Link to Marginalia: https://www.reddit.com/r/bookclub/comments/rwpvq3/marginalia_the_murder_of_roger_ackroyd_agatha/

​

Schedule:

- Jan 19: Chapters 5-8

- Jan 21: Chapters 9-12

- Jan 23: Chapters 13-16

- Jan 26: Chapters 17-20

- Jan 28: Chapters 21-24

- Jan 30: Chapters 25-end

​

Characters up to Chapter 8:

- Dr. James Sheppard - our protagonist, a doctor and brother to Caroline

- Caroline - the whip-smart sister of Dr. James, also a gossip

- Poirot - detective

- Roger Ackroyd - deceased, described as the life of the town

- Mrs. Cecil Ackroyd - the sister-in-law to Roger, widowed. She prevented Roger from marrying his housekeeper.

- Mrs. Ferrars - suicide victim who poisoned her husband, Mr. Ashley Ferrars, a mean drunk

- Captain Ralph Paton - the step-son of Roger Ackroyd, close friend of Dr. James

- Flora Ackroyd - step-cousin to Ralph but not related by blood, engaged. She is described by Dr. James as being attractive but he notes that she is generally disliked.

- Major Hector Blunt - Friend to Roger Ackroyd, the deceased, and well known as a big game hunter.

- Mr. Hammond - the family solicitor, or, lawyer.

​

Staff

- Miss Russell - the housekeeper Ackroyd likely would have wed if it were not interfered with

- Parker - the butler, described with suspicious behaviour and appearance

- Raymond - the secretary, described in extremely likeable terms

​

Police

- Inspector Davis - the one who arrived on scene first, seems to be like Poirot joining the case

- Colonel Melrose - the Chief Constable and is well known to Dr. James. His initial reaction to Poirot is concern that he will interfere with the investigation

- Inspector Raglan - Flora described as 'weaselly'. He seems to want recognition for solving the case, and takes great strides to do so quickly.

​

Ch5

- Let's set the scene - Parker says Roger Ackroyd is in the study, the ladies are gone to bed, and Major Blunt and Mr. Raymond in the billiard room. According to the map in my text, this shows that Roger is on his own in the east side of the home, while the ladies and men are on the west side, presumably with enough doors and muffling objects to prevent sound from carrying.

- The first impression given by the men is that it must be robbery. Do we believe either of them?

- The blue letter is missing!

- There was a man speaking with Roger before he was murdered, discussing money. Who could it be?

- Sometime after this, Flora came to interrupt Parker from bringing Roger his nightcap. The police officer finds it suspicious that Parker was going to interrupt Roger after expressly being told not to, and Dr. James notes that he is flustered and shaking.

- Flora fainted after being told the news of her uncle's passing.

​

Ch6

- The Inspector is suspicious of Parker, who brings up blackmail - which, of course, he wouldn't know about unless he were eavesdropping.

- The Inspector is careful to preserve the fingerprints on the handle of the dagger. (Side note: Dr. James is quite unimpressed with the fingerprints. How banal!)

- Major Blunt knows exactly what the knife is

- The knife was kept in the silver table in the drawing room, where Dr. James had heard the housekeeper closing the table

- Upon arriving back at home, Caroline is incredulous that the Inspector believes Parker to be the murderer. "Fiddlesticks!", she says.

​

Ch7

- Flores is waiting for Dr. James after his rounds to convince him to go to Hercule Poirot to ask for his help in the case. She seems to think Ralph will be implicated in the case.

- It seems that Dr. James went to the Three Boars before arriving home yesterday and he didn't even tell us readers! He has hidden suspicians about Ralph as well, perhaps? In any case, he discovered that Ralph even left behind his luggage before fleeing.

- As a general note, this is the second time that our narrator has omitted information about Ralph that we discovered later. Firstly, that they are very close friends, and now that Dr. James seems to clearly suspect Ralph.

- We are now introduced to Poirot formally, and he has a bit of a cutting way about him, though he is very cordial - he gets straight to the quick of things. He is interested in the truth, regardless of what everyone else is interested in. He also sees through subterfuge fairly easily.

- We now have three police personnel to keep in our minds - Inspector Davis (the one who arrived on scene first), Colonel Melrose who is the Chief Constable and is well known to Dr. James, and Inspector Raglan who Flora described as 'weaselly'.

- All three officers respond differently to Poirot - Inspector Davis seems pleased that he's there, especially to show up his colleagues; Colonel Melrose doesn't want to call in Scotland Yard, but doesn't want someone interfering with the investigation; and Inspector Raglan seems unhappy that he might receive less recognition. Poirot and Dr. James both make comments that get all three officers to agree to work with Poirot.

- The fingerprint results have come back with no matches... yet.

- The footprints on the window ledge are to be investigated further.

- Poirot goes into the room and examines it, asking seemingly innocuous questions. He discovers the state of the fire and a chair that was moved positions. He then explains that he asked about the fire to determine if it was opened to cool the room or to let someone in.

​

Ch8

- We have just discovered that the call made exposing Roger Ackroyd's murder was placed in a busy public location.

- Raymond is, as always, good humoured, in good disposition, and seems willing and able to answer all questions. Is he suspiciously good natured?

- Poirot asks the staff, namely Raymond (the secretary) and Parker (the butler), if they remember the victim meeting any strangers in the past week. They give different answers - Raymond says no, Parker recalls someone.

- We have another guest coming - the family solicitor (lawyer), Mr. Hammond.

- Inspector Raglan (the one who seems to want the credit for solving the case) has solved the case! In Chapter 8, no less! It was Ralph!

- Poirot is immediately giving signs of disbelief, namely in asking how the conclusion was reached and how Raglan can explain some of the details of the case that don't make sense. Note also that every member of the house seems to have an eyewitness to vouch for their whereabouts... but usually only one eyewitness.

- He notes a summerhouse which various female footprints lead to. (Note that in this time men's and women's shoes had very different soles and would be immediately obvious.)

- Poirot finds two pieces of evidence - a white cambric fabric, and a small goose quill. He seems triumphant in these discoveries.