The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)

Christie's village murder remains a demanding test of how closely a reader attends to an account of events. Poirot investigates Roger Ackroyd's death while apparently ordinary details accumulate around him. Read it before looking at introductions or reviews: even descriptions of its famous ingenuity can give too much away. Its reputation includes a continuing argument about fairness, making it particularly satisfying to revisit and judge the wording after the explanation.