The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition
|
|
| Author | Agatha Christie |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Ellen Edwards |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Crime novel |
| Publisher | William Collins, Sons |
|
Publication date
|
June 1926 |
| Media type | Print (hardback, paperback) |
| Pages | 312 (first edition, hardback) |
| Preceded by | The Secret of Chimneys |
| Followed by | The Big Four |
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in June 1926 in the United Kingdom by William Collins, Sons and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company on 19 June 1926. It is the third novel to feature Hercule Poirot as the lead detective.
Poirot retires to a village near the home of a friend he met in London, Roger Ackroyd, who agrees to keep him anonymous, as he pursues his retirement project of perfecting vegetable marrows. He is not long at this pursuit when his friend is murdered. Ackroyd's niece calls Poirot in to ensure that the guilt does not fall on Ackroyd's son; Poirot promises to find the truth, which she accepts.
The novel was initially well-received, remarked for the startling ending, and in 2013, 87 years after its release the British Crime Writers' Association voted it the best crime novel ever. It is one of Christie's best known and most controversial novels, its innovative twist ending having a significant impact on the genre. Howard Haycraft included this novel in his list of the most influential crime novels ever written. The short biography of Christie which is included in 21st century UK printings of her books calls it her masterpiece, although writer and critic Robert Barnard has written that he considers it a conventional Christie novel.
The news in King's Abbot is all about the death of Mrs Ferrars, a wealthy widow who is rumoured to have murdered her husband. Roger Ackroyd, a widower who was to marry Mrs Ferrars, is distraught. He invites Dr James Sheppard to his house Fernly Park for dinner. Sheppard dines with Ackroyd; Ackroyd's sister-in-law Mrs Cecil Ackroyd; her young daughter Flora; Major Blunt, a big-game hunter; and Geoffrey Raymond, Ackroyd's personal secretary. Flora announces her engagement to Captain Ralph Paton, stepson of Ackroyd. After dinner, Sheppard and Ackroyd talk in his study. Ackroyd tells him that Mrs Ferrars had confided to him that she was being blackmailed about killing her husband. Ackroyd receives a letter, a suicide note, in the post from Mrs Ferrars, which he plans to finish reading after Sheppard leaves. On the walk home, Sheppard bumps into a man outside the gates, seeking directions to Fernly Park. Once home, Dr Sheppard receives a telephone call. He rushes out, telling his sister Caroline that Parker, Ackroyd's butler, has found Roger Ackroyd dead. Upon Sheppard's arrival, Parker says he never made such a call. Parker, Sheppard, Raymond, and Blunt find Ackroyd in his study, stabbed to death with a weapon from his collection.
...
Wikipedia