100 Years of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

17th September 1925. Dr Sheppard receives a phone call at his home in Kings Abbot asking him to come urgently to Fernly Park. Upon his arrival, he finds its owner, Roger Ackroyd, stabbed in the back with an ornate dagger. Sheppard quickly becomes assistant to Hercule Poirot, the latest resident of Kings Abbot, who is asked to investigate the murder by Ackroyd’s niece Flora.

What follows is an expertly plotted and mind-boggling mystery, full of suspects, clues, twists and turns, in what was only Agatha Christie’s third Poirot novel. Released in June 1926, the book was the first to be published by William Collins, and the start of a long relationship between author and publisher.

Christie dedicated the book to her sister Madge (“Punkie”), who some years earlier had challenged Agatha to write a detective story – the result of which was 1920’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Madge’s husband James Watts had his part to play in Ackroyd: Christie credited him with giving her the basic idea for the murderer, along with Lord Mountbatten, who independently wrote to her with a similar suggestion.

As with all of Christie’s stories, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is replete with contemporary references which provide a window into the post-World War 1 era of the 1920s: electric lights and a new vacuum cleaner receive their due mention, and drug use is a prominent sub-theme. We’re also treated to a delightful scene of villagers playing a game of mahjong, a craze during this decade.

The story was the first of Christie’s to be adapted for stage, and not by Christie herself. Alibi was first performed in 1928, with a number of changes not wholly to her satisfaction; this prompted her to write original plays and adapt existing stories herself. 

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd has since been adapted in various ways for radio and screen, but it’s that first-time read that one never forgets – and the enjoyment of going back to work out how Christie did it.