The Act of Roger Murgatroyd

The Act of Roger Murgatroyd: An Entertainment is a whodunit mystery novel by Scottish novelist Gilbert Adair first published in 2006.[1] Set in the 1930s and written in the vein of an Agatha Christie novel, it has all the classic ingredients of a 1930s mystery[2] and is, according to the author, "at one and the same time, a celebration, a parody and a critique not only of Agatha Christie but of the whole Golden Age of English whodunits",[2] but also "a whodunit in its own right, so that those readers who were completely uninterested in literary games of the so-called postmodern type could nevertheless settle down comfortably with a good, gripping and intentionally old-fashioned thriller."[2] The Act of Roger Murgatroyd is also a "locked room mystery"[3] and is also a part of Adair's Evadne Mount trilogy.[4]

The Act of Roger Murgatroyd
AuthorGilbert Adair
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreMystery novel
PublisherFaber and Faber
Publication date
2006
Pages286
ISBN978-0-571-22637-5
OCLC69484329
823/.914 21
LC ClassPR6051.D287 A65 2006
Followed byA Mysterious Affair of Style 

The title alludes to two of Agatha Christie's works: her breakthrough novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,[5] and a character (Amy Murgatroyd) from a later tale, A Murder is Announced.[6] Furthermore, there are clear elements which highlight Christie's influence.[5] There are many more references to prominent crime writers and their works,[7] including, tongue-in-cheek, an anachronistic allusion to critic Edmund Wilson's 1945 essay, "Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?".[8]

Plot summary[1]

Colonel ffolkes and his wife Mary have invited a few house guests to spend the Christmas holidays[5] at their remote country seat on Dartmoor.[9] Selina ffolkes, the Colonel's 21-year-old daughter, arrives on Christmas Eve with two others: Donald Duckworth, a young American art student; and Raymond Gentry, an ill-mannered gossip columnist[5] who, uninvited and slightly drunk, soon gets on everyone's nerves.[2] The whole action of the novel takes place on Boxing Day[2] when, early in the morning, Gentry is found murdered in the attic.[5] Snowed in[9] and unable to call the police, the party decide to ask their neighbour, a retired Chief Inspector with Scotland Yard, for help.[9] The latter agrees but finds a rival sleuth in Evadne Mount, one of the house guests and a celebrated author of whodunits in her own right.[5] When the Chief Inspector and Mount start their preliminary investigation of the crime, it soon turns out that each of the guests has a skeleton in the cupboard.[1][10]

See also

References
  1. Adair, Gilbert (2006). The Act of Roger Murgatroyd. United Kingdom: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-22637-5.
  2. Crime Squad. "Author of the Month: Gilbert Adair". Crime Squad. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  3. Dibdin, Michael (5 November 2016). "Reviews: The Act of Roger Murgatroyd". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  4. Kerridge, Jake (7 January 2009). "And Then There Was No One by Gilbert Adair - review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  5. Fatkin, Hannah (28 January 2018). "The Act of Roger Murgatroyd- Gilbert Adair". The Forever Bookworm. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  6. "Synopsis: A Murder is Announced". Agatha Christie Limited. 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  7. Adair, Gilbert (12 November 2006). "Gilbert Adair discovers the real secret of Agatha Christie's success". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  8. "Edmund Wilson on Crime Fiction".
  9. Shilling, Jane (31 October 2006). "A Spritely Homage to Agatha Christie". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  10. "The Act of Roger Murgatroyd by Gilbert Adair". ReviewsOfBooks.com. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
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