The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

BY AGATHA CHRISTIE

While planning my quest to read all of the Poirot novels, I’d read somewhere that this book was Agatha Christie’s greatest of all time. Someone on the Internet told me that her true skills at deceiving the reader come into play in this one. So naturally, I was already set to try and figure out who the murderer was based on who I thought I was being misled away from.

This story is an excellent example of the ideas of narratives and those who tell the stories. The concept can be extrapolated to understand that every story has multiple sides because no one interprets anything the same way another does. Two people might read the same book and have entirely different opinions (i.e., book club discussions). Additionally, it’s a dive into the world that looks at something through someone else’s words, the words they’ve chosen, and those they’ve decided to avoid. Even someone we might think is important enough to trust blindly relaying the facts might be hiding something themselves.

About a quarter way into the book, I suspected almost everyone involved; I even had a moment where I thought perhaps Poirot could have been involved! Alas, twas not to be. Around halfway, I started asking myself who would be the most unlikely … who would be crazy to think did it. You know what I said to myself? (I swear to the Greek goddesses) “I wonder if the narrator did it.” How CRAZY of a twist would that be!

Yet I kept doubting myself. That was something I would write about. I would do that. What a good idea. But Poirot trusts Dr. Sheppard, and he’s a doctor …, so I feel there’s no way it will be him. But when it’s revealed, and you get to the third act where Poirot reveals his mathematical methodological explanation - of course, it was the doctor! It couldn’t have been anyone else!

We had assumed so much of the night’s events based on his word alone, and he leveraged his position of authority in hopes that his position would do just that. It would have worked if not for Poirot’s little grey cells.

Dr. Sheppard was giving “I’ll get you and your little dog too!”

What a twist though, honestly, phew. I saw it coming, but though there’s no way, it HAS to be something else … Poirot will accuse the doctor, but someone else will confess. The last question I’m stuck with is, why did he try to frame him if the doctor was such good friends with Ralph? I get that he helped him hide because he wanted him to look guilty … I mean, by Dr. Sheppard’s reaction to Poirot finding him out, he was void of emotion, just a robot. Maybe he really didn’t care what would happen to Ralph.

Actually, I have another question. In the doctor’s last speech, he says that his sister will never find out - but the deal was to clear Ralph to the police by taking his own life and writing a confession? So, how could Ralph be cleared if Caroline never finds out who the murderer is? That line confused me.

For a while, I thought it could have been Caroline. She could have been a great actor, and it sounded like she had a ton of time on her hands and gained lots of important information from neighbours through gossip.

Either way, I loved this book. I was so excited to find out who did it. I kept second-guessing myself as if there was no way Agatha would do that to the reader, and YET. This book is an immaculate piece of work. I am already excited to read it again to see all of the little clues and hints that Dr. Sheppard left and laughed at.

On to the next mystery!

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CW: Murder, suicide.