Recent reading: "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd"

 

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie 

 

I'm still behind on #ReadChristie2026 and haven't been reading much the past couple of weeks, but I finally finished The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (June). 

 

Poirot has retired to the village of King's Abbott to grow vegetables and live in anonymity,  but the murder of a wealthy local brings him back to the detecting business. His next door neighbor, Dr. Sheppard, a personal friend of Ackroyd's, helps out due to his knowledge of the players and fills the Hastings role, as Poirot admits to missing his long-time friend, now living in Argentina. But Dr. Sheppard is no Hastings, and not only is Poirot's revelation of who killed Roger Ackroyd a shocker, but so is how he treats the guilty party. As usual, it's a treat to learn how Poirot unravels the mystery.

 

I first read this years ago, and knowing the identity of the guilty party made for a different experience than the first read. Once you find out, you'll want to go back and re-read it to see how Christie sprinkled hints and issues that lead the legendary Hercule Poirot to the killer. The book is rightly famed for its twist ending.

 

I do remember that when this story was produced for Poirot, for some reason the producers felt the need to turn the quiet, confessional ending into a chase that could not have been further from how Christie resolved the story, and it was quite a disappointment. So it was nice to go back and read this again. Just one of the best mysteries ever.

 

From the book:

 

Poirot, too, was smiling, and at the same time shaking an eloquent finger at me. "Have I not told you at leasst thirty-six times that it is useless to conceal things from Hercule Poirot?" he demanded. "That in such a case he finds out?"