The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie | Book Review [CC]

My review for Agatha Christie's Poirot mystery The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Spoiler-free until 11 minutes in.

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[RichJames]

I finished it last night. I did suspect (SPOILER) Dr Sheppherd, my suspicion began after we learn that he visited Ralph after the discovery of the body but he as a narrator didn't tell the reader this. Made me view him as someone who was purposely misleading the reader. But Christie threw enough curveballs in there for me to doubt this suspicion and still be surprised by the reveal

[anastasiamorozova]

A true masterpiece. I first read it when I was 14 or like that. Have remembered it vividly since then, for over 20 years :)

[athertonca]

This is one of Agatha Christie’s best! My favorite is And Then There Were None. I don’t even try to figure out the killer with her books because I know I will fail.

[camilacurto]

I suspected him right around the end, I thank my high school English teacher who always stressed the importance of unreliable narrators. But I thought “she wouldn’t “ and then again as Poirot kept going and going I thought “she wouldn’t” and she DID. She sure did. Gotta love Agatha Christie

[TooFondofBooksJH]

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is my favourite Agatha Christie book. It's just brilliant. Carolyn is a fantastic character. Agatha Christie did say that she was a precursor to Miss Marple. I think you should try Miss Marple. She is a fantastic character and the books are great. The first one is The Murder at the Vicarage. Some favourites are A Caribbean Mystery, Nemesis, and Sleeping Murder.

[HamsavahiniVajraasthra]

Hi Claudia😁!This was such an awesome video! Your bookshelf looks Gorgeous & Stunning!!!👍👍👍Absolutely loved this review, so am definitely picking it up for March & did not watch the spoilers- heeding your advice from now on for Agatha Christe now👍👍👍!!!

[J_R]

This book is truly fantastic! I just finished writing a term paper for university about it where I focused on how the reader is manipulated.

[iria]

this novel broke note one but 3 of the rules of the Detection Club made quite the stir at the time

[MsJayteeListens]

I wonder how many of the tropes in the book were tropes when it was written, it’s nearly 100 years old.

Btw, I would recommend Lucy Worsley’s biography of Agatha Christie.

[monikamarsollek]

Hi, Claudia, glad to hear you enjoyed it! I’d never guessed the solution, too… My favourite Hercule Poirot: Death on the Nile. A. Christie went to the Orient, first alone, then with her second husband, who was an archeologist, and I like the vibe from the area, where I’ve never been. I’ve watched the movie several times (Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot) and read the book several times, too… My favourite Miss Marples: 4.50 from Paddington, love the character of Lucy Eylesborough… and: Murder ar the vicarage, love the unconventional wife of the vicar and of course I love Miss Marple, looking harmless and knitting all the time (like me) and watching it all… These are only the ones I like most! I’m a mood reader, so it can happen, I sometimes prefer another one. Greetings from a big A. Christie fan, Monika❣

[Sebastian-lwqb]

If you want to read some Miss Marple's, I would start with either Murder at the Vicarage or a Murder is Announced. Murder at the Vicarage is Miss Marple's first appearance. I don't think it's her best one. Christie herself later said, that there were too many characters in this book. But it's solid.

And according to her autobiography, Christie actually invented Miss Marple as a character, because she was annoyed that Caroline Sheppard got cut out of the stage play version of Roger Ackroyd in favour of a young girl. Christie said, that Caroline was her favourite character from Roger Ackroyd, and she developed her further. IMO, Miss Marple turned out to be quite a different character than Caroline, more silent and much more capable to act as a harmless old lady that everybody ignores. Especially in her later outings (there wasn't a Marple novel for almost ten years after Vicarage). But Vicarage is the book, where you can see Marple's roots in Caroline's character clearest.

A Murder is Announced is probably Miss Marple's best case. Certainly her best clued one.

[CheekyLittleJournaller]

I had the same experience with Murder on the Orient Express! I'll have to find a copy of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd now 😊

[dancing-lawn]

If you enjoyed this one, I recommend And Then There Were None next 😊 hope you're well!

[nedmerrill]

I enjoyed this one. A novel solution to this Christie novel.
I think the metaphor should be "There are more red herrings than you can shake a fishing pole (not stick) at."
Nice to see you making videos again.

[reginalemoine]

I love Miss Marple. I think I would start with A Murder is Announced or, if you want something with the traditional tropes, Murder at the Vicarage or The Body in the Library. The thing about The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is that you are given all of the clues that Poirot has access to, so it still stays in the “fair” category. That’s part of the reason that the reveal is so shocking-you’ve eliminated a suspect, but Poirot has not! To this day, I think it’s one of the most brilliant murder mysteries ever written.

[PokhrajRoy.]

I have the Graphic Novel version of this book. One of the most iconic stories from her canon.

[mdragzee]

About the Sheperd being killer, I, honestly, though about it during a novel, because he was always there, right? But thinking about that I always kinda rejected that thought, because.... Surely not, right? I have never, ever, seen this kind of twist in books, so that's why I rejected that idea. Also in the story where he gets the call about murder, I always got stuck there. I never figured out the reason about that call. But about the narrator being unreliable we were shown, the moment where we get to know, that he always knew where Ralf was. So after that moment I thought about that even more, but still I was like: "surely not!" Guess I was wrong. XD Really good book. At the end I just sat and stared at the wall. Kinda sad ending, knowing that he's going to die.

[aritchak]

Great book this one. Enjoyed reading it the second time, once I knew who the killer was. Timeless classic.

[racheljacobson]

I remember the first time I read that book when the additional information was presented, I remember saying "Wait... What.. What... Did I miss that, then Boom Plot Twist.

[carl]

You've gone to all the trouble of splitting the video up into sections then it was nice of *multiple* people to put direct spoilers in the first line of their comments!