July 23, 2009: Page Turners 7 p.m.

Book: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Discussion:

We had a smaller group than usual this month as we discussed Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, but we still found much to talk about. The majority of the group liked the book. Nine members voted thumbs up and two voted sideways.

We began our discussion by passing around an article from this month's issue of Mental Floss. The article described a period of time when the author disappeared for eleven days. Her marriage was on the rocks at the time, and she was eventually found at a resort spa, registered under her husband's mistress's name. However, for those eleven days, the world was captivated by Christie’s own real-life mystery. The article also talked about the novel we read and its controversial ending. Prior to the 1926 publication of Ackroyd a narrator was rarely, if ever, revealed to be the murderer in mystery stories. We are not sure, but it may be that Christie was the first to employ this plot twist. The reaction to it was very pronounced and many felt tricked. However, fellow author Dorothy Sayers praised Christie for her use of the plot device, and similar endings have appeared in novels and movies ever since, one notable example being the film The Sixth Sense.

The discussion then began to move from the author to her character, Hercule Poirot. Poirot is a Belgian detective and, along with Miss Jane Marple, is one of Christie's most famous characters. Christie also created the detective couple Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, although we could not remember their names at the meeting. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is the third or fourth Poirot novel chronologically in terms of publication, yet the character had already retired from detection when the novel begins. The novels published later have him back in London as if he had come out of retirement or as if those stories occurred before Ackroyd. The group was not sure which premise was Christie's intent.

We discussed another character, Caroline Sheppard, the sister of the narrator and neighborhood busybody. We decided that she provided good insight into the people of the neighborhood. Several group members were glad that she was spared the knowledge of her brother's actions at the end of the novel.

The story ended quite differently in the TV version of the novel, where Poirot and the others gathered at Mr. Ackroyd's factory for the revelation of the murderer. While everyone else was inside, Caroline found the doctor's journal and a gun in the glove compartment of his car. She went into the factory, gave him the gun, and a shootout occurred. There were a few other differences in the TV and book versions of the story. Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard assisted Poirot instead of Sheppard, who ran over Parker the butler in his car several times on screen.

One Page Turner asked if the poison used in the book, Veronal, was real. She was unable to find it in the dictionary. Merriam-Webster's online medical dictionary defines Veronal as a sodium salt compound and a form of barbital. The mention of this poison led to a discussion of poisons in general and household items that can be poisonous such as ammonia and paint. A few group members mentioned household uses for arsenic they employed in the past before they fully considered its potential negative health effects. I read a novel a few months back in which arsenic was used to poison someone over a prolonged period of time. According to this work of fiction, the arsenic actually had a positive effect on the person being poisoned up to a certain point. Once that point passed, the character then built up enough poison in his system so that each additional dose brought him closer to death. We were unsure if this was true of arsenic because it was fiction book.

We brought the meeting to a conclusion on that note. Next month’s selection, Thunderstruck by Erik Larson, was made available for checkout, flyers for upcoming programming were distributed, and many recommendations for next year’s reading list were submitted. The list of potential book selections for future programs will be distributed at the August meeting along with voting ballots, which will need to be turned in at the September meeting. Anyone with further suggestions for the new list was encouraged to contact Krystale at the Central Library before next month’s meeting.