I tried to solve an Agatha Christie mystery 🔪 the murder of roger ackroyd

welcome to agatha vs. emma episode one - this whole video has spoilers for this particular Christie novel but feel free to use the timestamps to avoid the final unveiling of the murderer!

*if you'd like to use my book depository affiliate link to check out any of the books mentioned and support my channel it's below!

0:00 welcome to blue's clues
3:59 Hunt a Killer sponsor
6:00 the plot thickens
30:22 my final guess before spoilers
31:33 spoilers ahead 4km
32:08 you've been warned
32:40 make a u-turn now
34:12 no turning back now

🏺I also exist in these places 🏺

The Friendly Ghost / Arthur Benson

[johnpotts]

General rules for Agatha Christie:
- It's never an accident
- It's always about the motive
- Anyone who went missing "years ago" will invariably turn up, probably as the murderer
- Look at anyone who nobody suspects, because they're probably the guiltiest!

[beethockmtee]

The reason I respect this book and don't find it a cop-out ending is that the murderer never lies. Sometimes they lie by omission, I suppose, but they never fabricate any information. Some of those moments are so cleverly worded that it sounds like a lie but it isn't! Clever Christie.

[jimmycryz]

You will never be able to guess the twist of this book. Its so brilliantly written that it makes you suspect everyone except the the person you should be suspecting.

[lesleyann]

I saw this title and thought, "oh, of all Agatha Christie books... you chose the one with THAT ending!" 😂 This was fun, though! I would totally watch you do this with other mystery books!

[JNKs_in_D]

This was my first agatha christie book. I love it so much. The verbiage when the narrator is leaving in chapter four (just before the discovered murder) is very well done. "I hesitated with my hand on the door handle, looking back and wondering if there was anything I had left undone" and when he gets home "I had to make up a slightly fictitious account of the events in order to satisfy her (his sister)". You draw conclusions that these things are in reference to the blackmail letter, but looking back it's about the murder. You're not really being lied to, just left to draw conclusions of your own

[KerryAnnGL]

My dad tried to spoil this book for me while I was reading it by alluding to the twist. Thankfully, I am an idiot and did not pick up on it.

[nathanbeer]

"It is completely unimportant, that is why it is so interesting."
One of my favorite Poirot lines that comes from this book.

[Cogskate]

It was so fantastic watching you follow almost exactly the same path that I did when it first read this book. Just like you, I let my assumptions go unchecked and the ending caught me off guard.

It was only after watching your video that I realised why we both suspected and disliked the sister – it's because she's being described to us by her brother, who doesn't like her. This novel is an amazing study of narrative prejudice. I almost feel that it should be required reading for journalists, showing how our true feelings always come out in our writing, no matter what.

By the way, there is no row of stars in the print book. Shepherd only wonders out loud of they would have made a difference.

[pierrotpierrot]

emmie : explaining how roger omited the blackmailer's name to sheppard, which may indicate the blackmailer's identity as someone very close to sheppard (like his sister caroline).
me : hee hee

[am]

This is an amazing idea. Just sat down with a cup of coffee after day long classes, and this feels like some popular crime documentary. This is so freaking cool

[XxEvilTiggerxX]

The ending of this book caught me so off guard but I found it great instead of annoying. It makes for a great re-read when you get to see all the clues because the doctor never lies. The discrepancy in the timings, him bringing his black bag (you even picked up on it early on!), being left in the room, his losing the money, caroline's comments about him. How you suspected Caroline, I'm not entirely sure. I have to ask though, why would you listen to a murder mystery on 1.5x speed. You'd obviously miss certain points or the subtleties in language that are trying to trick you. It was a fun video though! I'd recommend getting a physical copy just to be able to annotate and mark pages to go back for clues if using for solving purposes ^^

[darkwitnesslxx]

If you'd just taken the time to list all the suspects, in the way Poirot would, you'd have noticed that there were TWO suspects you were subconsciously ignoring. One is Poirot himself, who should technically be a suspect, and the other is the Doctor. Listing ALL the suspects leads to the solution to several well known Agatha Christie's.

[humyrahfatima]

Whoa that was a great one. Make this a series, emma! I would religiously watch them.

[jimmycryz]

your reaction is exactly how I felt. it feels disappointing at first but when you reread it, the clues are there.

[richatlarge]

The beauty of this mystery novel is that when you read it a second time, knowing the backstory, the same words you read take on a completely different meaning.

[moominluver]

There's an Agatha Christie book called "The Body in The Library" in her Mrs Marple series that I think would be fun to try and solve like you did with this book :)

[sofiapeeters]

This is such an amazing video idea!! Also, i recommend "the mirror cracked from side to side", "crooked house" and "endless night", some of my favourite agatha christies!!^-^

[josephcossey]

There's a tradition amongst taxi drivers in London (England) when depositing a play-goer outside the theatre where Agatha Christie's long -running "The Mousetrap" is being performed. If the disgruntled cab driver considers he has been insufficiently tipped he waits until the play-goer is about to enter...rolls down the window and yells..."the butler did it!" or words to that effect (no spoilers here but "The Mousetrap" HAS been running since 1952!)

[hempstockashley]

It seems to me that your channel never runs out of ideas! 😍 We stan a real queen

[alexandranorris]

"i love dinner parties, especially when they end in murder" excellent quote