The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

In the quiet village of King's Abbot, the wealthy Roger Ackroyd is found dead in his study, stabbed shortly after learning a secret that someone was desperate to keep buried. The local doctor, James Sheppard, becomes chronicler and assistant to his new neighbour: a retired little Belgian with magnificent moustaches who grows vegetable marrows and happens to be Hercule Poirot. As Poirot interviews the household (the anxious relatives, the secretive butler, the parlourmaid who resigned the day of the murder) it becomes clear that nearly everyone in King's Abbot is hiding something.

This is the novel that made Agatha Christie famous, and the ending is one of the most argued-about in the history of detective fiction, a solution so audacious that some readers in 1926 accused her of cheating. Everyone agrees she played fair; the clues are all there, spoken plainly, daring you to catch them. Going in unspoiled is a privilege. If you still can, do.

At roughly 74,900 words, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd runs about 8½ hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

The edition linked here is available from Project Gutenberg under its US public-domain listing. Check the edition, translation, completeness and copyright rules where you live. LoudReader lets you browse and download Gutenberg books; they are not all stored on installation. To listen:

1. Install LoudReader on iPhone or iPad, or its iPad app on a compatible Apple Silicon Mac.
2. Search for “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” in the built-in catalog and add it to your library.
3. Press play. A natural offline voice reads the book while each word highlights on screen, and your place is saved between sessions.

Speech is generated locally without uploading the book for narration. Download the book and check your chosen voice before travelling offline. Available voices depend on your device; check the in-app voice list. Try every available voice for your first 8 hours of listening. Afterwards, keep a free English voice selection and unlimited book listening. No LoudReader account or word quota.