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Rating: 
Summary: Speechless...
Review: I don't think anyone could have predicted the way this ended. I knocked myself on the head several times after realizing the truth. Christie is as michevious as they get. The plot is essentially about a man(Roger) who is murdered and Poirot(who came for a 'vacation') decides to try and solve it. Everyone in the town has a secret they are hiding- but one of them has the worst of all.
There should be no contreversy surronding it in my mind. I think it was cleverly thought out.
BEST EVER AS OF NOW( I still have a few to read)
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Summary: A Master at the Top of Her Game
Review: Agatha Christie, the doyenne supreme of the English mystery novel, wrote in the Murder of Roger Ackroyd, one of the most stunning examples of the genre.
Detective mysteries reached its apotheosis in the first few decades of the 20th century. Edgar Allen Poe is credited with inventing the genre, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with the iconical Sherlock Holmes created the eccentric detective and Dorothy Sayers for her erudite writing and witty portrayal of Lord Peter. But only Agatha Christie managed to create not one but two supremely popular and fascinating detectives, Miss Marple, the sweet and sharp elderly spinster and Hercule Poirot, that finicky, green-eyed retired Belgian sleuth.
In 1927, Christie was part of a "Detective Writer's Club" that included many prominent writers, including Ms. Sayers. They met and wrote to one another and compiled a list of "rules" for the detective genre. In fact, they collaborated on a book called the "Admiral's Club", a mediocre result but fascinating for its provenance.
Yes, the denouement to the Murder of Roger Ackroyd is surprising, but the Detectives Club, after much discussion claimed that Christie had played fair, and critics should accept that they had been hoodwinked.
Don't think about this when you read the book. Enjoy the characters, some flat, but still appealing. The servants with something to hide, the pretty niece, the handsome blackguard adopted son, the stuffed-up Colonel who talks endlessly about his days at the Shanghai Club and one of the most developed characters - the gossipy, autocratic and ultimately kindly spinster sister, Caroline.
Enjoy the setting - the English village in the 1920s. The new technologies that seem so quaint to us and yet still prevalent in our own societies. The gossip, the lovers triangles, the class snobbery. There's something so delicious about these closed-door mysteries with characters running around a large home, each with their own secrets. Of course, only Hercule Poirot can illuminate and integrate these secrets to reveal the truth and an unexpected quality of mercy.
Hercule Poirot - that lovable prima donna, forever trying to retire, and like Don Corleone, finding himself "dragged back in". Of course he loves the chase. And like one of the characters said about him, he is never more dangerous then when he's playing the "ridiculous mounteback".
Don't read this first if you've never read Agatha Christie. Read Five Little Pigs, The Murder on the Orient Express, The Body in the Library,Ten Little Indians and other masterpieces. Then you will appreciate the number of ways she managed to outwit us. Read "Roger Ackroyd" once for fun and twice for a master class in detective ficton writing.
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Summary: Wow! My first Agatha Christie, and certainly not the last!
Review: Having to read this book for my Crime Stories class at my college, I knew that I should read it before it was assigned so as to actually enjoy it and not have the classic case of "assigned-book-equals-boring-book"-syndrome that too many students have to suffer. I read it about two weeks before it was assigned, and finished it today. Oh my god, that was amazing!Written in a complex (not to mention dated) style, this book is narrated by one James Sheppard, a small-town doctor in Victorian England. He introduces us to the town and its characters (which, I might add, there are a LOT of), and the whole mystery itself. It also features the super detective Hercule Poirot, in his fourth adventure (yes, this is part of a series...fortunately it doesn't seem to involve any of the other books except through vague mentions). As to the mystery, I won't get too into it, it involves the suicide and possible blackmail of a woman, a wealthy man's murder, and...okay, just read it and find out for yourself. It's just so interesting; it's a quick read, and once you put this book down...just...I can't begin to describe it. Let's just say that I could not believe how everything turned out in the end. Read it, and I hope you enjoy it as much.
Rating: 
Summary: .....the story just wasn't entertaining
Review: Hercule Poirot has lost interest in the dective business since the departure of Hastings to South America. He has retired to a small village to grow vegetable marrows and live a quiet life. He discovers that vegetable marrows do not grow in an orderly manner and that crime does not limit itself to the city. The village is buzzing with gossip about the suicide of a local well to do widow and then is sent reeling by the murder of Roger Ackroyd, the wealthiest man in town. Poirot is drawn into these problems by Ackroyd's niece, Flora and finds himself not only dealing with murder but also with blackmail, petty theft and romance. In Hastings absence the story is told by the local doctor who is also a next door neighbor of Hercule Poirot. When this novel came out in 1926 it was immensely popular and somewhat controversial in that it broke one of the 'rules' for a good dectective novel (and you will have to read the book to find out which one). THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD ranks with AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (AKA TEN LITTLE INDIANS) and MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS as Christie at her most orginal. This story is also significant in that one of the characters, Caroline, the doctor's sister, has been credited by Christie as being the forerunner of Miss Marple. The soon to be familiar Christie theme of small towns as hot beds of intrigues both large and small is seen here for the first time. This book has aged very gracefully, the first time reader of today will probably be just as surprised as the readers of the 1920's were. As always with a Christie the clues are all there fairly laid out for the reader to follow.
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Summary: A landmark in murder mystery
Review: Only the brilliant mind of Agatha Christie could have thought of this ingenious murder mystery. The facts are all there but who would have guessed. Being British myself this book describes the setting as well as the language of the characters and surroundings to a tee. An emotional ending which leaves one thinking about life in Kings Abbot after....Must read to fill in my missing words.Its appeal still holds even after reading it so many times since its publication in 1926. After reading the book perhaps you will agree with me that to create this into a movie (which I would hope one day to be possible) would be a great challenge.
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Summary: A Wonderful Book
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Book
Review: 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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Summary: THE Christie Book
Review: This is the most controversial mystery novel of the 20th century. It nearly got Agatha Christie kicked out of the Detection Club (an organization of writers who agreed to play fair). It put her on the map. It's her best work - ever.
The book is a first person account of a Hercule Poriot mystery, done by Doctor James Sheppard, a country doctor serving his community. He was there from almost the beginning, and his narrative provides a wonderful account of the murder of his friend, Rodger Ackroyd.
Rodger Ackroyd's female friend took her own life. She wrote a letter to him before she did so, naming the man who ruined her life - a blackmailer who knew she killed her first husband. Rodger read the letter to Dr. Sheppard, but wouldn't continue when he realized a blackmailer would be exposed because of it. Dr. Sheppard begged him to continue and get the name - to no avail.
Ackroyd didn't comply. James Sheppard left and went home, only to get a myserious phone call telling him Rodger had been murdered. Murdered he was - and the letter was missing!
Enter Sheppard's neighbor, Hercule Poriot. Dr. Sheppard plays Dr. Watson, following the sleuth around and recording what he finds. From a missing son to a married maid; from the theft of household money.
In the end, Poroit invites all the cast to a room where he talks about the case, and says he has a solution - which he will reveal to the police in 24 hours. The only way for an innocent man to be saved was for the real killer to confess one way or another... and even though Dr. Sheppard has all the facts of the case, he can't see how Poriot could put them all together into a surprising solution of the case.
In short, if you want a book that will shock you, read this one. Well crafted, with devious plot devices, Christie showed her genius for detective fiction with this book. It was a work of genius because she had the imagination to do something amazingly original. It may have nearly got her kicked out of the Detection Club, but history has sided with her - she was right all along. This is her most classic work of all time.
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Summary: One of the best examples of Christie's genius
Review: Truely one of the most surprising endings of a mystery book. Even if you're familliar with Christie's writing, this will very likely throw you off your feet.
The story itself is a pleasent one, written in Christie's usual light manner. There are the colorful English characters, and all flows well enough, until the ending slaps you in the face like a full sized vegetable marrow. If you've guessed the ending, my hat's off to you. If not, don't feel bad, I've not met the person who has.
If you'd like, you can keep your eye out for the clues - they are there; very very subtle, but planted in the book.
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Summary: Tops the others in many ways
Review: 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. Without giving away the plot, suffice to say that Dame Agatha had written her ultimate masterpiece when she decided to write "...Roger Ackroyd". For first-time readers: Don't be fooled by the length of the novel. The clues are there, sprinkled neatly and merrily along with the darned red herrings. You have to read it slowly, as it was with most of her novels. The story: a doctor was called by Roger Ackroyd to discuss an important matter, but before he could divulge it further he was interuppted by the evening post. The matter was left there, and the doctor went home, seeing his host a bit disturbed. When he got home another call came in and announced that Mr Ackroyd was dead. Thus Poirot came into the scene and began nosing around. The solution was truly one of the most surprising in literature history. The novel became the measuring rod for future mystery and detective novels, although its controversy is undeniable. My suggestion is that you ignore the controversy for the moment and concentrate on the story.
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