In the quiet English village of King's Abbot, a widow's unexpected suicide sets in motion a sequence of events that will lead to one of the most baffling murder cases of Hercule Poirot's illustrious career. When wealthy industrialist Roger Ackroyd is found stabbed to death in his locked study mere hours after learning a terrible secret, suspicion falls immediately on his missing stepson. But in a household where nearly everyone has something to hide, nothing is as straightforward as it seems. The butler with a mysterious past, the cryptic parlormaid, the secretary with financial troubles, the embittered sister-in-law, the beautiful niece engaged to the prime suspect—all harbor secrets that might prove deadly. Fortunately for the bewildered local police, the great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot has retired to King's Abbot to grow vegetable marrows. Drawn reluctantly into the investigation by village doctor James Sheppard, Poirot finds himself navigating a labyrinth of lies, half-truths, and carefully crafted alibis. As he delves deeper into the case, even Poirot is challenged by the cunning of a murderer who has conceived a plot of remarkable ingenuity. Christie's tour de force—widely considered her masterpiece—shattered the conventions of detective fiction and established her as the undisputed Queen of Mystery. With its revolutionary conclusion and meticulous construction, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd continues to astonish and delight readers nearly a century after its first publication.