47 pages • 1 hour read
Agatha ChristieThe Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1926A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 12-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 12 Summary: “Round the Table”
After the official inquiries about Ackroyd’s death, Poirot and Sheppard talk to Inspector Raglan about the investigation. He declares the fingerprints on the knife do not match anyone in the household. Poirot is unsurprised by this and tells Raglan that the prints likely belong to Ackroyd, explicitly done to throw off the scent.
Later in the day, Poirot meets with Flora, Mrs. Ackroyd, Major Blunt, and Raymond to ask if anyone knows where Paton is; nobody does. Flora wants to publicly announce her engagement to Paton as a display of solidarity, but Poirot convinces her to wait a few days. He ends the meeting by accusing everyone, including Sheppard, of withholding information. They are all unable to meet his eye.
Chapter 13 Summary: “The Goose Quill”
Sheppard wants to know Poirot’s method, which Poirot explains. He trusts nothing one person says and presumes everyone is lying until it is verified. Once he has heard something from two people separately, he trusts it.
Poirot knows Sheppard left Fernly Park at 8:50pm because Sheppard and Parker said so. The stranger’s presence outside Fernly Park that night is confirmed by a maid who also saw the man. To Sheppard’s guess that the stranger was from the United States, Poirot can support that theory with the goose feather quill, a popular method of taking heroin in that region. Sheppard still cannot piece everything together, which amuses Poirot.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Mrs. Ackroyd”
Mrs. Ackroyd is the first to confess what she withheld from Poirot. Out of concern about the contents of Roger’s will and a desire to ensure that she is treated appropriately, she went to his study to find it. While searching, Ursula discovered her; she told Ursula to do some cleaning and then was interrupted by Ackroyd entering. Mrs. Ackroyd feigned seeking a book, grabbed one, and left; at that moment, Ursula asked to speak to Ackroyd.
As he leaves Fernly Park, Sheppard encounters Ursula and asks why she claimed Ackroyd wanted to speak to her when it was the other way. She responds that she was planning to leave Fernly Park anyway. When Sheppard inquires about Paton’s location, she says she does not know but wishes he would come forward. When Sheppard arrives home, Caroline regales him with the tale of Poirot wanting more information about Paton, particularly the color of his shoes.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Geoffrey Raymond”
Caroline informs Sheppard that Geoffrey Raymond has been by looking for Poirot. Desiring to know what Raymond has to tell him, she sends Sheppard to Poirot’s house with a pot of jelly Poirot asked for and the information about Paton’s boots. Poirot receives the former with excitement and the latter with disappointment. Raymond knocks at the door, enters, and confesses he is hard-pressed for money, and the legacy left for him will help immensely.
The two make their way to Fernly Park, and Poirot asks that Flora and Parker recreate the scene outside the study, claiming he wants to see if someone on the terrace could hear the conversation. Flora and Parker reenact the scene perfectly, checking the details with each other in the process, and Poirot asks about the presence of two glasses. Both confirm that there were, and they leave. Sheppard inquires about the relevance of the glasses, and Poirot admits it was a filler question that did not matter but that he learned a lot from this reenactment.
Chapter 16 Summary: “An Evening at Mah Jong”
Sheppard and Caroline host a Mahjong night with Colonel Carter and Miss Gannett, where information and gossip are shared. The quartet build theories about the case—including the location of Paton, whom Caroline believes is in nearby Cranchester. Miss Gannett begins to build a winning streak in the game. The others warn that she should wait for larger hands. Miss Gannett retorts that you must play the hand you’re dealt and points out that she’s ahead.
Sheppard discusses the gold wedding band, its location, and the inscription, which leads to theories about who is married to whom. The night ends with Sheppard getting a Perfect Win, which means he got Mahjong on his opening hand. As they go to bed, Caroline says that she is sure Flora has no interest in Major Blunt or Paton.
Chapters 12-16 Analysis
Chapter 12 serves as the Midpoint in the detective fiction structure. However, Agatha Christie complicates the Midpoint by offering not a stumped detective unable to answer the question of the case but an unsatisfied detective who has not built the complete story of the case. Poirot seeks the whole story. He wants to understand where everyone was, what they were doing, and why they were doing it. He goes beyond the facts that would be relevant in a courtroom to seek answers that have so far eluded him. He is still investigating the murder of Roger Ackroyd, but his investigation has expanded into a comprehensive study of the Ackroyds and their associates.
Chapters 13-15 are the first half of the Funnel. Poirot proposes that everyone has withheld information from him. These chapters begin to provide that information. Poirot manipulates everyone into thinking about their secrets. When Raymond makes his admission, he begins with an explanation as to why he initially refused to put the information forward: “You know how it is. Suspicious-looking policemen—don’t like to admit you were hard up for money—think it will look bad to them” (172). Raymond’s admittance is not consequential to the case. He was having tough luck, and the money he received from Ackroyd’s will help him. However, Poirot was successful in getting him to reveal his secrets.
A similar occurrence happens with everyone involved. They begin to focus on their secrets. Poirot has manipulated the way they think about what they are hiding. They mostly know that their secrets are not consequential, yet their guilty consciences get them, and they cannot rest until they have told Poirot the truth, which complicates the theme of Ethics and the Law. The use of manipulation and intimidation may put the information that he gathers into doubt. This method is questionable under the scrutiny of the law, but Poirot is operating outside of it.
The final chapter of this section, Chapter 16: “An Evening at Mah Jong,” is both symbolic and a chapter for foreshadowing. Symbolically, the game plays out similarly to the case at hand. Gossips seem more aware of what is happening than Sheppard is, with Miss Gannett seeing Flora with an unnamed man. Miss Gannett makes many mistakes but begins to rack up a winning streak. However, her wins are small wins that others cannot make sense of. When they suggest that she wait for bigger wins, she responds that “it rather depends on what kind of hand you have to start with, doesn’t it?” (185), and then proceeds to point out that she is winning. Within the game, Miss Gannet and her hand represent Hercule Poirot. Like Miss Gannett, he achieves small wins by acquiring information that others cannot make sense of—information such as the color of Paton’s boots. Only Poirot knows the hand given to him, and he plays the hand his way.
Functioning as foreshadowing, Sheppard gets a Perfect Win on a hand, meaning he gets Mahjong on the deal. On the high of his win, he becomes careless and reveals the existence of the wedding ring that Poirot discovered. Only Poirot and Sheppard knew about the ring thus far, but now the information is part of the gossip mill. This moment foreshadows what the characters will reveal in the forthcoming chapters. They have all become slightly cocky about what they know and will give away pieces of information that they previously would not have. This cockiness applies especially to Sheppard, who believes he has won by getting away with the crime. Sheppard’s carelessness will be his downfall when he allows Poirot to read his manuscript detailing the events leading up to the Reveal.
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