The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
by Agatha Christie & Orson Welles
 Campbell Playhouse's "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd " by Agatha Christie Produced and Scripted by Orson Welles with Edna May Oliver
One of the most ingenious of Agatha Christie's novels. Narrated by a Doctor Sheppard, who takes the place of Hastings (now living in Argentina with his wife) in assisting Poirot. A wealthy widow in the village of King's Abbott, Mrs. Ferrars, is found dead, and Dr. Sheppard suspects suicide until Roger Ackroyd, a widower who was expected to marry her, is also killed. Poirot is Sheppard's new neighbor, and is relieved to escape the boredom of the vegetable marrows he has been growing by investigating the case. Most of the suspects were Ackroyd's house guests, including Ackroyd's niece, Flora; Major Blunt, a big-game hunter romantically interested in Flora; Geoffrey Raymond, Ackroyd's secretary; Ursula Bourne, a parlormaid; and Ralph Paton, an adopted son with gambling debts. Poirot is also assisted by Sheppard's sister Caroline, a middle-aged village spinster who anticipates Miss Marple's character. Both a play (1928) and a film (1931) were made of the story, both called "Alibi". The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a show featuring the acclaimed New York drama company founded by Orson Welles and John Houseman. In its brief run, it featured an impressive array of talents, including Agnes Moorehead, Bernard Herrmann, and George Coulouris. The show is famous for its notorious War of the Worlds broadcast, but the other shows in the series are relatively unknown. The show first broadcast on CBS and CBC in July 1938. It ran without a sponsor until December of that year, when it was picked up by Campbell’s Soup and renamed The Campbell Playhouse. Approximate play time of 1 hour
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