The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) Quiz

Answer: James Sheppard

Dr James Sheppard lives next door to Hercule Poirot, who has retired and occupies his time by growing vegetable marrows. Dr Sheppard assists Poirot with his investigation and keeps a written narrative of events with a view to publishing them.

Answer: Roger Ackroyd

Roger Ackroyd is one of the most famous murder victims in the history of detective fiction. In this novel, Agatha Christie broke one of the (unwritten) rules of crime fiction by her choice of murderer - a plot twist which had never been done before. In her autobiography, she stated that a lot of people thought it was "cheating", but she insisted that the clues were all there if they read the novel carefully.

Answer: Mrs Ferrars

Mrs Ferrars poisoned her alcoholic husband because she was in love with Roger Ackroyd. As a result, she was being blackmailed. When she confessed what she had done to Ackroyd, she could see the revulsion on his face. Faced with being bled dry by her blackmailer, and losing the love and respect of Roger Ackroyd, she takes an overdose of Veronal.

Answer: Caroline Sheppard

In her autobiography, Agatha Christie stated, "I think it is possible that Miss Marple arose from the pleasure I had taken in portraying Dr Sheppard's sister...she had been my favourite character in the book -- an acidulated spinster, full of curiosity, knowing everything, hearing everything".

Dr Sheppard stated that "Caroline can do any amount of finding out by sitting placidly at home...there was no need for Caroline to go out to get information. She sits at home and it comes to her". He attributes this to her network of friends, servants and tradespeople.

Answer: Ralph Paton

Ralph Paton is described as "extraordinarily handsome" but with a "strain of weakness" in him. He acquiesces to his step-father's demand to become engaged to Flora Ackroyd for fear of having his income cut off if he does not comply.

Answer: Ursula Bourne

Six months prior to Roger Ackroyd's murder, Ralph Paton married Ursula Bourne, the parlour-maid. He persuaded her to keep their marriage a secret for fear of being disinherited by his step-father.

Answer: Flora Ackroyd

Flora Ackroyd agrees to the engagement for financial security. She does not believe Ralph Paton murdered her uncle, so she begs Hercule Poirot to find out the truth. However, she unwittingly complicates matters, and aids the murderer's alibi, by lying about bidding her uncle goodnight, not knowing he was already dead.

Answer: Mrs Cecil Ackroyd

Roger's sister-in-law, and Flora's mother, Mrs Cecil Ackroyd is a greedy, scheming woman. Dr Sheppard detests her and describes her as "most unpleasant...she had small pale flinty blue eyes and, however gushing her words may be, those eyes of hers always remain coldly speculative".

Answer: John Parker

Dr Sheppard describes Parker, the butler, as having "a fat, smug, oily face" and a shifty look in his eye. Dr Sheppard claimed that Parker phoned him that night, stating that Roger Ackroyd had been murdered and summoning the doctor to the house. However, Parker denied making the phone call.

Answer: Hercule Poirot

In this novel, Hercule Poirot has retired and taken up residence in the village of King's Abbot, next door to the Sheppards. He becomes involved in solving the murder of Roger Ackroyd even before Flora begs him to prove Ralph's innocence. Despite the great amount of circumstantial evidence against Ralph, Hercule Poirot also believes he is innocent.