Out of 5 mustachesOut of 5 mustaches
What can I say about probably the most famous of the Poirot cases, not to mention one of the more popular novels by Christie? This one's a tricky one.
Poirot is retired, living in King's Abbot, and all of a sudden there's a murder in town. The old widower Roger Ackroyd had been stabbed in his study. The previous night, a wealthy widow--Mrs. Ferrars--was found dead on her bed. Are the two deaths related? Did Mrs. Ferrars kill herself? Why would anyone kill Mr. Ackroyd? Why are we to be concerned with a chair out of its place?
This story, narrated by the country doctor (Dr. Sheppard), introduces us to a whole array of suspects. Enter Major Blunt, a big-game hunter who gave a small dagger to Ackroyd on his last visit: the same dagger Ackroyd got stabbed with! There's also Geoffrey Raymond, Ackroyd's young secretary; Ursula Bourne, the parlormaid; Cecil Ackroyd, the sister-in-law; Flora, Cecil's daughter; and Ralph Paton, the young adopted son of Ackroyd, engaged to Flora. The story even has the butler. All of these characters have something to hide or some unusual reason to be in King's Abbot. Who to figure out the crime? Rather, um, crimes--because there has been two. There's no other man to solve the mystery than that dapper detective, Hercule Poirot. This is a fascinating treat to read how Poirot uses his gray cells.
The book's perfect in every way, down to the last page. The characters are engaging, the book makes you think, it's fast paced, and all the clues seem to be pointing to a certain someone. It looks all too easy.