Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Have you read any Agatha Christie yet? Because she is extremely unspeakable and not boring and conventional like you might think. In fact, her 1926 novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was so contentious when it came out (due to a twist ending that Im not going to reveal) that critics were divided and other mystery writers aghast. In this mystery a widow has apparently committed suicide one year after her husbands cabalistic death. The town doctor confirms the death and later dines with a friend (and the wealthiest man in town), who was also nigh with the widow.After the doctor leaves the mans house for the in timeing, he is called back only to find his friend has been stabbed in the neck. And there we choose the murder of Roger Ackroyd. Lucky for (almost) everyone, a strange foreigner has recently moved to the town for his retirement. He is none other than the famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, and after a little coaxing from Ackroyds niece, he takes on the fictitious cha racter and begins investigating the murder with the good doctor as his sidekick. There are a whole planetary house of intriguing suspects, each of which would benefit from Ackroyds death and every one of them seems to be hiding approximatelything.In this book, as in the other Agatha Christie novels Ive read, the strength lies in the balance between a great mystery (lots of clues, red herrings, and minx hints) and a masterful sense of character and psychology. Truly a perfect mystery. This is the first Hercule Poirot book that Ive read, and although Ive seen some TV adaptations of Poirot stories and had a general familiarity with his character Ive been told by a friend that I would get even more out of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd if I had a little more Poirot under my belt. Which is great because I cant wait to read some more