Set against the backdrop of the old English times, Roger Ackroyd is a wealthy man, suddenly murdered one night and becomes the talk of the town. His missing stepson Ralph Paton was suspected to be the murderer since he was to inherit lot of property. Suspects are named randomly, including late Roger’s second wife, the maids of the house, Flora- his relative who was to be engaged to Ralph and many more. The beauty of the story is that the readers keep guessing the name of the murderer till the secret is revealed in the second last chapter by Hercule Poirot. This is certainly a masterpiece from Agatha Christie.
Many characters are brought into the plot, making the story a little tight and confused. That’s when you start losing interest in the characters. However the number of characters are cut down to minimum and the story grips you again. Rather you are gripped by the story all the while. Imagine solving murder cases during an era sans mobile phone, apps, biometric scanners and tech gadgets. But Poirot does it beautifully, by solving the case of missing dictaphone. What is a dictaphone? Well, read the novel to find out!
Narration is easy & interesting. Language is the usual Christie style. A thorough thriller this is!