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

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

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

@beomini555

2 ай бұрын

Same lol

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.

As someone who had read other murder mysteries, including other ones by Agatha Christie, I can assure you that no twist has made my heart race as much as this one.

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.

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❣

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.

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

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

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 😊

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

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

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👍👍👍!!!

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.

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.

i just finished the book, its one of the first books that ive read in general. I suspected the killer from the beginning cause I was thinking of many real-life cases were the murderer helps the authorities and wants to be around during the investigation so they learn the new information and also misguide them but then the phone call changed my mind

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.

Sounds a great read. "The creme de la creme of literary spinsters" :)

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.

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.

@feelswriter

Жыл бұрын

I was wondering that was well

Two things make no sense but are only there as red herrings. 1. Flora Ackroyd's behavior at the door of Roger's office makes ZERO sense if she doesn't know Roget is dead. What does she think is going to happen the next morning when Roger says "Flora never came into my office, what is she talking about?" A normal reaction is for Flora to knock on the office door to say good night to Roger. But then the murder would be discovered early and the whole overly elaborate murder plot doesn't work, which is only one of many things that could go wrong with the plan. 2. Ralph's Behavior. What was the long-term plan with hiding? Does Ralph think he is going to remain in hiding for the rest of his life? What was he told about how the hiding would finish? I agree that Caroline if the best character. The Mahjong game is great.

@pedrorodrigez3367

7 күн бұрын

What doesn't make sense to me, is why Dr Sheppherd would reveal the blackmail plot to the police. He gave them his motive they wouldn't know otherwise.

@macroman52

7 күн бұрын

@@pedrorodrigez3367 because Parker told the police that he, Parker, heard blackmail mentioned. It is weird that Parker would mention it, given his background, but once he did the doctor was virtually forced to mention it.

The only thing i regreat is that i read endless night before reading murder of roger ackroyd , thats why i suspected narrator from the beginning Then i was so sure that dr was killer when shepperd convincing flora not to hire poirot , yeah i guessed everything , i highly regreat that , i love getting fooled by Cristy 😂

There are more Poirot novels than Miss Marple ones, but I enjoy the Miss Marple much more than Poirot. He is portrayed as a more humorous character as Christie describes him. Miss Marple is a much more admirable character who is underestimated. Try A Murder is Announced or Pocketful of Rye. They are all good.

I read _The Murder of Roger Ackroyd_ after seeing Michael K. Vaughan’s positive review in April 2021. SPOILER BELOW… I, like you, thought that the killer was probably the secretary because the secretary would be the person most likely to know about the Dictaphone, in spite of his protestations to the contrary. The killer’s identity did come as a complete and delightful surprise to me. So far, the only Agatha Christie mystery I’ve been able to figure out was her play _The Mousetrap._

@SpinstersLibrary

Жыл бұрын

Haha, yes, it caught me entirely by surprise! I don't expect I'll have much luck figuring out her mysteries in general, I'm not very good at that 😅

I wrote down tons of clues during the reading of this story, and before the big reveal I did write down by Dr. Sheppard's name that he might be an unreliable narrator... But... The Dictaphone had me thinking it was Raymond too.

I figured out who the murderer was, but did not trust myself. 😂

I read this many years ago and didn't guess the killer. Fantastic book with lots of threads and yes Caroline is brilliant. I saw the tv show and was disappointed that they didn't use her very much in it.

I randomly decided to read an Agatha Christie novel, and pulled up a top ten list. I made the mistake of reading the little attached review which referred only to a "stunning twist". As soon as the book started, I thought that this could only mean it was either Poirot himself or the culprit, and since she pulled the trick of it being the detective elsewhere (besides which I found it unlikely she'd do that to a much-loved character), I basically suspected the culprit from the beginning. As it went on, it was rather pleasing to spot the clues which I think I would have missed otherwise, but I wonder if I'd ever have figured it out if I went in completely cold.

I read this about a year ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.

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.

it's my favorite Christie book

This is a lovely review. I think I've already had the book spoiled for me by Lucy Worsley's biography of Agatha Christie, but just to be safe I stopped watching at the ominous thunderclap. Fyi Lucy Worsley's biography of Agatha Christie's biography also spoils Crooked House. I've been putting off reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd because the spoiler is so fresh in my head. I don't think it'll go away though, and your review makes me hopeful that I'll still enjoy the book. If there are multiple plot twists, there are likely plenty I don't know about. Plus, Caroline sounds like a gem of a character who is worth reading about in her own right. 😊

@SpinstersLibrary

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely, and as I said I imagine this is good on a reread, so even if you already know now The Twist, you'll still get something out of the story. How annoying to be spoilered in the biography though!

I had been spoiled about this book long before I ever saw an adaption of the novel. It was a tv special talking about books that were known or started famous book tropes. Christie participated in books like Murder on Orient Express and And There Were None. Then they talked about this book with the unreliable narrator trope and gave away the solution.

Forty years ago I read a lot of Agatha Christie. It got so I could reliably figure out the solution to the murder. I wasn't able to figure out Murder on the Orient Express because I didn't know that could be a solution. I hated that ending and that book. Shortly after I read the Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and I was able to guess the murder solution, based on Christie "breaking the rules" in Orient Express. I was actually disappointed to be correct, and at that point I was done with her books. I do not like that book at all -- I think the ending is dumb. Anyway, it's been decades so I might try her again. BTW I preferred the Miss Marple books.

There are many more Poirot novels than Marple. But if you want a fairplay Marple mystery I recommend A Murder Is Annnounced.

Never expected the end :)

(SPOILER!!!!) It seems to me that the book played completely fair with the reader: nothing Dr. Sheppard says to the reader is ever untrue, and he gives us all the information that Poirot had. He merely omits certain facts that he did not tell Poirot either, such as that he is the murderer and that some of the statements he makes to other characters are lies - but of course he never told us that he wasn't lying to those characters, merely recorded what it was that he said to them. Since fair play means that the reader and the detective have equal information to work with, it would in fact have been unfair (although to Poirot, not to us) if Sheppard had revealed to us any of the facts that he conceals from Poirot. In any case, we know in advance of the final revelation that Sheppard has not been telling us everything, since we know by then that he has concealed, both from us and from Poirot, what he knows about Ralph's whereabouts; so we can take into account, before Poirot makes his accusation, that the book is allowing Sheppard to omit important facts in his narrative, though not to lie. Not that we need that to be made so explicit, as the book is playing fair anyway -- something that the great mystery novelist Dorothy L. Sayers famously affirmed at the time.

It was a good story, tied up nicely and probably took a lot of meticulous work by the author. These style of books might not be for me and the whole time James & Caroline Sheppard grated on my last nerve! I wished they would just go away and thought they were the true villains but now it makes sense.

5 stars for this novel! It has a completely unexpected ending.

@SpinstersLibrary

Жыл бұрын

I never saw it coming!

@amayagz1933

Жыл бұрын

@@SpinstersLibrary Me neither!

This is not the only Agatha Christie's novel with the protagonist as well as the first person narrator who turns out to be a killer. I don't think it would be a good idea to reveal the title. It might deprive you of the pleasure of your own exploration.😊

@SpinstersLibrary

Жыл бұрын

Oh, really? Ohhhh.... yeah will definitely do more exploring there.

u LOOK like Agatha Christie

I'n usually really bad at guessing these, but somehow this one was very obvious to me from the start. I guess that's why I didn't like this book so much.