This was a fun one, following Christie’s several spy novels (Secret at The Chimneys, Man in the Brown Suit) in which she introduced new protagonists. She seemed in this period, her early writing years, to be trying to settle on a style and a detective that suited her; even in this one, she suggests that Hercule Poirot is retired and thus may not return for another novel. The author herself has said that she felt a bit stuck with the fussy Belgian, because he was so popular, making his retirement especially tricky because he went on to solve crimes for another 40 years. ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ is lacking in the social insights that I adore—Christie hadn’t yet hit her confident stride—but it is cleverly plotted with a little comic relief provided by narrator Dr. James Sheppard’s nosey sister. There are a lot of characters to keep track of and they are a bit cardboard, but the book has some unusual twists to keep the reader going, including the fact that the main suspect is offstage for most of the book. The ending is unexpected and fresh. All in all, this must have been a whodunnit that convinced Agatha Christie that she and Poirot had a future together.