Agatha Christie got it right here. You could make a case for each of the characters. Very powerful ending.

As a passionate Christie fan, I own and have read all of her books (80+), many of them two or three times. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is longer than most of her books so it has a little "filler," as I call it: pages of writing which could be left out without affecting the plot or progression of the book. For example, a long chapter is devoted to a Mah Jong game in which the only plot extender is the divulgence of the discovery of a wedding ring. But ever her "fillers" are fascinating. The book is about the murder of wealthy country gentleman Roger Ackroyd just as he is about to discover who has been blackmailing his friend and possible future wife, who has left him a letter telling all before committing suicide. Everyone in the house with him at the time of his death is a suspect and clues are abundant, as always. Hercule Poirot has recently moved to the little village of King Abbott and is asked by the victim's neice to find the killer. As usual he sifts through clues and observes the reactions of the suspects and discovers the killer whom he confronts. I love Christie's quaint descriptions of English country life and her dialogue that precisely identifies the characters. She's the master of mystery fiction; more than 2 billion copies of her books have been sold, with good reason. It doesn't get any better than this.

Mr Ferrars died a year ago, and his wife is rumored to have poisoned him. Mrs Ferrars is then found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills. And THEN the wealthiest man in town - Roger Ackroyd - is murdered! The local doctor joins the recently retired Monsieur Poirot as he helps the local police get to the heart of the matter.

Filled with suspense, intrigue, and a flock of red herrings, Christie delivers the goods. I read this on a business trip and it completely drew me in.

I picked up this particular Agatha Christie novel based on a recommendation in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, which is fun and beautiful reference (although note that it's about 95% novels).

To tell the truth I was excited to read this one because I had heard of it a million times and it's one of the classics. But when I read it, I didn't like it nearly as much as I had hoped. I guessed the ending very early on simply because people kept telling me how much of a surprise it was. It was ok but I think the most important part of any book is scenery, so for me this wasn't that great.

This Agatha Christie novel is written from the family doctor perspective, who is called late one evening to examine the death of his friend, Roger Ackroyd. Christie keeps the reader guessing until the very end of the book, with many characters possessing the motive for murder. The plot is also made more difficult by narrowing the time of the murder down to 10 or 15 minutes. Various characters lack alibis for this quarter of an hour, and the famous Hercule Poirot must ferret the truth out with a grand finale gathering of all the suspects (similar to a Thin Man movie). The reader will be surprised by the ending, as the murderer in Christie novels is not usually viewed from this perspective.