who serves as Poirot's assistant during the course of his investigations (Captain Hastings having popped off to Argentina with his new wife at this point in time). A wealthy widow named Mrs Ferrars who had been dogged by rumours that she had murdered her husband is found dead of what is initially believed to be natural causes. Until, that is, a man named Roger Ackroyd, a widower who had hoped to marry Mrs Ferrars, reveals that the lady had confessed to him that she had indeed murdered her husband and then committed suicide. Shortly after this revelation Roger Ackroyd is murdered.

As Poirot begins his ingenious investigations, the suspects seem to include: Ackroyd's neurotic sister-in-law Mrs Cecil Ackroyd; her daughter Flora; big-game hunter Major Blunt; Ackroyd's personal assistant Geoffrey Raymond; Ackroyd's heavily indebted stepson Ralph Paton; Parker the snooping Butler; and a nervous parlour maid named Ursula Bourne who resigned on the afternoon of the murder.

There are plenty of false clues, irrelevances and red herrings in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd so that even the most committed mystery buff may have difficulty unravelling the plot. This is a great book (it would serve well as an introduction to Hercule Poirot even though it is the third book to feature him) with all the secret liaisons, large country houses, clandestine marriages, poisoners, murders, suicides, unacknowledged children, mysterious pasts and torn scraps of clothing that fans of Agatha Christie have come to expect and love. The Murder is Roger Ackroyd is a clear contender for the crown of perfect murder mysterious, I recommend it highly.