The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Belgian Inspector Hercule Poirot has retired to the countryside in the small English village of King's Abbot. Dr. Sheppard, observing his new neighbor, is sure that he must be a former hairdresser. But the brutal murder of a local squire reveals the truth: the peculiar little man is actually a detective par excellence. The Murder of the wealthy industrialist Roger Ackroyd begins the night before with the suicide of Mrs. Ferrars, a wealthy widow. Her death is believed to be an accident, until Roger Ackroyd is stabbed to death in his locked study. There are rumors she poisoned her first husband, rumors that she was being blackmailed, rumors that her secret lover was Roger Ackroyd, a man who knew too much, but no one is sure. There's no shortage of suspects, all the members of the household stand to gain from his death, from Roger's neurotic sister-in-law who has accumulated personal debts, to a parlormaid with an uncertain history who resigned her post the afternoon of the murder. But the police focus on Ralph Paton, Ackroyd's stepson and heir, and the person with the most to gain from Roger's death. When sleuth Hercule Poirot, who is living quietly in King's Abbot, agrees to investigate, the case takes a completely different turn. Poirot exonerates all of the original suspects, and lays out a completely reasoned case that the clever and devious murderer is someone who had not come under suspicion at all - someone whose motive has nothing to do with money. )
Stats for nerds
10recommend
22mentions
21people
2017–2025years
50% recommend50% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- For whatever reason I've suddenly gotten deep into murder mystery books. In the last 3 weeks I've read a bunch of Agatha Christie classics:
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - And then there were none - Evil under the sun
All brilliant in their own right but the first is a masterpiece. Don't google any of these because spoilers come up, but I've had a lot more fun and been a lot more active reading than I have in years.
Last year I read two books, this year I've read 3 books in January and have thoroughly enjoyed it way more than my usual nights of watching Netflix.
- Quite the story! I never heard about this before, and I’m a huge fan (admittedly that’s fan of the books though, rather than the author herself). The story/novel mentioned in the article (The Murder of Roger Ackroyd) is famous in literary circles for $reasons - if you haven’t read it and you enjoy reading that sort of book, you’re missing out!
(It does look like she staged a murder scene from her books intending to frame her husband then came to her senses, doesn’t it?)
- The Book of Wonder is a series of weird short stories, some of them gloomy and pessimistic but many with a thread of dark humor. "Chu-bu and Sheemish" is one of my all-time favorite short stories - it's creative and hilarious. [1]
I also liked A Voyage to Arcturus, which has become a modern cult classic. It's probably my favorite book I've read for SE, though it might be a little heavy for a "beach read." [2]
P. G. Wodehouse is always a good bet for lighter reading. [3]
The Martian books are also light swashbuckling sci-fi. [4]
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is considered to be one of the best murder mysteries ever written. [5]
[1] https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/lord-dunsany/the-book-of-w...
[2] https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/david-lindsay/a-voyage-to-...
[3] https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/p-g-wodehouse
[4] https://standardebooks.org/collections/martian
[5] https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/agatha-christie/the-murder...
- The murder of Roger Ackroyd
For what it is, it was great. Did not read a lot of books this year due to children and covid!
- For anyone who has never read Agatha Christie, I highly recommend the following:
- And Then There Were None
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
- Murder on the Orient Express
- The A.B.C. Murders
The books are usually "slow burns", meaning they slowly build up to the big reveal at the end of the book. Agatha Christie is the master of making great payoffs though, so despite the initial slog, by the last page you are usually awash in dopamine/adrenaline (okay maybe that's a little exaggerated, but these books really do have good payoffs).
- > The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
A great book, I definitely did not see the ending coming until 2 or 3 paragraphs before the twist.
> The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is the supreme, the ultimate detective novel. It rests upon the most elegant of all twists.
-- Laura Thompson, partial quote because of spoilers.
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