Roger Ackroyd has been found murdered at his estate. Dr. Sheppard had just left Roger's study around 8:50pm after Roger refused to let him read a mysterious letter from Mrs. Ferrars, who had recently died. The letter allegedly named the person blackmailing Mrs. Ferrars, who had poisoned her husband. Poirot, now going by the name "Mr. Porrott", lives in the village and plans to investigate the murder. Ralph Paton, Roger's nephew, and Flora Ackroyd, Ralph's fiancée, had financial ties to Roger and are considered suspects.

1. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

2. ‘Queen of Crime’ Agatha Christie
• 1890–1976
• Wrote during the “Golden Age” of detective
fiction
• Published her first detective novel, The
Mysterious Affair at Styles, featuring the Belgian
sleuth Hercule Poirot in 1919
• Wrote more than eighty novels, mostly mysteries,
starring Poirot and other recurring characters,
such as Mrs. Marple and Tommy and Tuppence

3. T S Eliot’s ideals for a good detective
story
(1) The story must not rely upon elaborate and incredible disguises.
(2) The character and motives of the criminal should be normal. In
the ideal detective story we should feel that we have a sporting
chance to solve the mystery ourselves; if the criminal is highly
abnormal an irrational element is introduced which offends us.
(3) The story must not rely either upon occult phenomena, or, what
comes to the same thing, upon mysterious and preposterous
discoveries made by lonely scientists.
(4) Elaborate and bizarre machinery is an irrelevance.
(5) The detective should be highly intelligent but not superhuman.
We should be able to follow his inferences and almost, but not
quite, make them with him.

4. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
• Written and published in 1926
• Mystery Novel
• It is set in King’s Abbot (a small village in rural
England)
• The novel is narrated from the first person
point of view of Dr. Sheppard
• The book ends with an unprecedented
plot twist - Hercule Poirot reveals that Dr.
Sheppard is the killer

5. Characters
• Dr James Sheppard – narrator
• Hercule Poirot – retired Belgian detective
• Roger Ackroyd – successful, middle-aged
businessman; murder victim
• Caroline Sheppard – sister and roommate
of Dr. James Sheppard; gossipy
• Ralph Paton – young, handsome son of Ms.
Paton, Roger Ackroyd’s first wife; chief suspect
in Roger Ackroyd’s murder

6. Characters
• Flora Ackroyd – beautiful young niece of Roger
Ackroyd, fiancé of Ralph Paton, and daughter
of Mrs. Ackroyd; considered a suspect in
Roger’s murder
• Charles Kent – “mysterious stranger” who Dr.
Sheppard notices while he’s coming home
from the Roger Ackroyd estate; illegitimate
child of Miss Elizabeth Russell, and a drug user

7. Chapter 1
• The novel is narrated by Dr. Sheppard, which
means, next to the detective, he is the most
trusted character.
• Dr Sheppard draws a contrast between himself
and his sister Caroline who is talkative and
collects gossip of the village.
• We are told about the death of Mrs Ferrars due
to overdose of Veronal. Caroline suspects it is a
suicide over the guilt of poisoning her husband
Mr Ashley Ferrars who was an alcoholic.

8. Chap 2
• The two “important houses” in town belonged to Mrs.
Ferrars and to Roger Ackroyd. Both will be victims.
• Roger Ackroyd is a successful, middle-aged
manufacturer of wagon wheels. He’s red-faced, genial,
and likeable. When Roger was younger, he married a
woman named Ms. Paton, a widow with a child. Paton
turned out to be a dipsomaniac (i.e., alcoholic), and
she drank herself to death. Roger raised Paton’s
biological child, Ralph.
• Ackroyd and Mrs Ferrars were rumoured to be lovers.

9. Chap 2
• Miss Russell comes to see Dr Sheppard. She’s
a stern, handsome woman, and she asks him
to examine her knee. Sheppard examines
Russell, but finds nothing. Russell asks
Sheppard about being “a slave of the drug
habit,” particularly cocaine, and if there’s a
cure. Sheppard says he doesn’t know. Russell
also asks if there are any untraceable poisons.
• This is a classic ‘red herring’ or smoking gun.

10. Chap 3
• At lunch, Dr. Sheppard tells Caroline that he’ll
be dining with Roger Ackroyd that night.
Caroline says that Ralph has been staying at
the local inn. Caroline thinks Ralph and Flora
might be engaged to marry.
• Poirot is mentioned – as ‘Mr Porrott’. His
identity is not known.

11. Chap 3
• ‘Mr. Porrott’ explains to Dr. Sheppard that he’s come to
live in the village because his old friend has gone to live
in South America. As a result, Porrott no longer feels
that he can proceed with “the study of human nature.”
Sheppard says he’s made bad investments and has lost
a lot of money recently.
• Poirot’s sidekick is named Captain Hastings—this is the
character Poirot says has gone to South America.
Sheppard admits he’s lost money, suggesting a possible
financial motive for a crime. However, Christie makes
readers think that Sheppard can be trusted by
comparing him to Hastings—the usual narrator and the
most trustworthy character in a Christie novel.

12. Chap 3
• Caroline comes home and tells Dr. Sheppard that
she’s just seen Roger Ackroyd, who told her
that Ralph and Flora are engaged. She also
explains that, while walking home through the
woods, she heard Ralph arguing with a woman.
Ralph said, “it is quite on the cards the old man
will cut me off with a shilling.” Ralph then
explained that he’d become a rich man as soon as
“the old man” died.
• Ralph is set up as a future suspect.

13. Chap 4
• , Dr. Sheppard arrives at Roger Ackroyd’s estate,
known as Fernly Park a little before 7:30 pm. The
butler, Parker, lets Sheppard inside, where
Sheppard finds Ackroyd’s secretary, Geoffrey
Raymond. Raymond greets Sheppard and,
noticing Sheppard’s black bag, asks him if he’s
here on medical business. Sheppard is about to
walk into the drawing room when he hears the
sound of a window being shut.
• The chapter begins with two seemingly minor
details that will become important: Sheppard’s
black bag, and the window being shut.

14. Chap 4
• Inside the drawing room, Sheppard finds Miss
Russell, who’s breathing hard. She appears
displeased. Sheppard notices that all the
windows are “long french ones,” meaning that
the sound he just heard couldn’t have been a
window shutting. He realizes that the sound
came from the lid of a silver table.

15. Chap 4
• Flora Ackroyd enters. She’s a beautiful young woman. Flora
proudly shows Dr. Sheppard her engagement ring,
which Ralph gave her a month previously. Flora and Ralph
announced their engagement yesterday, and Roger has
promised to set them up in one of his houses. Just then, Mrs.
Ackroyd enters. Dr. Sheppard dislikes Mrs. Ackroyd greatly: she’s
cold and “most unpleasant.” Major Hector Blunt enters. Blunt is
a well-known big-game hunter, he and Roger have been friends
for years. Sheppard notices that Blunt begins speaking to Flora
right away.
• Flora’s comments emphasize her financial ties to Roger Ackroyd,
her uncle (and, potentially, her motive for killing Roger). The
passage also emphasizes Mrs. Ackroyd’s financial ties to Roger:
she depends on him for money, and she seems to be thinking
about money constantly. Finally, the chapter introduces Major
Blunt.

16. • At dinner, Dr. Sheppard sits next to Mrs.
Ackroyd and Flora Ackroyd. Roger Ackroyd seems
depressed. After dinner, Roger leads Dr. Sheppard
to his study. Roger asks Sheppard for a tablet
(pill), and Sheppard—guessing that Roger is
trying to make their conversation seem medical—
plays along, asking Parker to bring his black bag
from the hall. Roger asks Sheppard to make sure
the window is closed, so Sheppard goes over to
the window and tells Roger it’s closed.

17. • When Parker has brought Dr. Sheppard’s bag and
left, Roger begins to speak openly. He says he’s “in hell” and
that he only asked about the tablets so that Parker wouldn’t
be suspicious. Roger asks Sheppard—who “attended Ashley
Ferrars in his last illness”—if he considered that Ferrars was
poisoned.
• Roger explains that he asked Mrs. Ferrars to marry him three
months ago, but she refused. Yesterday, Ferrars explained her
reason for refusing—she’s guilty of killing her husband, a
crime she committed partly because she loved Roger and
partly because she despised her husband. Roger tells Dr.
Sheppard that someone was blackmailing Mrs. Ferrars, but
she wouldn’t tell him the person’s name. However, Roger
wants to track down the blackmailer and “make him pay.” He’s
certain that Mrs. Ferrars left him a message before her death,
which must have been a suicide.

18. • Parker enters with the mail and
leaves. Roger finds an envelope from Mrs.
Ferrars. He asks Dr. Sheppard again if he shut the
window, and Sheppard insists that he has. Roger
explains that he’s had a feeling of being watched
all evening. Roger opens the letter and begins to
read. Mrs. Ferrars explains that she is going to kill
herself and leave to Roger “the punishment of
the person who has made my life a hell.” Roger
pauses and then tells Sheppard that he’ll read the
letter later, when he’s alone. Sheppard asks Roger
to read the letter now—just not aloud. Roger
refuses. Sheppard presses the point, but Roger
again refuses.

19. • Around 8:50 pm, some ten minutes after the
letter arrived, Dr. Sheppard leaves the study, “the
letter still unread.” Sheppard tries to think if
there’s anything he’s “left undone.” Outside, he
sees Parker, whom he tells, “Mr.
Ackroyd particularly does not want to be
disturbed.” Sheppard puts on his coat and leaves.
Outside, he passes by a “stranger” with “a hoarse
voice.”
• Around ten o’clock, when Dr. Sheppard is in bed,
the phone rings. He shouts to Caroline that
it’s Parker: Roger Ackroyd has just been found
murdered.