Settles, who saw the crime scene, becomes Poirot’s aid in the investigation and is the narrating voice in the story. He goes to the house and discovers it is so, in the neck with a knife from a collection of curios.įlora Ackroyd, a niece who stands to inherit a tidy fortune, having agreed to marry Roger Ackroyd’s choice of spouse, Ralph Paton, enlists the help of Hercule Poirot, who has retired and lives nearby.

Ackroyd refuses to reveal the contents of the letter. Later that evening Settles receives a call informing him that Ackroyd has been murdered in his study. James Settles is the physician consulted on the case and it turns out that he is with wealthy Roger Ackroyd when Ackroyd, who had fallen in love with Ferrars, receives a suicide note confessing she had poisoned her husband and was being blackmailed by someone she named in the letter who knew the fact. Her husband had died the previous year under somewhat suspicious circumstances. I am inclined to agree that it is one of the best I have read, particularly for the unusual surprise at the end. It is the only one appearing in the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. There are some who consider this among the very best of Agatha Christie’s mysteries.

Summary: Poirot comes out of retirement to solve the murder of Roger Ackroyd, who is killed after learning that the woman he loved, who has taken her life, had poisoned her first husband and was being blackmailed to cover up the fact. New York: HarperCollins, 2002 (originally published 1926). The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie.

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