The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
Recently, I’ve met a few individuals who have been inspired to start reading mysteries after watching terrific PBS Masterpiece series such as Unforgotten, The Bletchley Circle, and Grantchester. Never having read Agatha Christie, they’ve asked me where to start. Although some would disagree, I would say, that if you read just one Agatha Christie in your lifetime, it should be The Murder of Roger Ackroyd first published in 1926. It’s as clever as its title is bland!
At the time of its publication, this detective novel elicited controversy because its format and solution broke what were then two unwritten laws of the mystery genre. I won’t mention them here as it would spoil the story, and I would advise that you refrain from reading any reviews until after you’ve read the book. Despite the controversy, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was well received and is often mentioned as the novel that positively impacted the mystery/crime genre. It contained traits still common in current day detective novels: a murder; a collection of suspects who all have motive and opportunity; an intelligent detective who uses clues to solve the crime; a sidekick narrator that readers relate to; and a concluding summation in which the detective explains his findings.
The thing I love most about this novel is that all the clues are there, but your assumptions might prevent you from solving the crime. It is the author’s third novel featuring Hercule Poirot, the Belgian detective with a talent for solving difficult cases by using his “little grey cells.” In the story, Poirot retires to the village of King’s Abbott in England near the home of a friend, Roger Ackroyd. Shortly thereafter the wealthy industrialist Ackroyd is found dead, and Poirot comes out of retirement to find out what happened to him.
The novel is narrated by Dr James Sheppard who lives with his meddlesome sister Caroline. Her misguided investigation attempts provide much of the story’s humor, though she makes several accurate observations! Do not dismiss everything she says! Agatha Christie grew so attached to Caroline that she created Miss Marple in her image. Miss Marple is an amateur consulting detective who first appeared in a short story Agatha Christie published in The Royal Magazine in December 1927. Miss Marple went on to become the star of her own series of twelve Christie mysteries and six short story collections.
The author’s analysis of Ackroyd’s murderer is especially interesting as she does not present the individual as one dimensional and “just born evil.” Rather, she acknowledges how events in one’s life might push an up-to-then perfectly law-abiding citizen to commit a crime. As Poirot points out:
Let us take a man — a very ordinary man. A man with no idea of murder in his heart. There is in him somewhere a strain of weakness — deep down. It has so far never been called into play. Perhaps it never will be — and if so he will go to his grave honoured and respected by everyone. [p.168]
Yet, if the weakness, however, IS called into play — well, in her colleague Dorothy L. Sayers’ words, “It is the reader’s job to suspect everybody.”
