Review: ACRC#6: THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD, Agatha Christie

First published by Collins, the Crime Club, 1926.
The version I read was a facsimile edition published by HarperCollins Publishers in 2006, ISBN 0-00-723437-6, 312 pages.

Roger Ackroyd is a man of nearly fifty years of age, the life and soul of the little Sussex village of King's Abbot. Hercule Poirot, retired Belgian detective, has recently taken up a rental cottage in the village and is devoting his time and little grey cells to country pursuits such as growing marrows. He imagines that people don't really know who he is but his reputation has preceded him. When Roger Ackroyd is murdered in what appears to be a classic locked room mystery, Poirot jumps at the invitation to come out of retirement to participate in the investigation.

On the face of it, it is an open and shut case. At least the local police inspector, Inspector Davis, thinks so. Ralph Paton, Ackroyd's adopted heir has recently argued with Ackroyd and now has disappeared. Davis is all for issuing a warrant for Paton's arrest but Ackroyd's niece Flora who is engaged to Paton insists on the involvement of M. Poirot who happens to be a neighbour.

There are some interesting themes in this novel.

• King's Abbot is peaceful little village but under that tranquil surface there are some very nasty secrets indeed.This idea of seething disharmony and nasty things hidden in village life is a theme that reoccurs in the Miss Marple novels and more recently in Midsomer, a dangerous place to visit in Festivals.
  
• There's a lot in this novel about marital troubles. The original Mrs Ackroyd turned out to be a dipsomaniac who died four years after her marriage. Roger Paton is not a particularly nice person, not a good catch for the lovely Flora. In the "real" background this is 1926, the year that Chrisie's own marriage collapsed, with her husband announcing that he loved another, and at the end of the year her own famous "disappearing act" occurred.
• Christie was obviously still searching for an acceptable protagonist for her novels. Hercule Poirot had made his first appearance in THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES in 1920, and then again in THE MURDER ON THE LINKS. When THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT appeared in 1924 reviewers had apparently questioned why Hercule Poirot had been retired. From now on he would make almost annual or at least biennial appearances. But Poirot is not a country person.
• There's a problem with Poirot coming out of his retirement. Captain Hastings who was the narrator in the first two Poirot appearances, and Watson to Poirot's Holmes, has inconsiderately gone off to the Argentine. Christie who obviously felt Poirot needed a foil, and a narrator, decides to use the local doctor as his apparent confidante and we read the action in Dr. Sheppard's words. In fact Sheppard, while, like Hastings is still not entirely au fait with what Poirot is thinking, turns out to be an unreliable narrator, so the reader is to an extent deceived.
  
• Christie is also at this stage developing a panorama of background characters. There's mention for example of Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard, and of the local Sussex coroner Colonel Melrose.
  

Some people have said that THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD is Christie's best novel. The Wikipedia entry says : It is one of Christie's best known and most controversial novels, its innovative twist ending having a significant impact on the genre.

In fact I didn't find it all that easy to read. It seemed chock full of information and facts, as if Christie was trying to pour everything into my brain, to see if I could sift the chaff from the wheat, and come up with the answer. For me also the novel is an illustration of my conviction that she doesn't always play fair with the reader. You can follow this idea up here.

My rating: 4.2

If you are interested in the TV version with David Suchet as Hercule Poirot, here are the opening scenes, via YouTube.
Once you have viewed it you will find subsequent "episodes" are available.
Be warned though, there are significant differences between the original book and the TV version.

Crime fiction discoveries in 2008

Well, the year hasn't ended yet, but this "meme" that I've now seen around on at least 3 blogs took my fancy.

The idea is to
1) List the authors that were new to you this year, regardless of year of publication.
2) Bold the ones that were debuts (first novel, published in 2008)
3) Tag some people

To my surprise it wasn't as hard to do as I thought.
I discovered that 36 authors and 42 books qualified.
I've listed them in alphabetical order of the author, but included my rating so you can see what I thought of it. I've also linked each title to my review.
I'v also interpreted "debut" as first in the series, not necessarily first published in 2008

Megan Abbott, DIE A LITTLE, 3.7
Linwood Barclay, NO TIME TO SAY GOODBYE, 4.7
Brett Battles, THE CLEANER, 4.2
Laura Benedict, ISABELLA MOON, 4.3
Chelsea Cain, HEARTSICK, 4.5
Terry Carroll, SNOW CANDY, 4.4
Michael Chabon, THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION, 4.2
Kate Charles, EVIL INTENT (Audio CD), 4.2
John Clanchy, VINCENZO'S GARDEN, 4
Lauren Crow, BYE BYE BABY, 4.2
Siobhan Dowd, THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY, 4.2
R.J. Ellory, A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS, 5
R.J. Ellory, CITY OF LIES, 4.3
Helen Fitzgerald, DEAD LOVELY, 4
Friedrich GLAUSER, THUMBPRINT, 4.6
Kevin Guilfoile, WICKER (aka CAST OF SHADOWS), 4.5
Marion Halligan, MURDER ON THE APRICOT COAST, 2.5
Timothy Hallinan, A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART, 4.7
Cora Harrison , MY LADY JUDGE, 3.8
Joan Hess, A HOLLY, JOLLY MURDER, 3.2
Susan Hill, THE VOWS OF SILENCE, 4.7
Susan Hill, THE PURE IN HEART, 4.7
Susan Hill, THE RISK OF DARKNESS, 4.7
Susan Hill, THE VARIOUS HAUNTS OF MEN, 4.6
Lesley Horton, DEVILS IN THE MIRROR, 4.5
Susan Kelly, THE LONE TRAVELLER, 4.3
Susan Kelly, LITTLE GIRL LOST, 4.2
Douglas Kennedy, THE WOMAN IN THE FIFTH, 3.9
Matthew Klein, CONNED (aka CON ED), 4.4
Mark Lalbeharry, THE SIMIAN CURVE, 4.1
Stieg Larrson, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, 4.8
Asa Larsson, THE SAVAGE ALTAR, 4.6
Lisa Lutz, THE SPELLMAN FILES, 4
RJ McDonnell, ROCK & ROLL HOMICIDE, 3.5
Brian McGilloway, GALLOWS LANE, 4.2
William McInnes, A MAN'S GOT TO HAVE A HOBBY, 4.4
Felicity Pulman, WILLOWS FOR WEEPING, 4.5
Vanda Symon, OVERKILL, 4.8
Janwillem van de Wetering, DEATH OF A HAWKER, 4.4
Fred Vargas, SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR, 4.9
Fred Vargas, WASH THIS BLOOD CLEAN FROM MY HAND, 4.8
Fred Vargas, THIS NIGHT'S FOUL WORK, 4.6

Other places where I've seen this meme
The Rap Sheet
Observations from the Balcony
Detectives Beyond Borders
Crime Scraps
Pattinase
Petrona

What new-to-you authors have you read this year? If you want to take this meme and run with it, by all means do!

Featured "Reader"

I'm the "reading photo" over on Pattinase's Forgotten Books this week, so if you are curious about what I look like, then pop over there. You'll also get an inkling of what books I'm currently trying to read. And bye the bye you'll get some excellent suggestions about books to look out for.

Patti has been featuring pictures of bloggers, friends and family reading for a few weeks now: young Kevin, Ali Karin reading a Stiegg Larsson, Bill Crider reading his own latest, David Cranmer, Grandfather Phil, Naomi Hirahar, Christa Faust, Brian Lindenmuth amd Sandra Ruttan, Lesa Holstine, Jim Winter, Clea Simon's cat, Gary Dobbs, Peter Rozovsky, John McFetridge, Juri Nummelin and more.

Have you told friends and family yet that this Christmas is " the year of the book"?
In the past I've had the year of the teatowel, the year of the bath towel, the year of the calendar, the year of the hamper, but the year of the book hasn't happened for a while.
There are so many good books around you surely won't have a problem choosing a swag. And if you are worried you won't buy one they'll want to read, then give a book voucher instead. And of course you could always opt for a book mark, a book stand, a book light, a book on tape, a book on CD.....
My advice is to just buy something you'd enjoy and then look grateful when they lend it back to you in the New Year.

Progress Report: BLINDSIDE, J.R.Carroll

I'm listening to this in the car on 11 CDs, 13 and a bit hours worth.
I didn't read the blurb before I began listening, perhaps I should have. I think perhaps it should have one of these stickers on it.

Imagine .... I'm driving into the carpark at work and listening to a really gruesome account of a home invasion/burglary where the home owner is having his fingers systematically broken with a hammer. It was nearly too close to breakfast for me!

And then on the way home the main character, who is basically the narrator, meets up with a woman who rapidly becomes the love of his life, and his sexual partner. The sex is very graphic and seems to leave nothing to the imagination. Everytime Shaun and Jo are in the same room there is another bout! I feel quite relieved when they are apart.

As I said, perhaps I should have read the blurb first.
Here it is:
This raunchy page-turner features Shaun McCreadie, a young police detective who finds himself on the wrong side of the law and implicated in a brutal home invasion. When McCreadie is released from jail 11 years later he is determined to discover the nature of the crime that put him away. Armed with $2.8 million in ill-gotten gains and his police street smarts, McCreadie grapples with murderous former accomplices, corrupt old cop buddies, and the seductive wife of a prominent lawyer in his quest to find answers. His investigations reveal the nefarious activities of bent cops, drug dealing, framing, and murder. Elements of crime, justice, and illicit affairs combine to form an intricately plotted, tightly structured, intelligent, and sexy work of fiction.

Mind you, if you'd borrowed it from the Margaret River Library, you might have been caught unawares:
Suspense fiction. Shaun McCreadie was a young detective with a bright future - until he crossed the line and suddenly found himself behind prison bars for his role in a brutal home invasion that left two people dead. Eleven years later and he's out of jail, determined to find out what really went down on that terrible day. He is going to need all of his detective's know-how, as well as the survival skills learned inside, to get to the truth. J.R. Carroll skillfully interweaves all the strands in this gripping thriller, building Blindside to an edge-of-the-seat, explosive finale.

Forgotten Book: SUGARTOWN by Loren D. Estleman

Another contribution to Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books theme.

For my forgotten book this time I have chosen the first book recorded in my current database, read back in 2004, when this book had been published for 20 years.

Winner of the Shamus Award for best Private Eye Novel of 1984.
An Amos Walker Mystery. This case leads Walker into Detroit's ethnic neighborhoods when an old Polish woman hires him to find her missing grandson and a Russian writer claims to need protection from the KGB.
Martha Evancek was an old woman who desperately needed detective Amos Walker's help in investigating the disappearance of her grandson, Michael.
Poverty and frustration had driven Michael's father Joseph to the edge. He had murdered his wife, his young daughter Carla, and then himself. However, Michael escaped because he came home late from school that tragic day. The last Martha ever heard of him was that he was entrusted to the care of an aunt she never knew. Now, after nineteen years there was still no trace of him.
As the plot thickens, Amos finds himself trapped in another case -- an eminent Russian writer who suspects he is a target for murder. Will Amos be able to solve the mystery before he is the next victim? To find out, you will have to read Sugartown.

Reprinted in 2002. Estleman likes to use a lot of complex description. Scenes are described carefully, making you re-read the description so that you don't forget anything. Estleman wrote 'Sugartown is without a doubt my angriest book. At the time it was written, Mayor Coleman Young, the nearest thing to a train wreck ever to happen to the City of Detroit, was engaged in a determined campaign to hound residents out of the historic Poletown of suburban Hamtrack in order to clear the way for the construction of a new Cadillac plant by General Motors.'

My rating: 4.8

SUGARTOWN was Estleman's 5th book in the Amos Walker series, but already by then he was an established author. Check the list at Fantastic Fiction. Estleman is an incredibly prolific writer, at times publishing 2 books a year, mianly crime fiction and Westerns.
He has received seventeen national writing awards: four Shamuses from the Private Eye Writers of America, five Spurs from the Western Writers of America, two American Mystery Awards from Mystery Scene Magazine, two Outstanding Mystery Writer of the Year awards from Popular Fiction Monthly, two Stirrup Awards for outstanding articles in the Western Writers of America magazine, The Roundup, and three Western Heritage Awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. In 1987, the Michigan Foundation of the Arts presented him with its award for literature. In 1997, the Michigan Library Association named him the recipient of the Michigan Author's Award. In 2007, Nicotine Kiss was named a Notable Book by the Library of Michigan.

Check his website.

Carnival of Criminal Minds #27

After visiting the southern hemisphere, courtesy of Karen’s blog, it’s time to head north, to the part of the world where death-defying young female acrobats serve saffron rolls while singing and wearing lit candles on their head.

The host is Barbara Fister herself, at Scandinavian Crime Fiction, creator of the Carnival.
As our hostess says "Scandinavia is producing an astonishing output of fine crime fiction, celebrated at this blog."
This blog is part of a project to document and celebrate the amazing amount of high-quality crime fiction coming from the Scandinavian countries and being translated into English.
Start up funding for the project was provided by a Research, Scholarship and Creativity grant from Gustavus Adolphus College, a Swedish-heritage liberal arts college in Minnesota. See also the companion website.

Australian LitBlog Snapshots

Over on Matilda, Perry Middlemiss recently announced his intention to run a series of "Snapshots" on Australian LitBloggers.

He sent each of the bloggers a set of questions to answer, and today posted the first in the series, namely a posting about me! I am really looking forward to seeing who else is going to be involved in this set of interviews.