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Agatha Christie - The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd - Episode 1 - Meet The Author That Made The Whodunit What It Is Today!

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I\\u2019m Christy Shriver, and we\\u2019re here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.\\xa0

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And I\\u2019m Garry Shriver and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast.\\xa0 For the next two episodes, we are going to discuss an author who for me flies under the radar when we think of literary icons.\\xa0 When you look at the lists of the world\\u2019s greatest writers and/or novels, she\\u2019s never on then.\\xa0 Yet, she has sold more books than any other novelist in the world- bar none.\\xa0 Her books collectively in terms of sales rank only after The Holy Bible and the works of William Shakespeare, totally over 2.3 billion copies sold.\\xa0 Those kinds of numbers we only talk about when we\\u2019re talking about Amazon, Google or the National Debt of entire countries.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

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HA! So true.\\xa0

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She is also the author of the single longest running play ever to play in London\\u2019s West End.\\xa0 The name of that play, The Mousetrap,\\xa0 opened in London\'s West End in 1952 and ran continuously until\\u202f16 March 2020, when all stage performances were discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Performances of The Mousetrap restarted on March 17, 2021, as soon as state restrictions were lifted.\\xa0 In case, you haven\\u2019t figured out who we\\u2019re talking about yet, today we\\u2019re discussing the Queen of Crime, Dame Agatha Christie.\\xa0

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It really and truly is impressive how enormous of a body of work that Mrs. Christie has AND how influential her work has become.\\xa0 For clarification, why do we say Dame Agatha Christie.\\xa0\\xa0

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Of course, Dame is the feminine equivalent of Sir, it\\u2019s a honorific title, in her case, she received an Order of Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1971 from Queen Elizabeth II.\\xa0

\\xa0Oh wow, that sounds very impressive however, at the same time, people, far less successful- non-recipients of Commander titles from Queen Elizabeth I might add, scoff at her and her work.\\xa0 Many claim she\\u2019s not to be taken seriously, her work isn\\u2019t sophisticated, it\\u2019s clich\\xe9d, yada-yada-yada\\u2026They say this in spite of all the big numbers.\\xa0 Garry, beyond the big 2.3 billion in sales, quantify for us in other ways what the data reveals about Dame Christie.\\xa0\\xa0

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Sure, first there\\u2019s the amount of works she produced.\\xa0 She famously wrote 66 detective novels, 14 collections of short stories (that\\u2019s 150 short stories) as well as over 30 plays.\\xa0 The most famous, we already mentioned, The Mousetrap.\\xa0 But there are other numbers to consider, beyond just how much she produced.\\xa0 Because of the long running status of The Mousetrap, her name has been in the newspapers of the West End every day without fail with the exception of 2020 since 1952 (btw, just in case you are doing the math on the performances, that number is over 25,000 of the Mousetrap- and that is just in London\\u2019s West End). .\\xa0\\xa0

She tried to retire at the age of 75, but her books were selling so well, she said she\\u2019d give it five more years.\\xa0 She actually wrote until one year before her death at age 86.\\xa0\\xa0 Less famously she wrote six semi-autobiographical, bitter-sweet novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott.\\xa0\\xa0 Interestingly enough, it took 20 years for the world to uncover the identity of Mary Westmacott as being the detective icon Agatha Christie.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

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That is a funny fact to me, I guess she thought it would ruin her reputation to write sappy books?.\\xa0 I haven\\u2019t read them, but her daughter Rosalind Hicks had this to say about her mother\\u2019s romantic books. "They are not \\u2018love stories\\u2019 in the general sense of the term, and they certainly have no happy endings. They are, I believe, about love in some of its most powerful and destructive forms."\\xa0 They were moderately successful in their own right , even without her name of the cover, and Christie was said to be proud of that accomplishment, but obviously romance wasn\\u2019t her forte.\\xa0\\xa0

Beyond just the quantity of work she produced, the amount of it we\\u2019ve consumed as a planet is also incredible.\\xa0 Today her books are translated in over 100 languages, 48 million, at least have watched her movies, including I might add the one that is out right now, Death on the Nile Here\'s a. numbers fun-fact, in 1948 she became. the first crime writer to have 100,000 copies of ten of her titles published by Penguin on the same day in what is called - A Penguin Million\\xa0\\xa0

Oh wow- I guess that\\u2019s like going platinum of something in the music industry.\\xa0\\xa0

I\\u2019d say that\\u2019s a platinum in a day- usually the term going platinum refers to selling a million over the course of a life time- a single day is crazy..\\xa0 In terms of dollars, I tried to find a good figure, but I don\\u2019t really know.\\xa0 At the time of her death, it\\u2019s estimated she was worth $600 million, but she had incorporated her work in a business, of course, which of course lives on chaired and managed by Agatha Christie\'s great grandson\\u202fJames Prichard.\\xa0

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To me, it\\u2019s an amazing resume, and I\\u2019m not a literary person, so obviously I\\u2019m looking at this differently, but I don\\u2019t see how anyone could realistically contest that she\\u2019s a good writer.\\xa0 It sounds laughable in the face of so much success- if that\\u2019s not good writing, how could we possibly measure it?\\xa0

HA!\\xa0 It shows how much you know- you\\u2019d make a perfectly horrible literary snob.\\xa0 Everyone who\\u2019s anyone knows, you can\\u2019t go by the views of the lowly general population aka, the box-office!!!\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

Oh, well there is that.\\xa0 But, just for those of us, who don\\u2019t know, in all seriousness how can you explain her success away?\\xa0

Well, no one is going to do that.\\xa0 Obviously, but it does boil down to how you define your fiction.\\xa0 In one sense, we can divide fiction into two broad categories- there\\u2019s literary fiction and commercial fiction.\\xa0 Obviously, commercial fiction is written to be sold.\\xa0 It\\u2019s the reason there are more Marvel movies than I can count on both my hands and toes.\\xa0 They sell well and are enjoyable to consue.\\xa0 It\\u2019s why there are multiple versions of basically the same Spiderman movie, or double-digit sequels to Star Wars.\\xa0 Now, there is nothing wrong with any of that that- we love it.\\xa0 Every bit of that is fun and defines the culture of the world in some sense.\\xa0\\xa0 But there is a sense, and this is the English teacher nerd, that some of us find those pieces unsatisfying over the long term- and not worth teaching as a work of art in school.\\xa0 There are many books we just don\\u2019t care to read more than once.\\xa0 There are many movies and songs we feel the same way about.\\xa0 They are good but not considered of literary merit because there is no enduring quality to them.\\xa0 On the flip side, there are other books that speak to man\\u2019s condition., that expresses universal truths, that reflect something about the world that resonates inside of us- which is why we can read, watch or listen to them over and over again and still love it.\\xa0 I would suggest that The Scarlet Letter or Hamlet are examples of that.\\xa0 When we read them agin, we find something else that perhaps we didn\\u2019t see before, of even if we did see it beflre, it satisfies something eternal inside of us to hear it once again.\\xa0 The knock on Agatha Christie is that they say she\\u2019s full-on commercial fiction and there is just nothing universally true about what she has to say.\\xa0 The critique is that her characters are flat and underdeveloped, even the main ones.\\xa0\\xa0 The main character in our book is Hercule Poirot but her other main reoccurring character is a woman named Miss Marple \\u2013 both are sort of shallow, honestly, featureless except for maybe being kind of annoying.\\xa0 Christie investigates crime, but she doesn\\u2019t really seem all that interested in any of the existential or moral questions surrounding crime-\\xa0 like what social causes lead people to these actions.\\xa0 She doesn\\u2019t explore any social, psychological or moral issues of any kind in any real obvious way?\\xa0\\xa0

And do you agree with that?\\xa0

Well, honestly, a little.\\xa0 You can\\u2019t deny that the characters are flat, and, it\\u2019s absolutely true, she doesn\\u2019t get into any deep discussions about the nature of man.\\xa0 But having acknowledged that, I cannot discount the numbers, and so I feel compelled to think about it more deeply.\\xa0\\xa0

Well, and just to add to the confusion, we\\u2019ve been poking fun at the hoi polloi here, but from what I read, Christie is popular primarily with higher educated audiences.\\xa0 She is a preferred writer of the world\\u2019s academic elites.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

I know, and she has been since she started writing a far more accomplished litearary critic than myself was a ardent fan of Agatha Christie, the Nobel Prize winner, TS Eliot.\\xa0 Eliot actually loved all crime fiction, especially Agatha Christie.\\xa0 He even wrote about it from a critical standpoint.\\xa0 For TS Eliot, good crime fiction had to follow five basic rules.\\xa0 Let me read these to you:\\xa0

(1) The story must not rely upon elaborate and incredible disguises.\\xa0

(2) The character and motives of the criminal should be normal. In the ideal detective story we should feel that we have a sporting chance to solve the mystery ourselves; if the criminal is highly abnormal an irrational element is introduced which offends us.\\xa0

(3) The story must not rely either upon occult phenomena, or, what comes to the same thing, upon mysterious and preposterous discoveries made by lonely scientists.\\xa0

(4) Elaborate and bizarre machinery is an irrelevance.\\xa0

(5) The detective should be highly intelligent but not superhuman. We should be able to follow his inferences and almost, but not quite, make them with him.\\xa0

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I think I must agree with the Nobel- prize winner.\\xa0 We do intuitively feel that way about a good crime novel.\\xa0 So, taking Elliot\\u2019s list as the standard or rubric for crime novels, should that have different standards than other books or rather- No insight to life or theme necessary?\\xa0

Oh, I don\\u2019t know about that.\\xa0 I think anything that lasts 100 years, as does the book we\\u2019re going to discuss- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,\\xa0 it turns 100 in June of 2026, - anything people are reading for that long-\\xa0 must be saying something.\\xa0 So the mystery the mystery novel is what resonates with our souls in these works?\\xa0

HA!\\xa0 A little irony.\\xa0\\xa0

Yes, but before we get into the nitty, gritty about what makes this book great, oh and make no mistake, it IS considered great. The 2013\\xa0 The Crime Writers Association claimed The Murder of Roger Ackroyd to be the greatest crime novel of all times- so there you go for a shout out- I haven\\u2019t read enough crime novels to contest them.- but before we talk about this particular book- let\\u2019s talk about Christie\\u2019 life, for just a bit, and bring us up to speed on how this book came about.\\xa0 She has a bit of a mystery embedded in her life story as well.\\xa0

Indeed- but I will say, one thing I do enjoy about the books is that, at least the ones I\\u2019ve read, are often set in this very English very Victorian setting.\\xa0 There\\u2019s some fun in that.\\xa0

True, you can\\u2019t say that Christie didn\\u2019t write about what she knew.\\xa0 She was born in Torquay in 1890..\\xa0 Torquay is a seaside town on the Southeastern side of the UIK.\\xa0 I saw one article that called it the. English Riviera.\\xa0 It\\u2019s a resort town, and once even Elizabeth Barrett Browning was sent there to help recover her health.\\xa0 Her family was an upper-middle class family,\\xa0 In other words, they were financially well-enough but not limitlessly wealthy.\\xa0 One interesting to note is that that family did not approve of her learning and didn\\u2019t want her to read until she was eight.\\xa0 It seems the general attitude of the time is that smart girls had trouble finding reliable husbands that wanted them (I\\u2019m not going to speak to that thought).\\xa0

Oh dear, I would like to say that I find smart women immeasurably attractive.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

Well, thank you, darling.\\xa0 In her case, there was no holding even little Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller (that\\u2019s her maiden name), back.\\xa0 Apparently, she just picked it up on her own, and eventually her nurse had to confess that Agatha had taught herself to read.\\xa0

HA!\\xa0 Oh my, there\\u2019s a rebel.\\xa0 Well, did they relinquish ahd let her go to school at that point.\\xa0

Well, it depends on what you mean by school.\\xa0 When she turned 15, they sent her to Paris to attend finishing school.\\xa0 I probably could have used that kind of support myself, honestly.\\xa0 At Mrs. Dryden\\u2019s finishing school she studied singing and piano playing.\\xa0 This is what Christie herself said about it years later, \\u201cI am hazy now as to how long I remained at Miss Dryden\\u2019s \\u2013 a year, perhaps eighteen months, I do not think as long as two years.\\u201d\\xa0

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So, not reading Voltaire or Flaubert.\\xa0\\xa0

Well, maybe she did, but not because she was forced to.\\xa0 But, reading was not her only rebellious streak.\\xa0 In 1914, Agatha met, fell in love with and became engaged\\xa0 on Christmas Eve to the man of her dreams,\\xa0 A very handsome war pilot named Archie Christie.\\xa0 Unfortunately, this was not the match her mother had in mind for her.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

What was wrong with him?\\xa0

Well, not his looks or personality,\\xa0 He seemed to have that covered.\\xa0 His problem was that He had no money.\\xa0 But they married and a few months later Rosalind, her only daughter was born.\\xa0 During WW1 Archie went off to war.\\xa0 Agatha stayed home, trained and worked as a nurse at the local Red Cross hospital in Torquay- and let me add here, this is where she got her start learning so much about drugs- something she became very knowledgeable of and used successfully during her entire career.\\xa0 In 56 of her novels there are over 200 references to specific, individual drugs.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

So, can we expect that a large number of her characters will get poisoned?\\xa0

No, not necessarily,although that IS a thing.\\xa0 The most commonly dispensed drugs by Mrs. Christie were sedatives.\\xa0 As you might expect, if someone is always being murdered, you may need to have a supply on hand to calm down or even put to sleep your cast of suspects.\\xa0 But there are pain relievers, stimulants, blood pressure medicines, barbituates and even antidotes to other poisons.\\xa0\\xa0

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\\xa0Of course, our book, The Murder of Roger Ackrod has three drugs: liniment for a knee problem, tonic as a stimulant and of course, veronal which is the cause of a lethal overdose early in the story.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

Yes, so after the war,\\xa0 In 1920, after six rejections, her first real novel finally got published for $25 (pounds),- not a big risk on the part of the publisher. The title of that book was The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and it introduced the world to a 5\\u20194 Belgian refugee who would charm and annoy readers for over 100 years, Hercule Poirot.\\xa0 It did well, but her breakthrough novel would be her third novel.\\xa0 It came out in the summer of 1926.\\xa0 It became a best seller and launched her into a stardom from which she would never return, which is remarkable, but honestly, it\\u2019s not the most interesting to happen to her that year.\\xa0\\xa0

I\\u2019m not sure how you top becoming a best seller.\\xa0

I know, right, but it can be bested!\\xa0 So, the story goes that the year 1926, in general, starts out a little rough.\\xa0 Agatha\\u2019s mother, who was very dependent on her daughter, died in April- and this was devastating for Agatha.\\xa0 But, while she was at her mother\\u2019s estate with their seven year old daughter, Rosalind, Archie revealed that he had fallen in love with another woman by the name of Nancy Neele, and he wanted a divorce.\\xa0 Agatha said no.\\xa0 She was deeply in love with him, and she wasn\\u2019t willing to give him up.\\xa0 Well on December 3 of that same year, Archie informed Agatha that he did not want to be married to her and he wasn\\u2019t going to be married to her.\\xa0 To somewhat reinforce this idea, he told her he was going off for the weekend with Ms. Neele.- which he did.\\xa0 Apparently, Agatha did not receive this news well..and this is where the mystery begins\\u2026..and it does sound quite a bit like a story she would write.\\xa0 So at 9:45pm, we know that Agatha left the house in her car after having written three letters- one to her secretary Charlotte Fisher, one to Archie and one to Archie\\u2019s brother Campbell.\\xa0\\xa0

So far, I feel like I listening to an explanation by Piorot.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

Exactly, and here is where it gets very strange.\\xa0 Agatha does not return home.\\xa0 In fact, she will be missing for 11 days.\\xa0 The next day they find her car crashed in a tree above a local quarry with the head lights still on.\\xa0 Her fur coat was in the car as well as\\xa0 a small suitcase and an expired driver\\u2019s license.\\xa0 There was no blood anywhere in the car.\\xa0\\xa0 There were no skid marks on the road like you might have expected if she had been driving too fast and there had been an accident.\\xa0 Finally the gearshift was in neutral, the way it would be if you had been pushing the car and not driving it.\\xa0\\xa0 It makes no sense, but Agatha was gone.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 Well, the world went nuts.\\xa0 Numbers very but possibly up to a 1000 police officers were dispatched on four countinents looking for her.\\xa0 15,000 volunteers, fans, amateur detectives and so forth, joined the hunt. They used airplanes and diving equipment.\\xa0 Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle joined in- remember that\\u2019s Sherlock Holmes.\\xa0 He took Christie\\u2019s glove to his medium for a consultation to see if she could find her.\\xa0

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I\\u2019m guessing no.\\xa0

No.\\xa0 She wasn\\u2019t in the afterlife. Everyone around the world was looking for this mystery writer.\\xa0 When Archie got back from his weekend activity- which quite likely was an engagement party a friend threw for him and Nancy, he found a very different world- than just the unpleasantness of fighting again with Agatha; , now he was a potential murder suspect.\\xa0 He also found his letter, which curiously he and burned immediately- to this day,\\xa0 no one has any idea what she wrote in that letter.\\xa0 His brother, Campbell, got his later, and strangely again, his letter was postmarked on Saturday AFTER Agatha went missing,\\xa0

This does sound like Hercule Poirot and I\\u2019m starting to need to employ my little gray cells just to keep up.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

Exactly, what secret did Campbell carry that also caused him to dispose of his letter as well.\\xa0 Everything seemed to indicate that Archie had murdered her.\\xa0 The police dragged the ponds, searched everywhere, it was in every newspaper on earth\\u2026 until on December 14th, two musicians report seeing Mrs. Christie at a luxury spa called the Harrogate Hydro.\\xa0 She had checked into the hotel days before under the name, get this- Mrs. Theresa Neele (Archie\\u2019s girlfriend\\u2019s last name).\\xa0

This honestly sounds exactly like something she would right.\\xa0 Was she play-acting?.\\xa0

We will never know, this mystery, I\\u2019m sorry to say, is unsolved.\\xa0 Christie had told the people at the spa that she had arrived from South Africa. She played pool, she danced, she read mystery novels in the hotel library.\\xa0 She seemed undisturbed.\\xa0 And here\\u2019s an even stranger turn of events, Archie covered for his wife afer she was busted.\\xa0 She was immediately accused of abusing an entire country\\u2019s police resources over a publicity stunt, but Archie helped dispel this criticism.\\xa0\\xa0 He called in two doctors, they interview Agatha, and arrived at the conclusion that Agatha Christie suffered an episode of temporary amnesia.\\xa0 She stress of her mother\\u2019s death, the success of new book and the divorce from her husband led to a nervous breakdown.\\xa0 The only thing she ever admitted to was havin been in a car crash, but even that is suspect since although she said she bruised her head, no one ever saw any bruises.\\xa0

Well, after the bitterness of paying all those police overtime, can we say, all\\u2019s well that ends well.?\\xa0

For Agatha, yes, but not Archie.\\xa0 The scandal sold gobs of books, and basically cemented her celebrity, but it also portrayed Archie as a terrible person.\\xa0 How terrible for a man to do such a thing to his wife and cause the Queen of Crime to have a nervous breakdown.\\xa0 He got to be the world\\u2019s biggest schmuck.\\xa0 Nancy Neele\\u2019s family were so embarrassed they sent her on an around the world trip for ten months trying to get her away from Archie.\\xa0 It didn\\u2019t work though.\\xa0 Archie and Nancy did get married two years later.\\xa0 But so did, Agatha.\\xa0 And her second marriage was to a man who adored her.\\xa0 They were amazingly compatible and had a wonderful marriage.\\xa0 He was an archeologist, and they spent time all over the world- hence the setting of several of her books including Murder on the Orient Express.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

So, do you buy Agatha had amnesia.\\xa0

Personally, not at all.\\xa0 I think she got angry, ran off and then things got crazy.\\xa0 I did read that she was shocked at how the story blew up.\\xa0 She never imagined that that many police would come looking for her. Do you think it was legit?\\xa0

It does seem a little far-fetched.\\xa0 And to be the world\\u2019s most famous detective novelist- I\\u2019d say, there\\u2019s room to doubt.\\xa0 But I\\u2019m keeping an open-mind- isn\\u2019t that what Hercule Poirot would tell us to do.\\xa0 The question I have is what were in those letters she left Archie and Campbell.\\xa0

We need Hercule Poirot, as he would remind us, nothing is ever concealed to him..\\xa0 He would have gotten to the bottom of it..\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

Oh, no doubt- so are we ready to meet Hercule Poirot and open the Murder of Roger Ackroyd?.\\xa0\\xa0

I think so, so let me make an important disclaimer- we are NOT going to spoil the book this episode by telling you who the murderer is, but we will next episode.\\xa0 So, if you are starting the book now and are listening to this in real time, you have one week\\u2026. But you do have a week.\\xa0 This week we are going to look at the book from the perspective of understanding how Christie was adhering very cleverly to the conventions of what we call a \\u201cformal detective. Novel\\u201d - otherwise known as the \\u201cwhodunit\\u201d.\\xa0 Edgar Alan Poe is credited of creating the detective story,\\xa0 but of course most of us think of Sir Conan Doyle\\u2019s Sherlock Holmes and his side-kick Watson as being kind of the iconic example of what this looks like. Agatha Christie basically follows their pattern but takes it from the short story to the longer novel form.\\xa0 As we might expert per the conventions of the trade, we are going to open up our story in an English country house- think of every clue like movie you have ever seen.\\xa0\\xa0 But in this case, there has already been a murder, but not the one from the title.\\xa0 Let\\u2019s read the opening couple of paragraphs.\\xa0

Page 1\\xa0

We also meet the narrator who is going to walk us through the story, Dr. James Shepperd and his meddling sister Caroline (Caroline, by the way is going to by the prototype for Mrs. Marple, Christie\\u2019s other detective.). But since the opening murder isn\\u2019t the murder from the title of the book, so we know this isn\\u2019t the right murder.\\xa0

I want to say that another characteristic of these formal detective stories is that we don\\u2019t have emotional connections to any of the characters of the story.\\xa0 We are not made to feel upset in the least that there has been a murder.\\xa0 At no point in the story at all are we to feel sad about anything- not when victims die,or get falsely accused or anything.\\xa0 We don\\u2019t feel angry either, in fact, there are no negative emotions at all.\\xa0 We aren\\u2019t even led to find the perpetrator necessarily an evil person.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

You know, I think that may be one of the appeals.\\xa0 We feel enough anger, guilt or sadness in real life. These books may be relaxing\\xa0 BECAUSE we don\\u2019t have to be emotionally stressed out about anything.\\xa0 We can just enjoy the process of the puzzle..\\xa0 We know the murder will get solved, and all will be set aright in the world.\\xa0 So, it\\u2019s just a matter of watching everything unfold.\\xa0

True, and although there is fun in trying to guess who did it and following the clues, but I\\u2019ll be honest, I didn\\u2019t figure out who the murderer was, and I basically never do when I read these thing. I barely even try.\\xa0 And I don\\u2019t think most people do either, or even care to try.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

I know, kind of like when someone tells you a riddle, you\\u2019re likely to give it about 30 seconds, then you want them to tell you what the riddle is.\\xa0

Exactly.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

Funny, by chapter 2, we meet the man who will be murdered, Roger Ackroyd. King\\u2019s Abbot, which is the name of this village, apparently has several very wealthy people- one of which is already dead, Mrs. Ferrars; the other is getting ready to die, Roger Ackroyd- and the crime scene will be Mr. Ackroyd\\u2019s house, Fernly Park, of course.\\xa0 For me, one of the hardest parts of this book is keeping straight in. my mind all of the characters that will necessarily become the suspects.\\xa0

That IS the hard part, but that\\u2019s one of the most important elements of the entire game.\\xa0 We have to know who each of these suspects will be, so we can focus not only on whether they have opportunity and means, but if they also have motive.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

And we meet the cast of suspects here at the beginning.\\xa0 There\\u2019s Mrs. Russell, the housekeeper.\\xa0 There\\u2019s the two female relatives, a sister-in-law and her beautiful daughter, Mrs. Cecil Ackroyd and Flora.\\xa0 We don\\u2019t meet but we find out about Ralph Paton, Mr. Ackroyd\\u2019s adopted son who seems to have a reputation for being irresponsible with money and women but who will be the heir to the fortune.\\xa0 When our narrator, Dr. Shepperd, meets Roger Ackroyd on the road, Ackroyd is extremely upset.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

Let\\u2019s read that encounter.\\xa0

Page 11\\xa0

And that is an example of Christie\\u2019s writing style that I find so charming.\\xa0 The narrator takes us into his confidences and these little aside comments to us, as readers, are charming and endearing.\\xa0 We find ourselves as we read the story trusting Dr. Shepperd\\u2019s understanding of the murder, for one reason precisely because he takes us into his confidence\\xa0\\xa0

True, although I will say, another reason we trust him is because the detective Hercule Poirot takes him so often into his confidence.\\xa0 Dr. Shepperd goes everywhere and helps with the investigation from start to finish.\\xa0 He\\u2019s kind of like Watson to Sherlock Holmes.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

True, and we see that this cast of characters looks remarkably like a lot of them from this Golden Age and in fact, they are the stock characters from many a Clue game.\\xa0 We will have the damsel in distress, (who we have already met with Flora).\\xa0 We\\u2019ll have the house staff who are always keeping secrets thus making them suspicious. Besides Miss Russell, who we\\u2019ve met there\\u2019s also Geofrey Raymond, who is Roger Ackroyd\\u2019s secretary, Ursula Bourne who is a house maid, and John Parker, the Butler.\\xa0

Of course- the Butler in the library with the Candle-sticks.\\xa0 HA!! To which we say, is that your guess.\\xa0 For those of you who don\\u2019t know, that\\u2019s how you play the game of Clue.\\xa0

So true.\\xa0 And so when we get to chapter five and Dr. Shepperd gets the call to come over to the house go inspect the body because there has been a murder, we already have all of suspects lined up and ready to go.\\xa0

Well, and although this next feature isn\\u2019t in a game of Clue, We can\\u2019t overlook the buffoon policemen who will be foils to our eccentric but brilliant detective.\\xa0 Inspector Davis who comes over initially and then later on Inspector Raglan our of members of the law enforcement community..\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

Oh, and let\\u2019s not fail to mention the silent almost brooding Major Hector Blunt- our visiting military man, who although never is a suspect in this particular murder, has an important role in the story, none the less, because he\\u2019s secretly in love with Flora, and this would not be a classic detective story without a romantic interest somewhere.\\xa0

You know, it\\u2019s almost like we\\u2019re not reading a drama at all.\\xa0 In some ways these books feel like sit-coms.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

That is it exactly.\\xa0 And I want to make this point, a formal detective novel of this tradition, is not a tragedy at all, but in fact, meets the criteria of what we would call a comedy.\\xa0 If you remember from our series on Romeo and Juliet, we talked about the difference between a comedy and a tragedy. A comedy ends in marriage and a tragedy in death.\\xa0 From a literary stand point, an Agatha Christie novel, and those that are modeled after hers, are popular precisely because they are comedies of manners cloaked as tragedies (it\\u2019s a trick).\\xa0 The characters serve comedic purposes- not thematic ones.\\xa0 That\\u2019s why it\\u2019s okay that they are pretty much the same stock characters in every story.\\xa0 The story would be totally different and if fact would be a completely different genre, if we did not have every assurance, life would end well.\\xa0 Let me explain what I mean,\\xa0 Recently, Lizzy and I watched together the Netflix movie, The Woman in the. Window.\\xa0 Lizzy had just finished reading the book\\xa0 by AJ Finn and had really liked it.\\xa0 It\\u2019s also a murder mystery, but totally different in purpose and genre.\\xa0 In The Woman in the Window,, the characters are serious, They struggle with anxiety and depression.\\xa0 The characters themselves are meant to be deeply analyzed- that\\u2019s the entire point of it.\\xa0 Finn is commenting on issues regarding mental health.\\xa0 That is not Christie\\u2019s purpose at all.\\xa0\\xa0 It would take away from the fun really if she went that direction.\\xa0 In comedies, only the unlikeable characters ever really suffer anything terrible.\\xa0 And Roger Ackroyd,, although we don\\u2019t get to know him very well, is not a likeable person.\\xa0 He\\u2019s selfish, stingy and is forcing his son Ralph and Flora to get married against their wills (in fact, we find out towards the end, that Ralph is actually already secretly married to the parlormaid) and this makes Ackroyd lose his mind.\\xa0 In chapter six, Dr. Shepperd describes Ackroyd of having a \\u201ccholeric temper\\u201d- and although it\\u2019s never good to murder people because they are disagreeable, it\\u2019s worth pointing out that Christie doesn\\u2019t go to any trouble to make Ackroyd likeable in any way.\\xa0 The point being, we don\\u2019t really care that Ackroyd\\u2019s been murdered really.\\xa0 There\\u2019s nothing tragic about it.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

And so the fun of every chapter is following Hercule Poirot around, interviewing all the witnesses and seeing if we can figure out before he does who the murderer is.\\xa0 Who has the most compelling reason to do it, and it will turn out that almost everyone stands to gain something from his death.\\xa0

Exactly, except we don\\u2019t figure it out- and if Christie\\u2019s success is any indication I don\\u2019t think almost anyone in the last 100 years figured it out before Poirot.\\xa0 During my second reading of the book, the one where I read it after already knowing who killed Roger Ackrod, I realized that Poirot had the murder solved well before- well, at least before chapter 17.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

I want to revisit that, but before we do, let\\u2019s flesh out a little our heroic detective.\\xa0 This isn\\u2019t the first book where she introduces Poirot, but I was surprised to see that he was retired.\\xa0 I didn\\u2019t expect that precisely because I knew she wrote 66 novels, and I had heard of this funny little man, as he is described.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

And he IS a funny little man- obnoxious and ridiculous.\\xa0 And the way Christie introduces him is funny too.\\xa0 Hercule moves into the house next door to Dr. Shepperd and his sister Caroline live.\\xa0 They are both unmarried.\\xa0 James is a doctor, and Caroline\\u2019s main occupation is local purveyor of gossip- something she seems to conduct through a very sophisticated network of servants and friends.\\xa0 Dr. Shepperd acts annoyed by it, but he also seems very impressed with her mad-dog skills.\\xa0 Before we meet Poirot, we are led to believe by Dr. Shepperd that the mysterious neighbor next door must a hairdresser as evidenced by his perfectly groomed mustache.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

That mustache is what he is most famous for- that and his egg-shaped head- whatever that is.\\xa0 According to Christie, he was inspired by a Belgian refugee she saw coming off of a bus after the first World War.\\xa0 Of course, all of the inspiration was external, and she never met the gentleman personally, but she took that inspiration and created a short man, with a distinguished mustache, a solid head of black hair and an egg-shaped head.\\xa0 She wanted him to have as she called it a \\u201cgrandiloquent name\\u201d- hence Hercule and she wanted him to be very orderly, brilliant but vain.\\xa0 After a while, she says she came to be resentful that she was stuck with him since she didn\\u2019t like him very much.\\xa0

Well, and funny enough, at one point in her career, she killed him off, but her publishers didn\\u2019t let her publish that book.\\xa0

What, she killed Hercule? Did it ever get published?\\xa0

Oh, it eventually did, of course, we\\u2019ll save that story for next week.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

Oh okay, something to look forward to, but back to our book, if you are a Christie fan, you\\u2019ll know immediately that the mysterious hairdresser is none other than our sleuth.\\xa0 If this is your first Christie book, you may not but it doesn\\u2019t matter.\\xa0 By chapter 8, he\\u2019s in the mix having been hired by Flora to figure out who killed her uncle.\\xa0\\xa0

By chapter 6, we\\u2019ve also introduced a rogue stranger with a mysterious accent, who we know from years of experience with other detective novels and movies, cannot possibly be the murderer- he\\u2019s too much of a ruffian.\\xa0 We all know that our criminal, although technically a criminal by virtue of having murdered someonw, will have no actual noticeable criminal behaviors.\\xa0 In fact, he likely will have impeccable manners, just like everyone else in the story.We won\\u2019t experience any bloody murder scenes; there will no harsh language, the investigation will be polite and the world \\u201cunpleasantness\\u201d will be the euphemism of choice to describe anything from the dagger in the neck to the awkward questioning\\xa0\\xa0

Well, speaking of the daggar to the neck, I\\u2019m assuming that a spectacular weapon of choice is also a characteristic of the formal detective story.\\xa0

OH, it absolutely is.\\xa0

And ours, does not disappoint- we have a Tunisian one of a kind dagger.\\xa0 Let\\u2019s read about it.\\xa0\\xa0

Page 64-65\\xa0

And of course, the details are the glorious part.\\xa0 In fact, that\\u2019s one reason I never even attempt to solve these murders.\\xa0 It tires me out to weed through all of the details.\\xa0 There is a diagram of the study, the specifics of when Dr. Shepperd left, when he was called back, when Flora last heard from her uncle, where everyone was at exactly the time of the murder, the phone call, the foot print, the in and out of the garden house over and over again- all of it laid out before us with consummate British precision.\\xa0 The pieces of the puzzle are completely spread on the table ready to be ordered again.\\xa0 The universe that Christie creates, some have called claustrophobic because it\\u2019s small and contained, but that\\u2019s what\\u2019s great about it.\\xa0 It\\u2019s knowable, ordered, and most importantly benevolent.\\xa0 These people are good- likely even the murderer.\\xa0 Of course, they are trying to get away with little lies and deceptions because Victorian society is very demanding, but even the murderer is not going to want to leave willingly.\\xa0 He or she will only leave as a final resort.\\xa0 This world is rational and sensible and one where even we as readers find comfort.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

Well, from a historical perspective, I find that extremely important.\\xa0 If you recall, England or rather Europe in general was nothing ljke what you described.\\xa0 It was not predictable or benevolent.\\xa0 People were being exiled; wars were raging, governments were in upheaval; poverty was rampant- what a wonderful escape and promise of possibility- a well ordered upper class environment where the rules apply and if you break them- you get exiled.\\xa0 I would say the rigid formality came across as comforting and peaceful- not boring and predictable.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

I guess you\\u2019re right.\\xa0 The book is really best read twice, if you want my opinion.\\xa0 At least it was for me.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 It\\u2019s a very carefully crafted puzzle, so when you read it the first time, you can enjoy it as a it\\u2019s a straightforward whodunnit- but when you read it the second time knowing who the murderer is, it\\u2019s even more interesting to watch how she deceived you.\\xa0 Nothing is every hidden, but her duplicitous way of writing deceives us from start to finish, and it\\u2019s delightful to watch her do it.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

So, Christy, getting us back to the difference between commercial fiction versus literary fiction, you said you think there is a theme in her work?\\xa0 Without giving away the murderer can we speak to it this episode?\\xa0

Yeah, I think we can- there are several, but one I think does speak to this idea of finding value in a well-ordered world.\\xa0\\xa0 One of the most memorable scenes in the entire book is chapter 16.\\xa0 When I read it the first time, I had no idea why it was included.\\xa0 For most of the book, we\\u2019re following Poirot around, looking at clues, interrogating witnesses, but chapter 16 is different. Also, it\\u2019s pretty much the center physically of the book.\\xa0 Sheppard and his sister Caroline and spend an evening playing Mah jong with local friends (a retired Army officer, Colonel Carter and a Mrs. Gannett)- neither of which have anything to do with anything, at least as far as I can tell.\\xa0 They enjoy coffee, cake, sandwiches and tea and then sit down to play. The main purpose of the evening really is to collect gossip, but sitting around and doing that would be vulgar.\\xa0 And no one in King\\u2019s Abbot is vulgar, so an exotic game from the Far East is a wonderful excuse.\\xa0 As they go through the hand, we realize in some ways playing this game is a lot like living life.\\xa0 They talk about how each person expresses something about themselves by how they play.\\xa0 They can express weakness or strength, an ability to perceive, an ability to make decisions.\\xa0 Sometimes the hand you are giving is a wreck; sometimes you get a winning hand effortlessly.\\xa0 At one point, Caroline very astutely yet unconsciously comments that Miss Gannett isn\\u2019t playing like she thinks she should.\\xa0\\xa0 \\u201c\\xa0\\xa0 Garry, do you know how to play mah jong?\\xa0

NO, I really don\\u2019t.\\xa0 It looks fascinating and of course I\\u2019ve seen it featured in several movies, just from looking at the external features it appears to be a little bit like rummy except with tiles.\\xa0

I don\\u2019t know either.\\xa0 But at this point in the game, Caroline points out that Miss Gannett\\u2019s hand wasn\\u2019t worth going mah Jong over.\\xa0 Miss. Gannett responds to Caroline\\u2019s criticism by saying, \\u201cYes, dear, I know what you mean, but it rather depends on what kind of hand you have to start with, doesn\\u2019t it? Caroline replies, \\u201cYou\\u2019ll never get the big hands if you don\\u2019t go for them.\\u201d\\xa0 To which Miss Gannet replies, \\u201cWell, we must all play our own way, mustn\\u2019t we? After all, I\\u2019m up so far.\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0

This goes on and on for an entire chapter- the women gossiping, attention going in and out.\\xa0 Let\\u2019s read the part where the finally get to the end of the game and someone wins.\\xa0\\xa0

The situation became more strained. It was annoyance at Miss Gannett\\u2019s going Mah Jong for the third time running which prompted Caroline to say to me as we built a fresh wall: \\u2018You are too tiresome, James. You sit there like a deadhead, and say nothing at all!\\u2019 \\u2018But, my dear,\\u2019 I protested, \\u2018I have really nothing to say that is, of the kind you mean.\\u2019 \\u2018Nonsense,\\u2019 said Caroline, as she sorted her hand. \\u2018You must know something interesting.\\u2019 I did not answer for a moment. I was overwhelmed and intoxicated. I had read of there being such a thing as The Perfect Winning \\u2013 going Mah Jong on one\\u2019s original hand. I had never hoped to hold the hand myself. With suppressed triumph I laid my hand face upwards on the table. \\u2018As they say in the Shanghai Club,\\u2019 I remarked \\u2013 Tin-ho \\u2013 the Perfect Winning!\\u2019 The colonel\\u2019s eyes nearly bulged out of his head.\\xa0

And so there you have it, Dr. Shepperd has been tight-lipped the entire book which for us as his partners sometimes can get frustrating.\\xa0 He always knows more than he says, but he\\u2019s a medical man and feels compelled to keep people\\u2019s confidences until this night.\\xa0 Right after his big win, he is so exhilarated, he blurts out to everyone everything Poirot had told him the previous day about the ring- a specific ring Poirot had kept entirely out of the sight but had revealed only to Dr. Sheppherd now Dr. Shepperd is getting the world\\u2019s biggest gossips and the news will for sure spread all over town.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

And so, where\\u2019s the theme?\\xa0 I don\\u2019t see it.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

Well, I\\u2019m not English, so I\\u2019m going to make a disclaimer that this could be a very American interpretation, but it seems to me that Christie is making a commentary on how society functions best- Mah Jong is a communal game with strict rules- but it is indeed about community- very much like the society she has built for us her readers.\\xa0 Although Shepperd claims all they do in King\\u2019s Abbot is gossip, we see through every chapter that that is not true.\\xa0 There is a very active local pub that everyone goes to.\\xa0 They garden; they visit.\\xa0 They have true community.\\xa0 And yet there are indeed winners and losers, Miss Gannett isn\\u2019t good at mah jong because she\\u2019s too independent or impulsive. Shepperd has a bit of good luck, but he also lets\\xa0 it get to his head and blurts things out at the end that he probably shouldn\\u2019t have.\\xa0 At least he regrets it at the beginning of the next chapter.\\xa0\\xa0 I don\\u2019t know, I just think she may be advocating to the rest of us who may find rules stifling, the traditional ways boring, or the conventions cumbersome, that there just might be something of value in the vintage- something comforting and enjoyable in a well-ordered and fair universe.\\xa0\\xa0

But like I said, that\\u2019s just one thought.\\xa0 And it is most definitely arguable.\\xa0\\xa0

Okay- thanks for listening\\u2026

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