'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd', 100 years old: why was Agatha Christie's novel voted the best whodunit of all time?

The crime writer Agatha Christie
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In 2013, the British Crime Writers Association (CWA) met to choose, as part of its 60th anniversary celebrations, the best novel of its kind of all time. Thomas Harris. After counting the 600 votes, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd", by Agatha Christie, was chosen as the winner.
Before becoming a book on May 27, 1926, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" (or The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, in the original) was published, in serial format, in the London Evening News, between July 16 and September 16, 1925.
At the time of its publication in 54 chapters, the story was called "Who Killed Ackroyd?". In Brazil, the novel, translated by Leonel Vallandro, arrived in bookstores in 1933.
"This novel has imitated, but never equaled, characteristics that make it an instant classic: one of them is the plot twist at the end. At the time, it didn't even have that name, but today it is celebrated in books, films and series of the genre", observes Renan Castro, assistant editor at Globo Livros, a publisher that has just launched a deluxe commemorative edition of the work with a cover harsh, translated by Renato Rezende and designed by Rafael Nobre.
Is it always the butler's fault?
In "An Autobiography", Agatha Christie attributes the inspiration for writing "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" to two people: first, to her brother-in-law, James "Jimmy" Watts, husband of Margaret "Madge" Frary Miller; and, secondly, to Lord Louis Mountbatten. "It was, by far, the most successful [book]", declared the author of 66 detective novels, 153 short stories and more than 30 plays.
Once, upon finishing reading a detective novel, James Watts let out a sigh of impatience: "Nowadays, almost everyone becomes a criminal, even the detective. I would like to see a Watson who became a criminal", complained the writer's brother-in-law, alluding to Dr. John H. Watson, Sherlock Holmes' faithful squire and, most of the time, the narrator of the books starring the most famous detective of all time.
Some time later, a similar idea was suggested by Mountbatten. "He wrote to me suggesting that the story be narrated in the first person by someone who, in the end, would be the criminal", reports the author in the memoir. "My mind reeled at the thought of Hastings murdering someone", he admits, in reference to Captain Arthur Hastings, Hercule Poirot's best friend in eight novels and 26 short stories.
As I didn't imagine Hastings as a cold and calculating murderer, what did Agatha Christie do? He arranged for him to travel to Argentina, where he started to live after marrying Dulcie Duveen, and promoted the doctor from quiet King's Abbot, Dr. James Sheppard, to be the story's narrator. "Many say that The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is misleading. But, if you read it carefully, you will see that they are wrong", ponders the author.
"It is, without a doubt, the best detective novel of the 20th century", reiterates writer Jared Cade, author of "Secrets from the Agatha Christie Archives" and "Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days", unpublished in Brazil.
"Part of its deceptive simplicity lies in the fact that it seems like a mystery of conventional murder. Literary studies on detective fiction debate whether she played fair with the reader or whether she disrespected the rules of the genre. Most readers today accept that it is their responsibility to suspect each and every character, one by one."
"Agatha Christie revolutionized the genre and surprised many of them, mainly because the murderer is very sympathetic", concludes writer Susanne Lieder, author of the biography "Agatha Christie" and the "Trajectory of Mystery". (2025). "Personally, I loved the story and had a lot of fun with Caroline.

She's my favorite character! Brown" (1924) and "The Secret of Chimneys" (1925).
"There is a legend that Agatha Christie became famous because of "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd". He was already a rising star!", says writer and biographer Tito Prates, author of "Agatha Christie: A Biography of Truths" (2022) and president of the Brazilian Association of Writers of Detective Romance, Suspense and Horror (Aberst). "In the early 1920s, he had already published more than 70 short stories in magazines in the United States and England."
Guess who's coming to kill
In 2015, just two years after the election promoted by The Crime Writers' Association (CWA), The Home of Agatha Christie, the British writer's official website, also promoted a worldwide poll to determine the Queen of Crime's fans' favorite book.
This time, the title chosen was not "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" (1926) but "And There Were None Left" (1939). (1934).
"'E Não Left None' is a thriller that, in certain scenes, flirts with horror", describes Jean Pierre Chauvin, PhD in Literature from the University of São Paulo (USP) and author of the books "Crimes de Festim" (2017) and "Why Read Agatha Christie" (2025). in an hourglass."
In total, 15 thousand readers from more than one hundred countries participated. Two interesting facts: one in four (24%) was between 25 and 34 years old, and Brazil was the third country that voted the most, followed by the United States and the United Kingdom.
One of the 15 thousand voters is the Pernambuco journalist Duda Menezes. On her YouTube channel, she has already posted videos about "Death in Mesopotamia" (1936), "One Hundred Grams of Rye" (1953) and "The Dead Man's Extravaganza" (1956), among other books.
"'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd' brings together the best of Agatha Christie: the presence of Hercule Poirot, a peaceful village, countless suspects, ingenious alibis, an engaging narrative and manipulation, a lot of manipulation", lists the digital literature influencer.
"Mastery of narrative is capable of shock anyone. You finish reading and now want to read again to realize everything you missed."
The top three placed, in the ranking of Agatha Christie readers, were: "And None Left" (21% of the votes), "The Murder on the Orient Express" (16%) and "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" (8%). "Death on the Nile" (1937) and "The ABC Crimes" (1936) complete the Top 5 of the poll worldwide.
Political correctness
In Brazil, Agatha Christie's work is published by three publishers: Globo Livros, L&PM and HarperCollins "The concept of 'best' is subjective. If we are to judge by the audacity of the solution, for example, The "Murder of Roger Ackroyd" deserves the title. But, depending on the reader's criteria, other titles by the author, such as "A Casa Torta" (1949), can be considered superior", ponders Alice Mello, executive editor of HarperCollins Brasil.
"A Casa Torta" is one of writer Raphael Montes' favorite Agatha Christie books. Secreto" (2016), among others, in a virtual ranking of 2023. "It has the most unlikely murderer that Agatha Christie has ever created", he said mysteriously.

Two years later, in a new Top 5, A Casa Torta fell to third place. In its place, Montes chose "E Não Sobrou Não".
Originally, "E Não Sobrou Não" was called "O Caso dos Dez Negrinhos" (or Ten Little Niggers, in the original). The title referred to a 19th century nursery rhyme, but was changed after being branded racist and causing controversy in countries like Germany.
In other Portuguese-speaking nations, "O Caso dos Dez Negrinhos" gained different titles such as "Invitation to Death", "The Ten Black Figures" and "The Invisible Avenger".
A curious fact: "And No One Left" was Agatha Christie's own favorite. In 1972, in response to a Japanese admirer, the author published her list of preferences. "Ten people needed to die without the book becoming ridiculous or the killer becoming too obvious," he wrote in his autobiography. "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" occupied second place in the ranking, and "Invitation to a Homicide" (1950), third.
Worth reading again
Of the 44 Agatha Christie books published in Brazil by HarperCollins, 11 were translated by Érico Assis and nine by Samir Machado de Machado.
"My favorite among the ones I translated is the most obvious: 'Murder on the Orient Express'", says Assis. "First, because the resolution is masterful and, second, because I translated it twice: in prose and in comics." The graphic novel version that Assis translated is adapted by Bob Al-Greene.
If "Murder on the Orient Express" is the most popular book and "None Left" the most influential, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" is Agatha Christie's most ingenious. Samir Machado de Machado says this.
"It is almost impossible for the reader to unravel the final mystery", challenges the writer and translator. "It's one of the few books of hers that is worth rereading. Precisely to see how the murderer's step by step was masked."
One book, several versions
Over the years, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" has received numerous adaptations. The first of them, in 1928, was for the theater. The play, written and directed by Michel Morton, was called "Alibi".
Agatha Christie didn't really like the production because Morton disappeared with her favorite character. In "An Autobiography", the author admits that Caroline Sheppard served as inspiration for Jane Marple, the "heroine" of 12 novels and 21 short stories. 2016.
"I'm a little embarrassed to say that, before being asked to play Poirot, I had never read Agatha Christie", admits David Suchet in the book "Travelling with Agatha Christie" (2025). "When I was offered the role, I didn't know whether I should say 'yes' or 'no'."
Invitation accepted, the English actor played the Belgian detective in 70 episodes of the series "Agatha Christie's Poirot" (1989-2013). "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was one of them.

Source: G1

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