Murder Of Roger Ackroyd: Amazon.ca: Agatha Christie: Books

Product Description

From Library Journal

This novel, written in 1927, is considered the best and most successful of the early mysteries. It met with no small outrage when it appeared, as it uses a plot device many readers thought "unfair." There is a full complement of characters populating the cozy English village of King's Abbot: Major Blunt, Colonel Carter, Miss Gannett, the butler, the housekeeper, the narrator, Dr. Sheppard, and his know-it-all sister (the precursor of Miss Marple, according to Christie), and, of course, the redoubtable Hercule Poirot and his little grey cells. There are clues with a capital C to mislead us, and the listener gets so involved with these red herrings (or not) that the very simple truth eludes the puzzler. Venerable reader Robin Bailey keeps the light, almost comic tone alive, although his voices are not particularly differentiated, and often he rushes the reading of dialog. A classic of the genre and essential for any fiction collection. Harriet Edwards, East Meadow P.L., NY

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A classic -- the book has worthily earned its fame." Irish Independent --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

108 Reviews

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.6 out of 5 stars (108 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Reading for a Cold Winter's Night, Feb 4 2011

By

Alison S. Coad (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hardcover)

I'm sure that I read "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd," by Agatha Christie, decades ago, but I'd more or less forgotten the plot when I picked it up again at the beginning of February. This is from 1926 and is one of the early Hercule Poirot tales, in which our Belgian sleuth has retired to a small village, King's Abbot, to grow marrows. His quiet retirement is interrupted by the sudden murder of the wealthy local man, Roger Ackroyd, and he has no shortage of suspects in his quest to solve the case. In fact, there may be too many motives for him to be able to sort it all out....Agatha Christie is, of course, considered the Queen of Crime and this book is the one that truly cemented her popularity among readers; as such, it is of course a classic. The plotting is tight, the characters are well-drawn (if a bit stereotypical for the period) and the clues (or "clews" as they're called here) are fairly disbursed. I'm pleased that I figured out - or remembered - who the murderer was, but really one reads Christie for comfort more than to test one's deductive abilities. Recommended, especially on a cold winter's night!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Totally surprised, Mar 3 2008

By

Juran Liu (Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Murder Of Roger Ackroyd (Paperback)

This is the very first Agatha Christie book I ever read. I have to admit that I was completely surprised by its ending. I did not cast any suspicions to the real murderer at all until the plot was revealed. Lots of seemingly irrelevant facts are pieced together logically at the end. Highly recommend this book and will get more Agatha Christie books to read.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Book, July 10 2004

By

E. Clinton (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Murder Of Roger Ackroyd (Paperback)

The plot is awesome and it contains a great ending - that I did not see coming. A few things that make Agatha Christie great are: (1) her writing is lean and spare; (2) her characters all have an important role to play; (3) she has a sense of humor; and (4) there are no silly chase scenes or senseless violence. A thoughtfully written mystery.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Tops the others in many ways
When I first reached for the book I didn't expect it to be a controversial read. Six hours later, I was agape, in denial and most certainly scandalized. Read more

Published on July 5 2004 by madonluv

2.0 out of 5 stars .....the story just wasn't entertaining
Being a fan of past mystery book I have read, especially "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie I had no trouble picking up "The Murder of Roger... Read more

Published on Feb 12 2004