Raglan presents a timetable detailing where everyone was in the house at the time of the murder-they all have alibis. Inspectors Raglan and Davis-the two detectives officially investigating the case-arrive and announce that they have the matter solved already. Both confirm that a stranger had visited, but the person did not fit Sheppard’s description. Poirot asks Parker and Raymond about a stranger whom Sheppard says visited Fernly Park. Sheppard and Flora agree, and Poirot begins asking questions. Poirot agrees to investigate on the condition that once he starts, he will not stop until the whole truth is revealed. They forcibly enter Ackroyd’s locked study and find him sitting in a chair with a knife through his back.įlora asks Sheppard to accompany her to get Sheppard’s neighbor Hercule Poirot (a retired police detective) involved in the case. When Sheppard arrives at Fernly Park, however, Parker says he placed no such phone call. Later that evening, Sheppard receives a phone call from Parker informing him that Ackroyd has been found murdered. Ackroyd chooses to read it privately rather than with Sheppard there. Ferrars, which is presumably her suicide note containing the blackmailer’s identity. During the conversation, a letter arrives from the deceased Mrs. Ferrars confessed to him that she killed her husband and that someone was blackmailing her because of it. After dinner, Ackroyd and Sheppard meet privately in Ackroyd’s study, where Ackroyd informs him that his ex-fiancée Mrs. During dinner, Flora announces her engagement to Ackroyd’s stepson, Ralph Paton. Cecil Ackroyd, Roger’s sister-in-law Flora, her daughter Geoffrey Raymond, Roger’s secretary Parker, the butler Miss Russell, the housekeeper Ursula Bourne, the parlourmaid and Major Blunt, a big game hunter.

Sheppard is invited to a dinner party at Ackroyd’s house, Fernly Park. Sheppard is unsure since there is no evidence to support the theory, but he wonders if it might be true. Ferrars died by suicide because she could not live with the guilt of murdering her husband. Caroline, Sheppard’s sister, believes Mrs. She was engaged to Roger Ackroyd, whose deceased wife was also a heavy drinker. Ferrars previously poisoned her husband, who had a drinking problem.

Ferrars, who overdosed on the sleeping medicine Veronal. James Sheppard, detailing the death of Mrs. This guide refers to the 2011 William Morrow paperback edition. In 2013, the British Crime Writer’s Association named it the best crime novel ever written, and it is included in several lists of the most influential crime fiction of all time. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is Christie’s third and most critically acclaimed novel featuring detective Hercule Poirot, and it made its mark on the mystery genre through its unique and controversial ending.

The murder of ackroyd