The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is one of Agatha Christie’s most celebrated and widely read novels. Its brilliant plot and a humdinger of a climax make it one of Christie’s best books. I read it first when I was in this major Agatha Christie phase- I used to gobble up Agatha Christie’s omnibuses in 7 days flat (I used to borrow it from the school library so had to be quick:)). I was amazed then by the ingenuity of the plot and even now sometimes can’t help wondering how Christie came up with such marvellous plots.
Plot- The story is set in a small English village of King’s Abbot where an attractive widow Mrs. Ferrars dies in mysterious circumstances right at the outset of the book. The widow was supposed to marry Roger Ackroyd a wealthy local businessman. That makes tongues wag in the village. But Roger Ackroyd too is brutally stabbed leaving everyone baffled except for a small little man with an egg-shaped head, ferocious moustache and abundance of grey cells- Hercule Poirot the Belgian detective who has retired and is trying to lead a quiet life in the village. Hercule Poirot decides to investigate the case and find the diabolically cunning murderer.
The story is narrated in the first person by a genial village Doctor, Dr. Sheppard who acts as Hercule Poirot’s sidekick - a role that fans of Agatha Christie will know, Hastings performs in most other Poirot novels. The novel generously abounds with red herrings, which keeps you guessing, thinking and mulling over about the identity of the murderer. It has lots of sub-plots, which confounds you even more. As in most Christie novels it’s a small and what seems an insignificant detail in the beginning, which holds key to this excruciatingly brilliant novel. The best part about Christie as a mystery writer is that she puts all clues before the readers and then challenges them to piece it together instead of some writers who conceal vital piece of information right till the end. Christie does that in this novel as well and just when as a reader you think you have pieced it all together; she shocks with you the absolutely stunning ending.
Christie has this wonderful talent of writing her stories in dialogue form and in this novel too most part of the story is narrated through conversations and dialogues. So when you read this novel, never ever get lazy with your reading, especially when you think that some character is only babbling and talking gibberish; that’s when Dame Christie slips in the really vital clues. The presence of POIROT in this novel only makes it more delicious-what with his penchant for method and order and absolute lack of modesty which borders on megalomania (Poirot sometimes even puts Kareena to shame…Hehehhehe).
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd beckons all armchair sleuths who think they know a thing or two about solving mysteries. Go and read it and BE READY TO BE DECEIVED by the ‘Champion Deceiver’ and re-read it again to see how masterfully she tricks and flummoxes the readers. Happy Reading!!!