Roger Ackroyd Sparknotes

Caroline’s Humbug
In Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, contrary to the false killer named at the end of the novel, Caroline Sheppard was the actual murderer. Through careful reading, one can link together snippets of evidence to realize Caroline’s motive of protecting her brother and her means of executing the murder and escaping Poirot’s suspicion throughout the investigation.
Since the beginning of the novel, Caroline knew the whole truth, including the fact that Dr. Sheppard was blackmailing Mrs. Ferrars: “Caroline can do any amount of finding out by sitting placidly at home” (Christie 2). It is because she knew the truth that Caroline was boldly stating Mrs. Ferrars killed her husband and committed suicide in order to encourage Dr.
If this technique had worked, Caroline and Dr. Sheppard could have worked together to cover up the truth in a way that may not have involved murdering Roger Ackroyd. Through her network of espionages spread throughout the town, she found out that Mrs. Ferrars sent out a letter at the post office before committing suicide. Logically, the letter in question would either have been a suicide note or a note of similar importance to have the timing of that nature; there was not any note found at the site of her death. In order to prevent the identity of Mrs. Ferrars’ blackmailer from being exposed to the town, Caroline permanently quieted Roger Ackroyd before he was given a chance to take action on this newfound information. Had Dr. Sheppard been apprehended as the killer after Mr. Ackroyd were to have reported him, Dr. Sheppard would have instantly lost his highly respectable position in King’s Abbot that was comparable to the Ferrars and Roger Ackroyd. Caroline’s motive was supported by her opinion that Dr. Sheppard could