Selina Cadell as Caroline Sheppard Howard Haycraft included it in his list of the most influential crime novels ever written. Her revelation throws doubts on everyone's alibis, and leaves Raymond and Blunt as the last people to hear Ackroyd alive. Kimiko Yo as Tsuneko Raisen, based on Elizabeth Russell The play was adapted by Herman J. Mankiewicz,[30]:355[31] produced by Welles and John Houseman, and directed by Welles. The book formed the basis of the earliest adaptation of any work of Christie's when the play, Alibi, adapted by Michael Morton, opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London on 15 May 1928.
The novel includes an unexpected plot twist in the final chapter, where Dr Sheppard reveals he was an unreliable narrator, using literary techniques to conceal his guilt without writing anything untrue (e.g., "I did what little had to be done" at the point where he hid the dictaphone and moved the chair). Orson Welles adapted the novel as a one-hour radio play for the 12 November 1939 episode of The Campbell Playhouse.
Gregor Truter as Inspector Davis And only she could have pulled it off so completely. After dinner, Ackroyd reveals to Sheppard in his study that Mrs Ferrars had confided in him she was being blackmailed over her murder of her husband. Caroline Sheppard – Dr Sheppard's older, spinster sister.
Captain Ralph Paton – Mr Ackroyd's stepson from his first marriage, also referred to as his "adopted" son. She does not believe Paton killed Ackroyd, despite him disappearing and police finding his footprints on the study's window.
John Parker – Ackroyd's butler.
Ship steward – An out-of-town, unknown male patient of Dr Sheppard. John Woodvine as Doctor Sheppard
The owner of the park and the murder victim, The niece of Roger and the daughter of Cecil Ackroyd who is engaged to Ralph Paton, She was secretly married to Ralph Paton. The nervous butler. Upon returning to Fernly Park, Parker denies making such a call, yet he, Sheppard, Raymond and Blunt find Ackroyd dead in his study, stabbed to death with a weapon from his collection. Takashi Fujii as Jiro Hakamada, based on John Parker Roger Frost as Parker "[5][19] The poll taken on the 60th anniversary of CWA also honoured Agatha Christie as the best crime novel author ever. An attractive woman for her age. Only she had the requisite control, the willingness to absent herself from the authorial scene and let her plot shine clear.
[7], In 2013, the Crime Writers' Association voted this novel as CWA Best Ever Novel. [5][19], In the "Binge!" Rosalind Bailey as Mrs Ferrars It ran for 250 performances with Charles Laughton as Poirot. [21]:342, In March 1924 Christie also received an unsolicited letter from Lord Mountbatten. Major Hector Blunt – Ackroyd's friend, a big game hunter, a guest of the household. Yasufumi Terawaki as Moichi Reizei, based on Geoffrey Raymond The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was released by HarperCollins as a graphic novel adaptation on 20 August 2007, adapted and illustrated by Bruno Lachard (ISBN 0-00-725061-4).
Shallow and garrulous, Mrs. Ackroyd is prone to episodes of self-involved drama, and admits to falling into debt in an effort to sustain her upper class lifestyle. Charles Kent – Russell's illegitimate son. The review concluded, "It is all very puzzling, but the great Hercule Poirot, a retired Belgian detective, solves the mystery. Requests Poirot's help to investigate her uncle's murder. Charles Simon as Hammond
John Moffatt made the first of his many performances as Poirot.
She and her daughter have been living at Fernly Park for the past two years and are financially dependent on Roger. The wealthy Ackroyd lives with his stepson, Ralph Paton, his recently widowed sister-in-law, Mrs. Cecil Ackroyd, and Mrs. Ackroyd’s daughter, Flora. In the present case his identity is made all the more baffling through the author's technical cleverness in selecting the part he is to play in the story; and yet her non-committal characterization of him makes it a perfectly fair procedure. Blunt reveals he is secretly in love with Flora.
article of Entertainment Weekly Issue #1343–44 (26 December 2014 – 3 January 2015), the writers picked The Murder of Roger Ackroyd as an "EW and Christie favorite" on the list of the "Nine Great Christie Novels".
Poirot asks Sheppard for the exact time he met his stranger. [4], Howard Haycraft,[13] in his seminal 1941 work, Murder for Pleasure, included the novel in his "cornerstones" list of the most influential crime novels ever written. The review in the Times Literary Supplement began, "This is a well-written detective story of which the only criticism might perhaps be that there are too many curious incidents not really connected with the crime which have to be elucidated before the true criminal can be discovered".
Raymond and Mrs Ackroyd later reveal they are in debt, but Ackroyd's death will resolve this as they stood to gain from his will.
[23]:77, Margaret Watts wrote a play, The Claimant, based on the Tichborne Case, which enjoyed a short run in the West End at the Queen's Theatre from 11 September to 18 October 1924, two years before the book publication of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. [citation needed], Cast: