"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" is another early Agatha Christie mystery (1926) written with Hercule Poirot as the hero. But it is made into this film later in the sequence of stories. Still, it's not toward the very end, but after his first retirement.
Poirot has been in retirement for a year, tending his vegetable garden where he hopes to produce vegetable marrow, something akin to summer squash and zucchini. In truth, he is struggling at his hobby, but won't let on to his problems with friends. He has his comfortable cottage in the country, but as yet has not visited a friend from the past, Roger Ackroyd. Another friend, the village doctor, James Sheppard, shows up early to take him to see Roger at his factory.
When his friend, Roger, is murdered, Poirot is finally coaxed back into detective work by another friend, Chief Inspector Japp, who shows up to take charge of the murder investigation. Naturally, there are a number of complexities in this case, but Christie and Poirot aficionados know that the clues discovered by the junior policeman on the scene, Inspector Davis, are suspicious at the least.
This is a segment that fits between the long-running early TV series and the rest of the full-length films that complete the Poirot series. It's one that leads Poirot back into his line of work. He and Japp make a nostalgic stop at his former residence in Whitehaven Mansions. Poirot doesn't give on that he might be returning to work. In this story, he is torn between some of the ghost from his past work that haunt his former office, and the challenge and enjoyment of putting his gray cells to work to solve a crime.
Poirot fans will notice the slight change or adjustment in Poirot's appearance. He is transitioning his physical appearance with a change in his mustache. The former short, turned up pointed mustache centered above his upper lip with his nose has now become wider and fuller. It still turns up to points on the end, but now reaches to the ends of his mouth. Within a couple of years, his mustache will be straightened out and lengthened beyond his mouth to points left and right. That is how he will appear in the last mysteries off his illustrious career.
Poirot and Japp have some interesting exchanges of dialog. Here are my favorite lines form this film.
Flora Ackroyd, "I wish you'd tell me about these antique things, Dr. Sheppard. I' sure you know what they all are." Dr. James Sheppard, "Oh, just because I'm an antique myself...."
Chief Inspector Japp, "You're doing what you always do, Poirot." Hercule Poirot, "What is that, chief inspector?" Japp, "Confusing me." Poirot, "Ah!" Japp, "Just when I think I'm getting a grip[p on the case."
Hercule Poirot, "Decidedly, it is time for Poirot to act."
Chief Inspector Japp, "Home, sweet home, eh, Poirot?" Hercule Poirot, "Oui! But it is full off ghosts." Japp, "Lively ones too, some off 'em."
Chief Inspector Japp, "You were never meant to be a country bumpkin, Poirot."
Chief Inspector Japp, "Well, we'll see if you're right, Poirot. See if your newspaper article has flushed anybody out of the woodwork." Hercule Poirot, "Can woodwork be flushed, chief inspector?" Japp, "You know what I mean."
Hercule Poirot, "I thought I could escape the wickedness of the city by running to the country. The fields that are green, the singing of the birds, the faces, smiling and friendly. Hah!. The fields that are green are the secret burial places of the victims of murder most hideous. The birds sing only briefly before some idiot in tweeds shoots them. And the faces all smiling and friendly - what do they conceal?"