Detective work is harder than I thought!īy the 60% mark, I had two really strong (or so I think) theories about the murderer and their motive. I also had a bit of a headache from actively paying attention to the characters and their backstories, rather than just sitting back and waiting for Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot to tell me what actually happened. Within the first few chapters (16% of the book), I had pages of notes, strong theories about the poison pen writer’s identity and motives, and a renewed appreciation for Christie’s craft in creating complex, psychologically textured characters.

Small town, lots of gossip, an anonymous and malicious letter writer? Sounds like exactly the kind of soap opera-ish mystery melodrama I love!ĭetective hat on, little grey cells at the ready!Īnd so, armed with my trusty detective notebook (an unused AGO notebook that’s been gathering dust since I can’t even remember when), a ballpoint pen, and my little grey cells, I set to work.

I’ve had the ebook for years and must have read it at some point, but I could no longer remember who the letter writer or killer were. A series of poison pen letters results in a(n apparent?) suicide and then a murder. Surely, I thought, the mysteries that remained for me to try solving should be somewhat easier to tackle?Įnter the Miss Marple mystery The Moving Finger. Personal Christie favourites like A Murder is Announced, Sleeping Murder, Murder on the Links, Death on the Nile, ABC Murders, Crooked House were also out of the question. After all, I already knew that I had to rule out the mysteries with Christie’s most iconic twists: And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, and Curtain all had shocking reveals, yet were all too memorable for me to try to play detective myself. Roger Ackroyd is one of Christie’s best-known mysteries, and while it’s not one of my personal favourites, I knew it for its history-making big reveal, and part of the fun was watching Emmie come into it cold and try to puzzle it out.Īs a long-time Christie fan, I figured my odds were better than Emmie’s.

Inspired by this YouTube video, where a book vlogger named Emmie decided to try solving The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, I decided to give the project a go myself.

The moving finger book