With the Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie wanted to write a mystery that the reader couldn't solve. When Roger Ackroyd is murdered following the suicide of his friend Mrs Ferrar, it seems everyone has something to gain from his death. Only the mustachioed Hercule Poirot is able to uncover the mystery. Agatha Christie is the original 'Queen of Crime' and this is absolutely first-rate stuff. Will you guess who the murderer is? I doubt it.
February 2010 Guest Editor Simon Kernick on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
A classic example of masterful plotting and the best of all her books, in my opinion. It has a huge twist that at the time was both brave and original, and which has been imitated many times since, both in film and literature. When I first read it, it knocked me for six.
Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners.
Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language. Now Collins has adapted her famous detective novels for English language learners. These carefully adapted versions are shorter with the language targeted at upper-intermediate learners (CEF level B2).
Each reader includes:
Audio with a reading of the adapted story
Helpful notes on characters
Cultural and historical notes relevant to the plot
A glossary of the more difficult words
Roger Ackroyd is a man who knows too much.
He knows the woman he loved poisoned her first husband. He knows someone was blackmailing her - and now he knows she killed herself.
When Roger Ackroyd is found murdered, the famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, is called in to find out who the killer is.