Your old fashioned pommie murder, add one Belgie.

An English gent type gets bumped off - and the possibilities for who did the bumping are reasonably extensive, as Poirot discovers thanks to the local grapevine.

That being said, I found this particular mystery rather dull, with plenty of other Christie books being of more interest.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2009/11... ( )

This mystery was kind of boring after reading the Orient Express. Although I enjoyed trying to figure out who did it. I suggest that you don't read this book right after The Muder on the Orient Express. ( )

This is the 4th of the Poirot mysteries and as such Poirot is still somewhat of a character that is evolving and developing. Captain Hastings is not in this book, he has gone to Argentina since Poirot has retired from being the great detective and moved incognito to a small village. And the book misses Hastings, especially his narration and his ability to help us see Poirot clearly. The narrator this time is the village doctor, Dr. Shepard. And what you miss without Hastings in the role of narrator, the reader gains with the doctor in that role as he is better able to describe the village and the people who live there than Hastings would have been able to do. In fact the character that is most clearly developed and resonants (even more so than Poirot) is the doctor's sister, Caroline. She is a spinster, busybody that has an intricate information network that can find out anything she needs to know about her village (almost an early prototype of Miss Marple who did not appear for another 4-5 years). The exchanges between Caroline and her brother are some of the best parts of the book.

This is a high class who-dunit. An almost perfect, classic English mystery set in a village where the country squire-like character is killed and multiple people have motive and oppurtunity. The number of clues is dazzling and the solution to the murder remains elusive. Many murder mystery series rely on the reader to develop a relationship with the hero and then be willing to follow the hero through stories that are not necessarily well plotted or have gapping holes in the logic. But such is not the case in this book. Without Hastings or Inspector Japp or Miss Lemon to help develop the character of Poirot for us, the reader is left with the ability of the writer to tell us a story that is interesting and well plotted. And Agatha Christie does that and more. She not only tells us a great story, she shows us a little piece of the little Belgian's heart even without Hastings there to describe it as Poirot shows understanding and kindness to the character that we the reader have come to care for the most during the telling of the story. It is an artful telling of the story by Agatha Christie. ( )

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is my first real experience reading Agatha Christie. I've heard a lot about her novels, and as a little girl who watched way too much Murder She Wrote and played far too much Clue, I have no idea why it is has taken me this long. But in the same token I suppose I didn't want to be disappointed, because I liked the idea of these amazing mystery stories. Finally, biting the bullet, this was the novel that topped everyone's list, so I gave it a try and I am so glad I did. The build up and gradual investigation of the murder mystery played out like I thought it would. But the ending is not something that I think anyone, even now could find predictable. This novel is truly something incredibly unique for the unspoiled reader. ( )

One of my favorite authors has broken all the rules. The solution to this case is a surprise, and rereading it recently I still couldn't figure it out. ( )