The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Agatha Christie Collection)

Agatha Christie’s most daring crime mystery - an early and particularly brilliant outing of Hercule Poirot, ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’, with its legendary twist, changed the detective fiction genre for ever.Roger Ackroyd was about to be married. He had a life of wealth and privilege. First he lost his fiancée – and then his life.The day after her tragic suicide he retires upstairs to read a mysterious letter, leaving his closest friends and family to eat dinner below.Just a few hours later he is found stabbed to death in a locked room with a weapon from his own collection.Was he killed for money? For love? Or for something altogether more sinister?The truth will out.But you won’t see it coming. 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. ([source][1]) ---------- Also contained in: - [Five Classic Murder Mysteries](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL471533W) - [Masterpieces of Murder](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL471974W) - [More Stories to Remember: Volume II](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15146874W) - [The Murder of Roger Ackroyd / The Mystery of the Blue Train / Dumb Witness / Death on the Nile](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20909872W) - [Murders to die for](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL27311029W) - [Novels](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL24535152W) - [Novels](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL26432485W) - [Works](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17307260W/Works) [1]: https://www.agathachristie.com/stories/the-murder-of-roger-ackroyd

dr. Sheppard Has No Idea His Finicky, Foreign Neighbor Is Actually Retired Detective Hercule Poirot. When Wealthy Roger Ackroyd Is Found Brutally Murdered, Poirot Can’t Resist Stepping It To Sort Out Clues And Find The Killer. This Third Poirot Mystery Has All The Author’s Trademark Touches — A Pithy Portrait Of English Village Life, A Cast Of Unforgettable Characters, And A Plot Of Byzantine Complexity. Due To Its Shocking Twist Ending, The Book Remains One Of The Most Controversial Mysteries Ever Written.

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the Murder Of Roger Ackroyd, Wrote A new York Times Reviewer, Cannot Be Too Highly Praised For Its Clean-cut Construction, Its Unusually Plausible Explanation At The End, And Its Ability To Stimulate The Analytical Faculties Of The Reader. The Secret [of This Novel] Is More Than Usually Original And Ingenious, A nation Reviewer Thought, And Is A Device Which No Other Writer Could Have Employed Without Mishap. William Rose Benet Of saturday Review Recommended That the Murder Of Roger Ackroyd Should Go On The Shelf With The Books Of First Rank In Its Field. The Detective Story Pure And Simple Has As Definite Limitations Of Form As The Sonnet In Poetry. Within These Limitations, With Admirable Structured Art, Miss Christie Has Genuinely Achieved.

Considered to be one of Agatha Christie's greatest, and also most controversial mysteries, 'The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd' breaks the rules of traditional mystery. The peaceful English village of Kings Abbot is stunned. The widow Ferrars dies from an overdose of Veronal. Not twenty-four hours later, Roger Ackroydthe man she had planned to marryis murdered. It is a baffling case involving blackmail and death that taxes Hercule Poirots little grey cells before he reaches one of the most startling conclusions of his career. Librarian's note: the first fifteen novels in the Hercule Poirot series are 1) The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920; 2) The Murder on the Links, 1923; 3) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, 1926; 4) The Big Four, 1927; 5) The Mystery of the Blue Train, 1928; 6) Peril at End House, 1932; 7) Lord Edgware Dies, 1933; 8) Murder on the Orient Express, 1934; 9) Three Act Tragedy, 1935; 10) Death in the Clouds, 1935; 11) The A.B.C. Murders, 1936; 12) Murder in Mesopotamia, 1936; 13) Cards on the Table, 1936; 14) Dumb Witness, 1937; and 15) Death on the Nile, 1937. These are just the novels; Poirot also appears in this period in a play, Black Coffee, 1930, and two collections of short stories, Poirot Investigates, 1924, and Murder in the Mews, 1937. Each novel, play and short story has its own entry on Goodreads. SUMMARY: Considered to be one of Agatha Christie鈥檚 most controversial mysteries, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd breaks all the rules of traditional mystery writing. A widow鈥檚 suicide has stirred rumors of blackmail, and of a secret lover named Roger Ackroyd, who was found stabbed to death in his study. The case is so unconventional that not even crack detective Hercule Poirot has a clue as to how to solve it. Fiction,General,Mystery & Detective,England,Suspense,Private investigators,Mystery And Suspense Fiction,Detective,Fiction - Mystery,Traditional British,Mystery & Detective - Traditional British,Mystery,Poirot; Hercule (Fictitious character),Belgians,Christie; Agatha; 1890-1976,Private investigators - England,Belgians - England SUMMARY: Considered to be one of Agatha Christie’s most controversial mysteries, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd breaks all the rules of traditional mystery writing. A widow’s suicide has stirred rumors of blackmail, and of a secret lover named Roger Ackroyd, who was found stabbed to death in his study. The case is so unconventional that not even crack detective Hercule Poirot has a clue as to how to solve it. A widow's sudden suicide sparks rumors that she murdered her first husband, was being blackmailed, and was carrying on a secret affair with the wealthy Roger Ackroyd. The following evening, Ackroyd is murdered in his locked study, but not before receiving a letter identifying the widow's blackmailer. Kings Abbot is crawling with suspects and it's up to famous detective, Hercule Poirot, to solve the case