DSC 303: The Murder of Roger Ackyrod
Agatha Christie, born in 1890 in Torquay, England, became one of the most prolific and beloved mystery writers of all time. She began writing during World War I and went on to pen over 100 novels, plays and short story collections featuring iconic detectives like Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.
The novel was well received from its first publication, and has been called Christie's masterpiece. In 2013, the British Crime Writers' Association voted it the best crime novel ever. It is one of Christie's best-known and most controversial novels, its innovative twist ending having a significant impact on the genre. Howard Haycraft included it in his list of the most influential crime novels ever written.
Considered to be one of Agatha Christie's greatest and also, most controversial mysteries. 'The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd' breaks the rules of traditional mystery. The book features Hercule Poirot as he investigates the murder of a wealthy man in an English village.
The peaceful English village of King’s Abbot is stunned. The widow Ferrars dies from an overdose of Veronal. Not twenty-four hours later, Roger Ackroyd—the man she had planned to marry—is murdered. It is a baffling case involving blackmail and death that taxes Hercule Poirot’s “little grey cells” before he reaches one of the most startling conclusions of his career.
Narrative voice and structure
With its innovative narrative structure and shocking twist ending, the novel is narrated by Dr James Sheppard, who becomes Poirot's assistant, in place of Captain Hastings who has married and settled in the Argentine. It includes an unexpected plot twist towards the end, when Dr Sheppard reveals he has throughout been an unreliable narrator, using literary techniques to conceal his guilt without writing anything untrue (e.g., "I did what little had to be done" at the point where he slipped the dictaphone into his bag and moved the chair).
Themes
Deception and unreliable narration, the nature of truth and reality, small town secrets and gossip, class dynamics in English society, the fallibility of assumptions, justice and morality, the psychology of crime and criminal minds are the main themes.
Setting
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is set in the 1920s in the fictional English village of King's Abbot. This quintessential English countryside setting provides a quaint backdrop for the sinister events that unfold. The novel captures the atmosphere of a small, close-knit rural community where gossip travels quickly and everyone knows each other's business. While much of the action takes place in and around the village, the central location is Fernly Park - the grand country estate of the wealthy Roger Ackroyd. The sprawling manor house and its grounds serve as the primary crime scene and focal point of the investigation. Other key locations include Dr. Sheppard's home and village landmarks like the local inn, creating a vivid picture of English country life in the early 20th century.
Beyond the immediate village setting, the novel makes references to nearby towns and cities, placing King's Abbot within the broader geography of rural England. This helps establish the insular nature of the village while hinting at connections to the wider world, as characters travel to and from London and other locations. The contained setting of King's Abbot allows Christie to craft an intricate mystery where every resident is a potential suspect.
Dr James Sheppard, the story's narrator, lives with his unmarried sister, Caroline, in the English country village of King's Abbot. Telling the story in his own words, Dr Sheppard recounts being called to certify the death of a wealthy widow, Mrs Ferrars, who has committed suicide a year after her abusive husband's demise. Caroline speculates that Mrs Ferrars had poisoned her husband and has committed suicide out of remorse.
Roger Ackroyd, wealthy widower and owner of Fernly Park, tells Dr Sheppard that he needs to talk to him urgently and invites him to dinner that evening. In addition to Dr Sheppard, the dinner guests include Major Blunt, Ackroyd's sister-in-law Mrs Cecil Ackroyd, her daughter Flora, and Ackroyd's personal secretary, Geoffrey Raymond. Flora tells the doctor that she is engaged to Ralph Paton, Ackroyd's stepson, though the engagement is being kept confidential.
In his study after dinner, Ackroyd tells Dr Sheppard that he had been engaged to Mrs Ferrars for several months, and that she had admitted the day before that she had indeed poisoned her husband. She was being blackmailed, and promised to reveal the blackmailer's name within 24 hours. At this point Ackroyd's butler, Parker, enters with a letter that Mrs Ferrars had posted just before she killed herself. Ackroyd apologetically asks Dr Sheppard to leave so that he can read it alone.
Shortly after arriving back home, the doctor receives a phone call from Parker. Dr Sheppard tells Caroline that Ackroyd has been found dead and then returns to Fernly Park. Parker professes to know nothing about the phone call. Unable to get a response at the study door, Sheppard and Parker break it down and find Ackroyd dead in his chair, killed with his own dagger. The letter is missing and footprints are found leading in and out of the study through an open window.
Ralph disappears and becomes the primary suspect when the footprints are found to match shoes that he owns. Flora, convinced that Ralph is innocent, asks the recently retired detective Hercule Poirot to investigate. He agrees and visits the scene of the crime, asking Dr Sheppard to accompany him.
Parker notes to Poirot that a chair in Ackroyd's study has been moved. Poirot questions the guests and staff, including Ursula Bourne, the parlourmaid, who has no alibi. The window of opportunity for the murderer after Dr Sheppard's departure appears to have been quite short since Raymond and Blunt later heard Ackroyd talking in his study, and Flora says she saw him just before going up to bed.
Poirot unravels a complex web of intrigue, and presents the missing Ralph Paton – who was, it transpires, already secretly married to Ursula when Ackroyd had decided that he should marry Flora. The pair had arranged a clandestine meeting in the garden. Flora is forced to admit she never in fact saw her uncle after dinner, leaving Raymond and Blunt as the last people to hear Ackroyd alive. Blunt confesses his love for Flora.
Alone with Dr Sheppard, Poirot reveals he knows that Dr Sheppard himself is both Ferrars' blackmailer and Ackroyd's killer. Realising that Mrs Ferrars's letter would implicate him, Sheppard had stabbed Ackroyd before leaving the study. He left publicly through the front door, then put Ralph's shoes on, ran round to the study window and climbed back in. Locking the door from the inside, he set a desk dictaphone going, playing a recording of Ackroyd's voice, and pulled out a chair to hide it from the sightline of anyone standing in the doorway. To provide the excuse for returning to Fernly Park, he had asked a patient to call him at home. While Sheppard had the study to himself for a few minutes after the crime was discovered, he slipped the dictaphone into his medical bag, and put the chair back in place. These details were concealed from his narrative, which has also now been given to Poirot.
Poirot tells Dr Sheppard the matter will be reported to the police in the morning and suggests he spare his sister Caroline by taking his own life. Sheppard completes his account of Poirot's investigation – the novel itself – with the final chapter, Apologia, serving as his suicide note.