The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (The Agatha Christie Mystery Collection)

March 1983 Bantam Books hardcover, 8th printing. Agatha Christie (And Then There Were None). In the quiet village of King's Abbot a widow's suicide has stirred suspicion - and dreadful gossip. There are rumors she murdered her first husband, rumors she was being blackmailed, and rumors that her secret lover was Roger Ackroyd. Then Ackroyd is found murdered - and all the members of the household stand to gain from his death. Hercule Poirot, who has retired to King's Abbot, is reluctantly drawn into finding a clever and devious killer. 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 cant resist stepping it to sort out clues and find the killer. This third Poirot mystery has all the authors 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 Roger Ackroyd knew too much. He knew that the woman he loved had poisoned her brutal first husband. He suspected also that someone had been blackmailing her. Then, tragically, came the news that she had taken her own life with a drug overdose. But the evening post brought Roger one last fatal scrap of information. Unfortunately, before he could finish reading the letter, he was stabbed to death -- Cover SUMMARY: A murder in a small English village leads Hercule Poirot into a strange mystery involving a determined, curious spinster, the local doctor, and a wide range of suspects with possible motives and mysterious relationships.