The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) by Agatha Christie: Part 1

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The following article was is based on the talk that I presented at the 2026 International Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay on September 17th – ‘Roger Ackroyd Day’. It is being shared in three instalments: Part 1 – The novel’s history in print, and Part 2 - Adaptations of Stage, Screen and Radio, and Part 3 – The novel’s legacy. The text of the talk has been modified to better suit the reader. Images shared are generally the slides shared at the presentation.

Part 1: The Novel in Print.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd has had an extraordinary journey from its genesis to its centenary. Its bold narrative, that revolutionized detective fiction, has been experienced in many ways across the last hundred years.

This first article aims to provide you with fresh insights into its publication history, from newspapers to magazines to books. Let’s start by placing this novel in a timeline of Christie’s other published books. The British first editions of her first six books were published by The Bodley Head – which spanned a period of just under four and a half years.

During this period, in January 1924, Christie signed a contract with Collins for three books that would begin after she had fulfilled her obligations to The Bodley Head. So After The Secret of Chimneys, we get The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – the first book Collins would publish.

The Genesis of the Novel.

Here’s an excerpt from Christie’s Autobiography (and I’ve edited out the spoilers!):

I owe part of it to my brother-in-law, James, who some years previously had said somewhat fretfully as he put down a detective story: ‘Almost everybody turns out to be a criminal nowadays in detective stories. What I would like to see is…’ It was a remarkably original thought, and I mulled over it lengthily. Then, as it happened, very much the same idea was also suggested to me by Lord Louis Mountbatten. The letter arrived [in 1924] when I was seriously ill and to this day, I am not certain whether I acknowledged it.

When she wrote this in her autobiography she hadn’t replied to his original letter. I think it’s worth noting that Lord Mountbatten was a big fan of Christie’s works. In 1959 he and his wife accompanied Queen Elizabeth II to a performance of The Unexpected Guest and he’s also known to have written to Agatha to congratulate her on the longevity of The Mousetrap.

In 1967, Agatha finally replied to Lord Mountbatten’s letter from over 40 years earlier, and it read:

The …[blank] idea came to me from two sources. One a mere remark by my brother-in-law who said …[blank]. I do not think that I thought much more about it then, but shortly afterwards came your letter, which, if I remember rightly, outlined a most interesting plot. You didn't suggest …[blank] but …[blank]. I thought it a most attractive idea - one which had never been done - but I had great doubts if I could ever do it. But it was a great challenge! It stayed at the back of my mind and I gnawed at it - rather like a dog with a bone. Finally, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd came to life.

Christie tells us in her autobiography that:

[Writing] it had enormous difficulties, of course. My mind boggled at the thought … and it was anyway going to be difficult to do it in such a way that it would not be cheating. … [things] have to be nicely concealed in an ambiguous sentence ... There are the plots that tease my mind, that I like to think about and play with, knowing that one day I am going to write them. Roger Ackroyd played about in my mind for a long time before I could get the details fixed.

First Appearances.

Well she did get them fixed, and the manuscript of Ackroyd was completed before the summer of 1925. As with most Christie novels to-date, it was first serialised in newspapers and magazines around the world. The very first appearance was in the London Evening News on July 16th, 1925, under the slightly shorter title 'Who Killed Ackroyd?'.

This was almost a full year before Collins published it in book form. It’s worth pointing out that in a 1928 newspaper interview Christie said her working title for the book was ‘The Man Who Grew Vegetable Marrows’ – if that had been chosen I have no doubt some readers of the London Evening News would have thought it was an article for the gardening section!

Readers had to be diligent if they wanted to read the whole story as it was spread over fifty-four instalments. Several of the instalments had illustrations – including caricatures of some of the main cast.

Readers were also provided two floor plans – one of Ackroyd’s house – Fernly Park – and in another instalment, one of his study, where he was murdered. Floor plans like this were quite popular in crime stories during the Golden Age and we’ll come back to the study’s floor plan later!

First American Appearance.

In America, the novel was serialised over a much more manageable four instalments in Flynn’s – a weekly magazine focused on Detective Fiction. Even though the book had just been published in England the month prior under the full title, Flynn’s still used the abbreviated ‘Who Killed Ackroyd?’.

Each instalment was accompanied by one illustration. In the first it says ‘Over the fence appeared an egg-shaped head’ – though the illustrator clearly preferred a wall. In the second, we have Poirot crawling around the summer house looking for clues. In the third, it's Flora Ackroyd and the butler Parker.

The last one shows with Ralph Paton appearing in the doorway. I left the summary text below the image here which I love – it reads “Six Suspects had motives for murder but the man who grew marrows looked where there was no reason”.

First Canadian Appearance.

In Canada, the Toronto Star Weekly serialised the novel beginning in January 1927. It was already being billed as ‘the masterpiece of detective fiction’ given the book’s success in the UK and US. There’s a great quote here from the New York Times in this ad that says: ‘It soars far above the crude standardized mystery stories that have become such customary merchandise’. The image shared is the first of their 35 instalments – now with the same title as the book. This instalment, along with several others, was richly illustrated – each accompanied with a short quote from the book.

It’s worth noting that many other newspaper serialisations are known of which many can be viewed online for those who enjoy historical research.

Book Editions.

In her autobiography, Christie says: My first book for them [Collins], The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, was far and away my most successful to date; in fact, it is still remembered and quoted. I got hold of a good formula there.

10 years later, in her introduction to The Daily Mail’s serialisation of Appointment with Death, she wrote: Poirot definitely has his favourite cases. In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd he was at his best.

Given that the last book she gave to The Bodley Head was The Secret of Chimneys, it’s fair to speculate she didn’t rush to publish Ackroyd with them, knowing that this ‘good formula’ could help launch her Collins relationship with great success.

That first Collins Christie first edition was published in May 1926 and featured cover art by Ellen Edwards who was a prolific cover artist in the 1920s.

Collins heavily promoted this book – I think fully aware of its quality. One ad stated: Who Killed Ackroyd? The shifty butler, that Major fellow, that grim housekeeper, the prodigal nephew or neurotic Mrs. Ackroyd. In a Collins ad from 1927, it stated that Ackroyd was the Best Selling Detective Novel in 1926.

In the States, Dodd Mead & Company published their 1st edition six weeks after Collins, in July 1926. The artist who designed this cover is still unknown.

The Floor Plan Error.

I showed earlier how a floor plan was provided for the serialisation in the London Evening News – and it is also present in all the book printings. However, as the slide below illustrates every British and American book ever published has a slightly incorrect floor plan. The window next to the table – a key clue in the novel – is missing!

I can imagine that some graphic artist or typesetter just thought the gap in the original floor plan’s wall (left image) was just an incomplete line and filled it in. However, many foreign editions – for example the French book shown on the right – do have the correct floor plan with the window clearly present and even labelled! Hopefully one day this will get corrected. For now, you can just apply some white out.

Global Editions.

While a few of Christie’s earlier books had already been translated for some overseas markets, Ackroyd was without question more broadly translated and sold globally than any prior book. Shown here are some of the early Global Editions from the late 1920s and 1930. A number of countries, like Sweden, did reuse the Collins artwork.

I particularly like the Czech edition with Poirot and his marrows! It’s interesting to note the Italian title – which translates as From 9 o’clock til 10 o’clock – chose to focus on that key hour in the novel.

Below are a few others from the 1930s and 1940s. For me, the 1943 American reprint is a special book as it was the first vintage Christie hardback I ever purchased and it kicked off my hobby of collecting Christies.

Also shown are a few early British reprints of note. The one on the left is unique in that it is a tie-in to the release of the film 'Alibi' – based on the novel - that occurred in 1931 – something we’ll talk about in Part 2.

Collins Pocket Classics.

One reprint I want to highlight is this one from 1939. In 1909, Collins launched their Pocket Classics series, but it wasn’t until 1939 that a detective novel was considered a classic worthy of this imprint – and it was Ackroyd that was chosen as the first. You’ll notice that the introduction was by Torquemada - the pen name of Edward Mathers. While he is arguably best known as the creator of cryptic crosswords, from 1934 onwards he was a highly influential reviewer of crime fiction for The Observer. He died in 1939, so this introduction was likely one of the last things he wrote.

This handsome little book came in a slip case and featured six illustrations – here are three of them. They are wonderfully atmospheric, though to me, I do think the murdered Ackroyd looks rather like a certain American politician!

First Paperbacks & Initial Recognition.

So let’s shift gear and talk about Ackroyd’s journey as a paperback. The first was in 1937, when Collins published it as a White Circle paperback, and then two years later it was published in the States by Pocket Books.

A few years later, in 1941, Howard Haycraft published Murder for Pleasure – in which he establishes a list of Detective Story Cornerstones – the 100 most influential and important detective stories ever written. It is a book that is still highly influential today for fans and collectors of the genre. And it’s likely no surprise that The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was selected as one of these books.

With such recognition, demand for the title continued to be strong – leading to more paperbacks and more reprints. The first Penguin paperback appeared in 1948 – a look that is likely familiar to many in the room. Also, as the advertisement for Crooked House shows us, Collins was still referring to Ackroyd as ‘her best’ and using it to leverage interest in her new titles.

When Fontana paperbacks were launched in 1953, they initially published only two dozen titles per year. In January 1957, they published their 10th Agatha Christie title – which was The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Now in print for over 30 years, Fontana referred to it as “Agatha Christie’s Most Famous Detective novel”.

A couple of editions from the 1960s I want to highlight are the 1963 Fontana printing with the wonderful cover by Tom Adams. This was the fifth Agatha Christie cover Tom created for Fontana, and one of the six covers he created that were published in his first year working for them.

In 1965, Agatha celebrated her 75th birthday, and Collins wanted to create a new uniform series to celebrate this milestone. While it took over a year for the series to launch, the 'Greenway Editions' first appeared in 1967 and Agatha Christie selected the first four titles to be printed – of which The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was number one. She also chose the cover symbol of three intertwined fish – which she’d taken from her short story The House of Lurking Death from Partners in Crime.

Every decade saw new designs and printings. More recently, in 2016 there was a reprint of that 1931 Detection Club film tie-in, in 2019 The Folio Society published their first version of the title with great artwork inside the book by Andrew Davidson, and lastly the more recent 2021 American cover by Stephen Millership, whose covers for all the Poirot novels are in my opinion the best that have been created in decades. In 2026, new editions tie in with Ackroyd’s centenary. These include a new Folio Society printing with original artwork and the Collins ‘Ultimate Mystery Edition’ where the final denouement is hidden within an envelope in the back! I expect this title will be seeing unique editions for many decades to come.

Future Instalments.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to published the second and third instalments looking at this history and legacy of this novel. Subscribers will automatically receive a notification when any article is published on this site. If you haven't yet subscribed, click the link in the menu selections at the top of this page.

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