Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
    Unavailable
    The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
    Unavailable
    The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

    Written by Agatha Christie

    Narrated by Hugh Fraser

    4.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    Read the ebook instead

    About this audiobook

    Agatha Christie’s most daring crime mystery – an early and particularly brilliant outing of Hercule Poirot, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, with its legendary twist, changed the detective fiction genre for ever.

    Roger Ackroyd was about to be married. He had a life of wealth and privilege. First he lost his fiancée – and then his life.

    The day after her tragic suicide he retires upstairs to read a mysterious letter, leaving his closest friends and family to eat dinner below.

    Just a few hours later he is found stabbed to death in a locked room with a weapon from his own collection.

    Was he killed for money? For love? Or for something altogether more sinister?

    The truth will out.
    But you won’t see it coming.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateSep 12, 2006
    ISBN9780007248599
    Author

    Agatha Christie

    Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in over 70 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 20 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.

    More audiobooks from Agatha Christie

    Related to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

    Crime Thriller For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Memo To Self: Don't Tell Bernard Manning Gags

      Nov 15, 2023

      ‘Do you reckon,’ I enquired on a visit to my wife in bucolic Dorset, ‘that this is an early sign of frontal-lobe dementia?’ Rebecca, who underscored her high intelligence and flawless judgement by vacating the marital home 13 years ago, pondered this

      3 min read

    • Article

      Nothing Compares To You, Mum

      Aug 23, 2023

      Is there a more comical phrase, from the mouth of someone pushing 60, than ‘I'm an orphan now'? There may be rivals. ‘Suella Braverman,’ for example, ‘she's nice.’ Or ‘I love flying Ryanair.’ For all that, there is something so innately amusing about

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Psychic Detective

      Nov 26, 2020

      Ruthy Baker, 57, from Colchester, Essex I groaned as I read the text from my friend Lynn. ‘Fancy coming to see a meidum tonight?’ ‘What a load of codswallop,’ I muttered. Lynn was into all that spiritual stuff, but I was a complete sceptic, thought

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Punning Man

      Feb 14, 2023

      I found a classical composer crouched down in the corner of our wardrobe. “What are you doing in there?” I said in shock, to which he replied, under his breath, “Shh, I’m Haydn!” I stole a bulk lot of cloth from a nunnery once, but I didn’t make a ha

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Scarlet PEBBLE

      Feb 28, 2024

      The Scarlet PEBBLE
      9 min read

    • Article

      Ancestor envy ANYONE?

      Aug 31, 2023

      Ancestor envy ANYONE?
      4 min read

    • Article

      Mayo, Sir?

      Nov 12, 2021

      I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. I was 17 and meeting Caroline’s parents for the first time. Caroline was a friend I was hoping would become a girlfriend. I think the feeling was mutual because she’d invited me to a family meal. As I heard

      2 min read

    • Article

      Pats On The Back

      Dec 12, 2019

      I AM writing this column from a prone position. Reclining on my sofa in the library, propped up with cushions like some latter-day Lady Ottoline Morrell, but without the wit, brilliance and patronage. I wish I could say my current condition arose fro

      3 min read

    • Article

      Happy And Glorious

      Jun 1, 2022

      ICAN’T remember when I last used my 12 Fabergé after-dinner coffee cups. Americans call these little cups ‘demitasse’, which is about as bi-lingual as we get. Mine come in five colours and I treasure them, although I’ve reached the age where my guest

      4 min read

    • Article

      Let The Bones Talk

      Jun 16, 2021

      Let The Bones Talk
      6 min read

    • Article

      Let The Bones Talk

      Jun 16, 2021

      Let The Bones Talk
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Invitation

      Aug 21, 2023

      York, October 1644 Before I’ve even mustered the courage to knock, the door to the townhouse flings open. I drop my hand. “It is me, John Falmouth,” I say and wince at how loud my voice carries into the night. My greeting falters when I look up and n

      6 min read

    • Article

      Condemned To Death

      Apr 14, 2020

      Condemned To Death
      5 min read

    • Article

      Last Orders

      Jul 28, 2021

      Last Orders
      5 min read

    • Article

      Howl Palace

      Sep 15, 2019

      Last week, I finally had to put Howl Palace up for sale. Years of poor financial planning had led to this decision, and I tried to take some comfort in my agent’s belief in a buyer who might show up with an all-cash offer. My agent is a highly organi

      25 min read

    • Article

      ‘Til Death Do Us Part

      Oct 26, 2023

      ‘Til Death Do Us Part
      5 min read

    • Article

      A WING AND a prayer

      Sep 28, 2021

      A raven saved my life Cate McMurray, 47, from West Midlands I ’d always known I was different. As a small child, I used to see and hear people who weren’t there. One day, I was playing hide ‘n’ seek with my two sisters, and tucked myself away in a cu

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Bluebeard of Wives

      Oct 3, 2019

      A Bluebeard of Wives
      6 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Sep 1, 2022

      First prize 10 and under Tang Li, age 9 Palmetto Bay, FL My name is Anisa. I was in Hawaii on vacation. I enjoyed sipping refreshing drinks, overlooking the turquoise ocean, and dancing with others, before I overheard that the priceless Fire Ring wa

      10 min read

    • Article

      RESIDENT Ghosts

      Jan 29, 2020

      RESIDENT Ghosts
      8 min read

    • Article

      Cordial Relationships

      Nov 20, 2022

      ‘What are you doing?” Greg asked. “I am,” I announced proudly, in my best Country Women’s Institute voice, “making elderflower cordial.” He looked at me for a long moment, shook his head sadly, and said, “I feel sorry for you.” This was extremely rud

      3 min read

    • Article

      Table Talk in Austenworld

      May 17, 2018

      There are two traits in her character which are pleasing; namely, she admires Camilla, and drinks no cream in her tea. —Jane Austen in a letter to Cassandra, January 1796 The company was seated for dinner on the second night of the camp, and as we di

      5 min read

    • Article

      Once Bitten, twice Shy

      Mar 7, 2024

      Sipping my coffee in the kitchen, I heard my husband Miles, then 45, call from our bedroom across the hall. ‘Who’s that shouting outside?’ he groaned. It was 9.30am on a Sunday morning in August 2022. I loved relaxing Sundays, and on this one Miles w

      4 min read

    • Article

      Best Of The Best

      Oct 29, 2022

      Best Of The Best
      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

    4.5/5

    519 ratings155 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      After a widow who was being blackmailed commits suicide, it comes out that she was being blackmailed for murdering her husband and she was having a secret affair with the wealthy Roger Ackroyd. Then he is murdered before he can reveal the blackmailer's name, leaving behind a house full of suspects. Hercule Poirot is called out of retirement to solve the case.This is one of Agatha Christie's most famous mysteries, justifiably so. Even though I am sure I read it during my Christie period--a time in my pre-teen years when I read almost every one of her books--I didn't remember the details. I am also sure the notorious twist ending was revealed to me many times in the years since then, but I too blocked that from my mind. It's a good thing, because not knowing is what makes this book so enjoyable. It's a fast, entertaining read, Christie at her absolute best, and all the elements that made her mysteries so good are here--the country house, the small-town busybody, the hidden love affairs, the baffling clues, the red herrings. If you must read only one Agatha Christie novel, this is the one to choose--but watch out for spoilers!First read in early 1980s; reread in 2013.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      My first Christie and I am very impressed. Had me interested and guessing the whole novel and am happy to say the twist was a pleasant surprise for me.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      The BBC radio production was really well done and made listening to the book so enjoyable!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      logically, i know flora and major blunt are minor characters and that agatha is deceased, but that does not stop me from wanting an entire spin-off novel of their romance

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      One of the best books I have ever read. Had me second guessing myself throughout the whole narration and left me at a loss at the very end. I dare doubters to find WHO killed Ackroyd.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Christie is such fun and this made for good escapist reading.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Poirot retires to grow marrows… and solve the murder of a widower who was hiding a dark secret.

      One of Christie’s most notorious works, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" is an interesting case: it’s undoubtedly a good book, but there’s a certain laziness in ascribing it “classic” quality just because of that ending. There’s no doubt that "Roger Ackroyd" is a defining moment in the history of crime fiction, but how does that stand up against the book as a work of the genre?

      Well, the simple answer is: very well. In fact, I’d call it the best book Christie wrote in the ’20s. Admittedly, she spent much of this decade writing short stories and dabbling in thrillers, but in some ways, "Roger Ackroyd" was where Dame Agatha found her place constructing baffling mysteries and then – more importantly – obfuscating every damn element of them. There’s nothing amazing in the construction of the murder itself, and one could argue that there are too many red herrings, to the point where it just becomes nonsensical. Yet, there’s nothing at all wrong with it either. Each individual clue makes sense, and Poirot’s investigation is both completely logical to the viewer and completely impossible for us to mimic, while also justifying the fact that he fails to detect the killer for so long.

      Christie had reduced Hastings to a recurring player already, and so Dr. James Sheppard fills in as narrator: it’s a perfect decision, because we get to essentially “re-meet” Poirot: a retired, civil but reclusive man who just wants to grow vegetable marrows. When he returns to active detection, Poirot will become much more arrogant, but in this environment, he is just a tradesman, doing his job.

      [Retrospectively speaking, Poirot's retirement in 1926 raises questions about how he remains so active into the 1970s, but that's another story.]

      The twist ending of "Roger Ackroyd", which I won’t spoil here, was front-page news at the time, and reasonably so. It was unprecedented, endlessly clever, and – depending on who you talked to – possibly unfair for the reader, who couldn’t be expected to figure it out. I’m not sure if that would apply nowadays. I certainly didn’t, but it’s possible a more astute reader – with ninety years of this trick’s descendants – may figure out the killer. (Of course, the other possibility – which has happened to all of us at some point – is that the mere act of knowing there’s a trick ending means you figure it out. You somehow become more cagey, and those little details – the joins and the screws – stand out.)

      So, is "Roger Ackroyd" a classic? Well, yes and no… and yes. It deserved the praise at the time, and still remains a bold experiment. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the reception to this novel – and the mere struggle it must have to been to write it – prepared Dame Agatha for her increasingly elaborate constructions in future, and her other no-holds-barred twisters like "Murder on the Orient Express" and "And Then There Were None". (Not to mention "The Mousetrap".) "Roger Ackroyd" is very solidly put together and – in truth – I can find nothing to fault it.

      Poirot ranking: 8th out of 38

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      My favorite Agatha Christie mystery. This was our latest family read. What a great mystery! And you'll never guess the ending...

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I loved the twist at the end. One of Agatha Christie’s cleverest novels. I just wish there was an epilogue to tell you what happened to the characters afterwards.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Roger Ackroyd is found murdered in his study and Hercule Poirot gets to exercise all his grey cells to find the killer. This one has a truly original murderer-reveal (or did at its publication - it's possible others have attempted the same now) and I am impressed with how Christie pulls off the subterfuge. I already knew who the killer would turn out to be, so I wasn't on tenterhooks, but I did pick it up to see the mechanics of how she did it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Warning: Contains spoilerA murder is committed in the sleepy village of King's Abbot but, as luck will have it, the famous detective Hercule Poirot has taken up residence there to enjoy his retirement. When the murdered man's niece, Flora Ackroyd, urges him to take on the case, Poirot acquiesces and begins to make enquiries ...This was an enjoyable murder mystery, though in my opinion not Agatha Christie's best: agreed, the murder is committed in the most cunning method, but there's a distinct lack of credible alternative culprits that makes the 'who', if not the 'how', relatively easy to work out. Today considered a classic among Christie's works, this is the earliest example of the stylistic device of an unreliable narrator used that I'm aware of (the novel was published in 1926), and deserves recognition for that fact alone.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Really held my interest, and I didn't try to figure out who the murderer was beforehand, but, I certainly was not prepared for the result. Very cleverly written.First Poirot book, that I have read and I found his character delightful.This story is worth a re-read.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This one started slower for me but by the end I was 😳😳😳. Had my suspicions but they were never on the actual culprit. This was my first adventure with Poirot and I can't wait to see what else he has in store. So excited that my A.C. Collection is growing. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I see from the flyleaf of this book tat i bought it at the age of thirteen, on a visit to York with my parents in the long, hot summer of 1976. At that time I was obsessed with Agatha Christie's books, and just read them one after another all the way through the school holidays. This particular episode in the Hercule Poirot canon is now regarded as rather a classic, and the solution to the murder was particularly innovative (Don't worry, I won't give anything away).Reading it again, thirty seven years later, it still works. Of course, this time I knew in advance who the murderer was, and armed with that foreknowledge I could see that all of the necessary clues are there. As usual, there is an acute social observation here (though I am fairly confident that I was utterly oblivious to this when I read the book as a boy), and the class strata are rigidly delineated. Still, the plot is watertight and the characters fairly plausible (within the wonderful world of Christie's village life, anyway), and nearly ninety years after it was first published it remains an engaging and engrossing story.I am pretty sure that i will be re-reading several more of Dame Agatha's works over the coming months.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I loved it...started to have my suspicions, but really wasn't sure, just thought I was reaching. It was brilliant, the reconstruction made me want to go back and find the clues. This was tried by another author I recently read and it was terrible.... never try to imitate Christie...nobody does it better.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I'm glad I read this straight after reading The Big Four, it is really the opposite extreme of Christie's abilities. The twist is just fantastic so if you have read it you must not tell anyone.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      The twist is great.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I liked this book, it was very interesting and I liked the pov. Also, I like the locked door mystery!

      I read this well over 30 years ago and I remember giving it to my mother to read (she had never read Christie) who said " ---- Did It!" I wanted to know how she knew that and she told me "Because that's the person who there was nothing written about!" So, go figure....

      I also liked the fact that Poirot wasn't his usual braggart self, pretty low key....

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      The BBC radio production was really well done and made listening to the book so enjoyable!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Verhaal geschreven door dokter Sheppard, wonend in rustig Engels stadje, samen met zijn roddelzieke zus. Opeenvolging van doden. Wordt onderzocht door Belgische detective op rust, Hercule Poirot. Uiteindelijk weet Poirot, via minutieus onderzoek en scrupuleuze controle van de harde feiten, de dader te ontmaskeren. De lezer wordt van in het begin om de tuin geleid: het geloof in de omnipresente, waarheidsgetrouwe auteur is daarmee ondergraven! Zeker de beste, meest onverwachte plot

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      As always, my reviews are always as vague and non-spoilery on plot as possible!Yet another book I've had on my bookshelf for seven years. Up to this point, I had only read [And Then There Were None], which was wonderful. After reading tMoRA, I'm itching for another [[Christie]] novel.She is the one that every aspiring mystery author holds up on a pedestal. She has the set-up so perfectly: a horrible crime, characters that could all be guilty, and a reveal that revisits the crime with all the details we were missing. This reveal left me completely gobsmacked!! I had considered it for one second while reading, but completely let it go.Mrs. Ferrars has been the subject of vicious gossiping that she poisoned her husband. After attending to the wealthy widow's suicide, Dr. Sheppard visits with his patient and friend, the even wealthier Roger Ackroyd. Ackroyd confides in him that he loved her, that she was being blackmailed, believes she was killed, and intends to get to the bottom of it. Dr. Sheppard is called back a second time with a call that Ackroyd has been murdered! With so many people living in that mansion, who stood to gain the most from his death? Luckily, Dr. Sheppard has a new neighbor who Ackroyd's niece has put on the job: M. Poirot!!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      In the village of King's Abbot death is stalking. Last year Mr. Ferrars died and now his widow, rumoured to have killed herself. Then Dr Sheppard gets a call to say that Mr Ackroyd has been murdered! Fortunately Hercule Poirot has recently moved in after retiring so is asked to solve the murder, aided by the doctor and his nosy sister Caroline. Set in the 20s this is the book that really made Agatha Christie well known.

      With the usual red herring and twists known to Christie it never fails to disappoint. The characterisation is top-notch and you are drawn in to the lives of the villagers. The final unveiling comes as a complete surprise and you will have to read it yourself to find out!

      Reading these books is always a delight and none more that this one.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Hugh Fraser's narration is perfect for this, one of my favorite Christie mysteries. Even knowing the solution, I find it a compelling story and look for all the subtle clues Christie has embedded in the narrative.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      One of my favourite Agatha Christie novels, and that's saying something! I love Hercule Poirot and usually prefer novels written more from his point of view, but the good doctor makes a delightful chronicler and Caroline is very funny. Excellent story and clever plot that doesn't stretch credulity at all (unlike some of Christie's other, equally clever but less believable works). I'd give it more than 5 stars if I could!
    • 4/5
      Wow... Now that was a real surprise at the end!I generally like Agatha Christie novels, and have read quite a number of them, but I had never read this one yet. I really liked it, it keeps you guessing every time some new piece of evidence is found, and in the end, I still had no clue. Very skillfully done and well-written.
    • 5/5
      This would be a good starting place for someone unfamiliar with Christie's works. It is one of the Hercule Poirot detective stories; I hadn't read any of them before and therefore can say that it doesn't seem to have a negative effect reading this one out of sequence. (It did make me want to read more of the series though!) The story is set in a small English village where gossip is the favored pasttime and nothing much of significance ever really happens; however, the village inhabitants are stunned when two mysteries unfold at once: one involving blackmail and a suicide, and the other involving murder. Hercule Poirot, who has just moved to the village to retire, is irresistibly pulled into the intrigue and starts to investigate. He is aided by the village doctor, Dr. Sheppard, who narrates the tale. It's been a long time since I was completely absorbed in a mystery, and this delivered that deliciously maddening desire to have to know- right now-- who done it? It's difficult to put it down once started, and the ending was nothing short of nail-biting shock. Christie is a master at keeping the reader guessing and then delivering an emotionally stunning wrap-up of her tale. This one kept me on the edge of my seat, and I can't wait to read more of her novels.
    • 5/5
      This was one of the first mystery novels I read, almost 20 years ago, and it’s ending got me hooked on the adventures of the detective Hercule Poirot until I exhausted them.
    • 5/5
      I was beginning to lose hope that I'll stumble upon another good Christie's book. This work is a textbook example of well written plot twist and the characters weren't so bad either.
    • 5/5
      This is the 4th of the Poirot mysteries and as such Poirot is still somewhat of a character that is evolving and developing. Captain Hastings is not in this book, he has gone to Argentina since Poirot has retired from being the great detective and moved incognito to a small village. And the book misses Hastings, especially his narration and his ability to help us see Poirot clearly. The narrator this time is the village doctor, Dr. Shepard. And what you miss without Hastings in the role of narrator, the reader gains with the doctor in that role as he is better able to describe the village and the people who live there than Hastings would have been able to do. In fact the character that is most clearly developed and resonants (even more so than Poirot) is the doctor's sister, Caroline. She is a spinster, busybody that has an intricate information network that can find out anything she needs to know about her village (almost an early prototype of Miss Marple who did not appear for another 4-5 years). The exchanges between Caroline and her brother are some of the best parts of the book. This is a high class who-dunit. An almost perfect, classic English mystery set in a village where the country squire-like character is killed and multiple people have motive and oppurtunity. The number of clues is dazzling and the solution to the murder remains elusive. Many murder mystery series rely on the reader to develop a relationship with the hero and then be willing to follow the hero through stories that are not necessarily well plotted or have gapping holes in the logic. But such is not the case in this book. Without Hastings or Inspector Japp or Miss Lemon to help develop the character of Poirot for us, the reader is left with the ability of the writer to tell us a story that is interesting and well plotted. And Agatha Christie does that and more. She not only tells us a great story, she shows us a little piece of the little Belgian's heart even without Hastings there to describe it as Poirot shows understanding and kindness to the character that we the reader have come to care for the most during the telling of the story. It is an artful telling of the story by Agatha Christie.
    • 5/5
      I love Agatha Christie and this is another one of her great works. Hugh Fraser as the narrator? A definite plus. I love his performance!!