Customer Reviews: Read 122 more reviews...
 eh October 20, 2008
To tell the truth I was excited to read this one because I had heard of it a million times and it's one of the classics. But when I read it, I didn't like it nearly as much as I had hoped. I guessed the ending very early on simply because people kept telling me how much of a surprise it was. It was ok but I think the most important part of any book is scenery, so for me this wasn't that great.
Many a motive October 16, 2008
This Agatha Christie novel is written from the family doctor perspective, who is called late one evening to examine the death of his friend, Roger Ackroyd. Christie keeps the reader guessing until the very end of the book, with many characters possessing the motive for murder. The plot is also made more difficult by narrowing the time of the murder down to 10 or 15 minutes. Various characters lack alibis for this quarter of an hour, and the famous Hercule Poirot must ferret the truth out with a grand finale gathering of all the suspects (similar to a Thin Man movie). The reader will be surprised by the ending, as the murderer in Christie novels is not usually viewed from this perspective.
 Not her best, but still very good July 27, 2008
Told from the point of view of a country doctor, James Sheppard, the novel opens when a certain Mrs. Ferrars dies. Not long afterwards, Roger Ackroyd is found murdered in his study. The local inspector immediately suspects the butler, Parker, and Ackroyd's stepson also becomes a murder suspect, as Hercule Poirot (who's conveniently retired to a house in the neighborhood) is called in to solve the crime.
Written in the great age of crime novels--the 1920s--The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a murder mystery that threatens to puzzle even the most astute crime solver. It doesn't come as much surprise--apparently, Agatha Christie would write each of her novels not knowing who the murderer would be, and then decided at the end who it was. Then, she'd go back and change aspects of the novel accordingly. Its very clear that she did that here. There's some extraneous stuff that could have been left out. But its also clear that Christie is influenced by true crime stories of the past--the Crippen case is mentioned in this novel.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is not by any means one of Christie's best, and the characters, even M. Poirot, seem a little flat. After all, we've seen mysterious strangers, disgruntled family members, and blackmailers before. But this is the book that created the cliche, "the butler did it." The narrator is not without a modicum of wit; he has no patience for the neighborhood's gossiping ladies, including his sister. The beauty of this book, however, comes from the mystery itself--how things play out, and the denouement itself, which is quite shocking. In fact, Christie bends all the rules here, and her ability to deceive the reader--and her indomitable detective, Poirot--is unparalled.
I've read many of Christie's other mysteries, so it surprised me when I realized that I hadn't read this one! I generally like her writing, and Murder on the Orient Express is one of my favorite mysteries, but over all, I prefer Miss Marple over Hercule Poirot. But if you want a murder mystery that revolutionized the world of detective fiction, then read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
 A Great Mystery June 4, 2008
I'm still relatively new to the world of Agatha Christie as The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is only the third book that Dame Agatha wrote that I have read. I've heard that she has been known to reuse plot devices and that sometimes, some of her stories can become repetitive, but if they are all written like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, I would be happy with that. This will easily top my list of favorite books.
I don't want to go into too much detail, as I'm always afraid that I'll let something slip that will spoil the end of the story for newcomers to Christie's writing. The book is so complex that I wouldn't even know where to begin. There is a suicide, blackmail, cocaine abuse, secrets and of course, murder. In his usual flair, Hercule Poirot (who happens to be in the right place at the right time) is brought in to investigate. Through the course of the book, suspicion is plainly brought on each of the main characters in the Ackroyd household, and you will never have a clue as to "who done it" until the very end. Every chapter, I was sure I knew who had committed the murder, yet every time I was wrong. An ingenious book.
Her Most Famous Murder Mystery May 12, 2008
The narrator, James Sheppard M.D., tells about the little village of King's Abbot. Widow Ferrars died in her sleep from an overdose of veronal, a drug to induce sleep. Her husband died a year earlier - gossip said he was poisoned. Roger Ackroyd, an immensely rich manufacturer had thoughts of marrying widow Ferrars (they would be richer). Ackroyd was a widower without a child (Chapter 2), and lived in a mansion with relatives and servants. There is a new arrival, a stranger named Hercule Poirot. Conversations tell about the people and personalities. Later Dr. Sheppard visits Roger Ackroyd. A letter from Mrs. Ferrars brings shocking news: she poisoned her husband and was being blackmailed! Dr. Sheppard leaves Ackroyd and returns home. Later a telephone call sends him back to find Ackroyd was murdered! The police are summoned, and Poirot begins his parallel investigation. The chapters tell of the investigative procedure. Everyone connected has something to hide, and Poirot (aided by Dr. Sheppard) finds out what the secrets are.
The usual convention is to plant little clues throughout the story so an attentive reader can figure out the mystery before the last chapters. Did you? The first time I read this book I had a hunch, but it seemed crazy. Is the first clue in Chapter 3? Is there another in Chapter 17 or Chapter 24? As the suspects are eliminated who will be left? Were you shocked and surprised at the conclusion? Christie examined the fictional lives of the upper class in a small English village. Do the sins of Ralph and Flora reflect the morals of the aristocracy? Are they like the people in a TV show? Fiction must reflect reality to be believable. Reading this again after forty years I noticed the feminine characteristics of the killer. Was this symbolic for a personality that could not be mentioned?
The lifestyles described here were damaged by the Great Depression, and mostly killed off by WW II. Inflation has made the monetary figures far out of date. They had automobiles and telephones, but no radio [electricity?]. The comments about coldness say there was no central heating. Do the marriages without children have some hidden meaning? Or merely a way to simplify the story?
There is one problem in this story. How did the killer know beforehand that an alibi was needed for the murder?
People who died while being attended by a physician are seldom subject to a post-mortem autopsy. Does this have any affect on this story?
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