It is not often that a person comes across a gem of a book.... This is one of those times.
The book is a complete masterpiece-the way the story has been narrated leaves little doubt as to her superb mental faculties and exquisitely charming narrating style.
It actually may make u reminiscent of that era when the writers were trying to come out of the Victorian era but the narration and the language had not still lost its charming, rather discreet quality.
The book is set in a small village in which there seems to be only two centres of attraction Mr. Roger Acroyd and his suspected lover the name of which I will not reveal ( go read something for yourself ).
This other person is one day found dead though the opinion of the ever-so-discreet ladies in the village is that she comited suicide. One such lady is the sister of the local GP i.e. Dr. Sheppard who also turns out to be the narrator in the story.
Now this doctor is a very close aquaintance of Mr.Acroyd and naturally gets the shock of a lifetime when he comes to know that the deceased had confided in Mr. Acroyd about a crime she had commited long ago and that she actually might have planned something like suicide as she was being continuously blackmailed by her only accomplice in the crime...She had infact posted a letter to him revealing his name.
The next evening, as Mr. Acroyd and Dr. Sheppard were having a chat, there turns up the letter in the evening mail----which is to disclose the identity of the murder accomplice and thus the one who drove the murderess to commit suicide. The doctor leaves so as to give him some privacy, but before Mr.Acroyd could read the letter to its full extent he is murdered......
The plot calls for quiet an attention due to the myriad sub-plots involved. For instance, a person is seen walking over to the Mansion in which Roger Acroyd lives by non other than the doctor as he is asked the direction to the same by this stranger.
Then again, the son of Mr.Acroyd, who was not on the most excellent terms with his father disapears mysteriously and all attempts to trace him come to a naught.
Also, there is this maid in the mansion who claims to be Mr. Acroyd’s daughter-in-law.
All in all, its a must read for all the Christie fans--more so because of its simple but nonetheless shocking climax...... Its a Bible for Christie fans and a watershed mark in the pages of detective fiction work.... Not to mention, here you see the indomitable Hercules Poirot as a person who finally leaves his practice in London and comes to the countryside with the sole motive to cultivate marrows.......