Yesterday a patron stopped at the library desk to ask for a copy of the
Agatha Christie standout title The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. He commented that it is said to be one of the best mysteries ever as he had his finger placed in a book of his possession (I guess that book mentions Roger Ackroyd.) and the Library Journal description (as shown on Amazon) mostly agrees.
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Agatha Christie
photo from Google |
It says, "written in 1927, [it] is considered the best and most successful of the early mysteries. It met with no small outrage when it appeared, as it uses a plot device many readers thought 'unfair.' There is a full complement of characters populating the cozy English village of King's Abbot: Major Blunt, Colonel Carter, Miss Gannett, the butler, the housekeeper, the narrator, Dr. Sheppard, and his know-it-all sister (the precursor of Miss Marple, according to Christie), and, of course, the redoubtable Hercule Poirot and his little grey cells. There are clues with a capital C to mislead us, and the listener gets so involved with these red herrings (or not) that the very simple truth eludes the puzzler."
That book request reminded me how Christie received nationwide acknowledgement earlier in the month at the Democratic National Convention. Key note speaker San Antonio mayor Julian Castro spoke of his grandmother learning English by "reading her Agatha Christie novels late into the night."
All and all, Christie has been a gem as a writing treasure in more ways than one.
