The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

In the town of King's Abbott, a woman named Mrs. Ferrars commits suicide after she can't bear the guilt she feels at poisoning her husband the previous year.  Roger Ackroyd, the town's wealthiest citizen, was expected to marry Mrs. Ferrars.  He invites Dr. Sheppard to dinner, claiming he has something important to tell him.  He also invites Mrs. Cecil  Ackroyd, his sister in law, Miss Flora Ackroyd, his niece, Geoffrey Raymond, Ackroyd's young secretary, and Major Blunt, Ackroyd's friend.  Visibly distraught during dinner, Ackroyd has a private conversation with Dr. Sheppard after dinner revealing that Mrs. Ferrars killed her husband and was being blackmailed for the murder.  At that moment, a letter arrives from the late Mrs. Ferrars which states who the blackmailer is and how she hopes Mr. Ackroyd will seek revenge on him.  Mr. Ackroyd choses not to name the blackmailer.

Dr. Sheppard leaves Fernly Park (Ackroyd's estate) and on the way home bumps into a stranger who asked for directions to Ackroyd's residence.  At home he receives a phonne call from Fernly Park saying that Ackroyd was murdered.  THe next day, Flora Ackroyd suggests to Dr. Sheppard that they recruit Hercule Poirot, the doctor's new neighbour, to solve the murder.  Flora is worried that Ralph Paton will be blamed for the crime since he was spotted at Fernly Park and that footprints matching a pari of shoes owned by Paton were found in the dirt outside Ackroyd's study the night before.  Paton, who was in a lot of debt, expected to inherit a large amount of money upon Ackroyd's death.  Dr. Sheppard points out that after he left Ackroyd's study at 9:30 pm and before the body was found at 10:30 pm, Major Blunt and Geoffrey Raymond overheard someone speaking to Ackroyd in his study.

WHile the police are convinced that Paton is the murderer, Poirot has his own theory.  He fixates on a phone call made to Dr. Sheppard from the King's Abbott train station and on a grandfather chair which was moved into the middle of the study when Ackroyd was discovered.  Poirot assembles Mr.s Cecil Ackroyd, Miss Flora Akroyd, Major Blunt and Geoffrey Raymond together and accuses them all of hiding something.  Mrs. Cecil Ackroyd and Raymond admit that they owed Ackroyd money and his death resolved them of all debts.  It turns out that Parker, Ackroyd's employee, was guilty of nothing more than snooping.  He had heard about blackmailing and thought that maybe he could get in on the act and blackmail his boss.  It turns out that Flora lied about wishing her uncle good night on the night in questions.  She sneaked up to his room to steal money to settle some debts of her own.  Ackroyd's housekeeper Miss Russell explaing that Charles Kent, the stranger found on the grounds that night, cannot be the murderer.  She met Kent, her illegitimate son, at Ackroyd's summer house that night.

Poirot determines that Ackroyd purchased a Dictaphone the week before the murder and therefore that was what people overheard at 9:30 pm on the night of the murder.  He also reveals that Dr. Sheppard had been hiding Ralph Paton by pretending he was a patient in the local insane asylum.  Poirot declares that Dr. Sheppard is the murderer.  He murdered Ackroyd and then programmed the Dictaphone to go off at 9:30 pm.  In the meantime he planted the footprints using Paton's shoes.  He hid Paton so that he would look more suspicious.  Dr. Sheppard's motive was the fact that he was Mrs. Ferrars' blackmailer.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, first published in 1926 courtesy http://www.agathachristie.com/stories/the-murder-of-roger-ackroyd.

The Secret of Chimneys

Politician George Lomax convinces Lord Caterham to host a weekend party at his English estate, Chimneys.  Among the guests are George's cousin, Virginia Revel, Hiram Fish, a collector of first edition books and a group scheming to restore the monarchy in Herzeslovakia.   A murder in the house sets off a weeklong series of events in which Scotland Yard and the Surete are called in.

In the meantime, Anthony Cade is given the task of delivering a manuscript to a publisher and returning the letters (on which the manuscript is based) to their owner.  The letters are written by Count Stylptitch of Herzeslovakia, a country in uproar over the recent discovery of oil.  While staying overnight at a London hotel, the letters are stolen.  The thief delivers one of the stolen letters to the home of Virginia Revel, the signature on the letters, intent on blackmailing her.  She pays him some money with the promise of more when he brings another letter.  However, when she comes home the next day, the thief is dead on her doorstep and Anthony Cade is hovering over him.  Cade arranges to have the body discovered elsewhere to avoid a scandal for Revel who proceeds to Chimneys.

Upon arrival at Chimneys, Prince Michael, the heir to the Herzeslovakia throne, is murdered.  Cade, whose footprints are found outside the mansion, is a suspect.  He comes forward and persuades Scotland Yard's Superintendent Battle of his innocence.  In the meantime, he travels to France to track down the real murderer.

The Koh-i-Noor Diamond, stolen from the Tower of London years earlier by a French thief named King Victor, might be hidden in the mansion at Chimneys.  One night Virginia Revel comes upon an intruder, and suspects that it is King Victor, who has been released from prison.  However, it is M. Lemoine of the Surete, who is searching for the thief.

The stolen letters, which appear in Cade's room, provide a clue for Superintendent Battle:  "Richmond seven straight eight left three right."  Battle follows the clue to Richmond where he finds a brick in a hidden passage way.  Cade heads to Dover where he discovers Hiram Fish, who is not a collector of books, but a Pinkerton detective on the theif's trail, and the real M. Lemoine, who is tied up as a hostage.

At Chimneys everyone reconvenes to hear the mystery revealed.  Miss Brun holds a pistol to Boris to retrieve the diamond.  It turns out that Miss Brun was the murderer of Prince Michael, who had discovered her secret identity as the last queen consort of Herzeslovakia.  In a Princess Anastasia-like twist, she was thought to have been murdered with her husband in the revolution but escaped.  She was the one who had written the coveted letters and signed them with Virginia Revel's signature.

Anthony Cade introduces the real M. Lemoine to the group.  Hiram Fish captures King Victor who has been posing as a French detective.  Anthony Cade gives the letters to Jimmy McGrath and earns 1000 pounds.  Cade and Fish follow the code of the letters to a rose on the grounds of Chimneys where they discover the precious diamond. Cade then reveals he is the missing Prince Nicholas, the cousin of the decease Prince Michael.  He is ready to ally himself with British syndicate.  He offers himself as Herzeslovakia's next king.  His queen will be Virginia Revel, whom he married earlier that day.

The Secret of Chimneys circa 1925 courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_of_Chimneys#/media/File:The_Secret_of_Chimneys_First_Edition_Cover_1925.jpg.

The Murder on the Links

First published in 1923, this Agatha Christie novel features Hercule Poirot who discovers the dead body of a millionaire on a golf course in France.  Two clues may help him solve the crime.  Firstly, the dead man had been wearing his son's overcoat.  Suddenly, a love letter was in the pocket of the coat.  Before Poirot can solve the crime, a second dead body is discovered on the golf course, also killed by a paper knife made from airplane wire.  Poirot struggles to explain why the millionaire's son was in the neighbourhood that night.  He also tries to determine the connection among a number of beauties who keep popping up including one who is Captain Hastings latest crush.

At first it appears that the millionaire's son is the culprit, given that his father didn't approve of his choice of a fiancee and he wrote him out of his weeks just two weeks before the murder.  However, Poirot digs deeper and finds out that the millionaire is not Mr. Renaud but really Mr. Conneau who had fallen in love with Mme Beroldy.  He murdered her husband but then found out she wanted to marry someone other than him.  He fled to Canada.

In Canada he gains a wife and a son.  He makes his fortune in South America.  When he returns to France, he is unhappy to discover that his neighbour is Mme Beroldy.  To make matters worse, Mr Conneau's son and Mme Beroldy's daughter fall in love.  Mme Beroldy starts blackmailing Mr. Conneau regarding his crime of 22 years before.  He devises a scheme to fake his own death.  He finds the body of a tramp and digs a grave.  However, before he has a chance to bury the body, someone murders him and puts his body in the grave.  It turns out that Mme Beroldy's daughter overheard Mr. Conneau discussing his ruse and murdered him.

http://www.agathachristie.com/stories/murder-on-the-links

The Man in the Brown Suit

Anne Beddingfeld comes to London looking for adventure.  But she gets more than she bargains for when she sees a man fall onto the tracks of the Underground where he is electrocuted.  A man in a brown suit hovers over the body momentarily and then disappears.  Anne becomes obsessed with finding out the identity of the man in the brown suit.  A piece of paper with numbers and two words on it falls out of the dead man's pocket -- the only clue to his identity.  Later Anne realizes that the man who checked the victims moments after he died was the "doctor".  In the meantime, Anne deciphers the words on the paper and heads to South Africa to investigate.

On the ship across the Atlantic, someone knocks on Anne's door, injured and bleeding.  Later, someone makes an attempt on Anne's life.  She eventually realizes that the man in the brown suit is not the murderer.  Her suspicions now rest on the head of a gang, named "Colonel", who is on board the ship.  While he is definitely a criminal he is not the murderer.  In the meantime, the trail Anne is following her leads her to South Africa and a stash of diamonds.  Sir Eustace Pedler, an MP, someone who was in possession of the diamonds, ends up being the one who committed the crime.

http://www.agathachristie.com/stories/the-man-in-the-brown-suit

The Market Basing Mystery

Poirot and Captain Hastings have gone to stay with Inspector Japp for the weekend in Market Basing.  While eating breakfast, the threesome is interrupted by the local police chief who informs them that a local mansion owner, Mr. Protheroe, has been found dead in his home.  While some suggest it's a suicide, it is soon ruled out due to the location of the wound.

The detectives arrive at the scene of the crime to find the victim lying on the floor with a pistol in his right hand and a fatal wound behind his left ear.  Poirot detects an odour in the air and examines the handkerchief stuffed up the victim's sleeve.  The key missing from the lock is evidence that the crime was a murder, not a suicide.  

The housekeeper points out that a couple named Parker were staying at the house the night before; their presence was not pleasing to Mr. Protheroe.  A tramp comes forward and reveals that he heard Mr. Protheroe arguing with Mr. Parker the night before.  It is further revealed that Protheroe's named was really Wendall and he had been involved with the sinking of a naval vessel years ago.  Mr. Parker was blackmailing him to this effect.

Poirot summons the housekeeper to his room where he accuses her of setting up Mr. Parker.  It turns out that Mrs. Clegg was in love with her boss.  She realized that he killed himself because he was despairing about Mr. Parker's blackmailing.  Therefore, she switched the gun, putting it in the wrong hand to make it look like a murder rather than a suicide.  

https://www.overdrive.com/media/1311707/the-market-basing-mystery

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Agatha Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles was the result of a dare her sister Madge made to write a story.  The book features World War I soldier Hastings, who is sent back to England to recover from an injury at the Styles Court owned by his friend John Cavendish.  He meets John's new stepmother, Mrs. Inglethorpe, a rich heiress who later turns up murdered.  An old friend, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, is hired to track down the murderer.  It was the Belgian refugees from the First World War who settled in Christie's home town of Torquay, England who inspired her to create the character Poirot.  

Note:  Christie called her first house "Styles" after her first book, published in 1920 http://www.agathachristie.com/stories/the-mysterious-affair-at-styles.

https://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Mysterious_Affair_at_Styles.html?id=UOViYbBGSmoC&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y

The Best Selling Novelist of All Time

Agatha Christie courtesy http://www.twincities.com/2016/11/16/minneapolis-theater-round-agatha-christie-murder-on-the-nile.

My husband Rob and daughter Jacqueline used to play a video mystery game called Murder on the Orient Express based on the famous novel written by Agatha Christie.  More recently, they played Death on the Nile.  Currently they are playing Evil Under the Sun.  These games peaked Jacqueline's interest and she started searching our bookshelves for Rob's old Agatha Christie Novels.  Last night she begged to stay up later so she could read Murder on the Orient Express.  How could I say no?  I mentioned to her that Daddy and I watched the movie of the same name, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, a few years ago.  The movie was filmed in 1972 but I didn't realize that the book was first published in 1934.  "It's almost as old as Grandpa!" I said to Jacqueline.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Murder_on_the_Orient_Express_First_Edition_Cover_1934.jpg

It turns out that Rob has ten of the Agatha Christie mysteries, but the famous author wrote at least 66 detective novels.  In fact, she is the most widely published novelist in history, only outsold by the Bible and Shakespeare.  For a complete list of Christie's novels, visit http://www.agathachristie.com/stories.

https://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Body_in_the_Library_Miss_Marple.html?id=Xr0XqQoyc0AC&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y

Agatha Christie's main character Hercule Poirot could have been inspired by someone she met while attending school in France where she learned how to speak fluent French.  One source, however, says that Christie's character was inspired by a Belgian gendarme she met in Britain after he fled the Germans during the First World War.  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10825492/Poirot-unmasked-the-Belgian-refugee-who-inspired-Agatha-Christie-character.html

https://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Crackd-Side-Mystery-Mysteries/dp/0062073672

Agatha Christie served as a nurse during the First World War.  Her knowledge of poisons, which she learned at the time, could have been used in any one of the 83 poisonings in her books.  For instance, cyanide features in The Mirror Cracked from Side to Side, And Then There Were None, A Pocket Full of Rye and Sparkling Cyanide.  Kathryn Harkup writes about this in her book A is for Arsenic:  The Poisons of Agatha Christie https://bookshop.theguardian.com/catalog/product/view/id/323440/. 

 

https://covers.openlibrary.org/w/id/3451-M.jpg

 

Agatha Christie travelled widely through Europe and Africa.  She participated in archeological digs in the Middle East with her second husband Max Mallowan which inspired many book titles.  While on digs, Mallowan discovered artifacts as old as 3000 years.  Christie, always conscious of the fact that she was 15 years older than her husband, used her face cream to clean the artifacts.  As archeologist Charlotte Trumpler explained:  "Christie was of course fascinated by puzzles, by the little archeological fragments, and she had a gift for piecing them together patiently." http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/03/12/uk.christie.writer.archaeology/ Her novel, Murder in Mesopotamia, with an archeologist as the culprit, was the result of these digs.  

Christie helped husband Mallowan uncover the lost city of Nimrud in the late 1940's and early 1950's courtesy http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4095210/Photographer-Mesopotamia-Incredible-pictures-taken-Agatha-Christie-reveal-helped-uncover-Iraq-s-lost-city-Nimrud-archaeologist-husband-writing-detective-novels.html.