The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (52nd Book)

I have picked up the pace of my 1001 book reading. For awhile I was struggling to keep up to reading one Novel 100 book a month, but have now discovered I have a lot of time to read. I guessed I have adjusted to having a boyfriend in my life! I have taken this opportunity to start working my way through some of the books on my shelf that are also on the 1001 books to read before you die. When I first started the two list I went around purchasing every cheap book on the lists I could find. I soon realized this was a habit that was doomed to fail, as my bookshelf is only so big!

I purchased  The Murder of Roger Ackroyd at a book bag sale in my town. It was well worth the dirt cheap price I paid for it. I am a huge Agatha Christie fan at the best of times and love how the mysteries  are often of the "locked room" variety. These books are the type where there are a limited number of suspects and an element of confusion as to how the murder was accomplished right under everyone's noses. This book is a classic in that way.

I am always SO sure that I know who the murder is with Christie's books but I am always dead wrong (no pun intended!). I am not sure whether to be annoyed by that fact or pleased because the puzzles are so clever. I quickly devoured this book however, and I was kept guessing right up to the last page. I can't get too much into the details of the murder without giving things away, but I will suffice it to say that it was cleverly planned out. A Doctor Who episode that feature Christie talked about her insight into human nature and this novel definitely shows that. The varied crimes committed in the novel have brilliant reasons behind them and are clearly portrayed by the description of desperate people doing desperate things.

This is the first novel of Christie's that is written in the first person by a doctor in a small town. At first I was confused by this fact, because it was so uncharacteristic of her novels, but when I realized that Poirot was "retired" and the country doctor was to become his sidekick it made sense. I love Poirot's quirky "foreign" expressions and the fact that he is so cocky and sure of his use of his little "grey cells".

I will end this review by saying that this just might be my all time favourite Christie novel and I would recommend it to anyone who is a mystery fan. It is quite clever and I completely understand why it made it on the list of 1001 Books to Read.