Ask Mike: The butler did it
Hey Guys,
I recently finished reading “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” by Agatha Christie. Among the many suspects under investigation for the titular crime is, of course, the butler. And as I plowed through the book, I got to wondering about a mystery of my own — how did the phrase, “The butler did it” get started?
According to the blog The Straight Dope, most experts give the credit to author Mary Roberts Rinhart. Her mysteries, which often starred ahead-of-her time heroine Hilda Adams, were among the most popular of their day. And in one of those books, “The Door,” which she published in 1930, the butler does indeed commit the crime. (Sorry for the spoiler.)
But, while the cliché quickly entered the lexicon and remains to this day, it’s worth noting that few stories actually involve the butler committing the crime. Again, according to the Straight Dope, part of that can be attributed to very influential 1928 essay entitled “Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories” by S.S. Van Dine.
Dine’s eleventh rule reads like so: “A servant must not be chosen by the author as the culprit. This is begging a noble question. It is a too easy solution. The culprit must be a decidedly worth-while person–one that wouldn’t ordinarily come under suspicion.” While the sentiment is a rather prejudiced against working people, I do see his point. The reader wants the killer to be someone who will experience an epic fall when he or she is caught. That’s why, in old school (or “golden age”) detective novels, the murderer is often the wealthiest person in the room.
“The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” is often called Christie’s masterpiece (and I recommend it highly). What are some of your favorite detective novels? Do you like your detectives to be elegant and all-knowing like Sherlock Holmes or do you want to see them a little more hard boiled like Sam Spade? What makes for a satisfying mystery?
Thanks for reading,
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“The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” is my favorite Agatha Christie – I never saw the ending coming! As far as my favorite detectives – I tend to like “cozies” (not much blood and guts) rather than the hardboiled detectives of Mickey Spillane. I also like modern British police procedurals like the books of Reginald Hill or P.D. James. I am not a major Sherlock Holmes fan, sorry.
I loved “And then there where none” by Agatha Christie. I never guesss the ending. It got me to give reading a chance.
My favorite mystery writer is Agatha Christie, and my favorite book by her is And Then There Were None. I don’t like when all the action goes on in the characters head, so I tend not to like Sherlock Holmes or even Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot.
All these questions could be easily looked up on google..
I think in the game of clue? Lol..
I don’t know lolololololololololololol
I’ve always liked reading many of Agatha Christie’s novels but one of my favorites has always been Murder on the Orient Express (Eng. title: Murder in the Calais Coach). Unfortunately that has been done over and over by movie makers (and game makers) and the original story has seemed to have lost it’s sparkle.
My favorite with Miss Marple is The Mirror Crack’ed (From Side to Side) because it takes part of personal lives and models the story of on a sad part of Gene Tierney’s life.
Everyone think Agatha Christie and it seems that all they can think of is Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.But we still have many other characters out there – Tommy & Tuppence, Superintendent Battle, Harley Quin, and Parker Pyne – to name a few. Don’t let yourself be pigeon-holed into one Christie character.
In response to your question I prefer the stories of Sherlock Holmes to those of Sam Spade. He rarely uses guns and the few times a gun is required – he has Watson bring his service revolver. He uses his brain to solve things – not stumbling around trying to find evidence that might (or might not) fit the crime and lead him ‘down the garden path’ .
Wow, after all the months ( and years, I think ) that I’ve seen the Y Answers Blog, I’ve never responded before, until now.
The fact is, you caught my attention when you mentioned “Roger Akroyd”.
The fact is, even though I’m the active outdoosy type, over the last almost 4 years now I’ve indulged in Agatha Christie books. I’ve been reading them in the chronological order that they were written in, and as of now I’ve read more than 40 of Christie’s works.
She’s the first mystery reader that I’ve read. But seeing as how she has more than 80 books, I’ll be reading her for some time to come; it will be years more, because I’m not even half-way through!
So I definately recommend reading Agatha Christie ( but you need to start from the first one, so they make sense, timeline-wise in the stories ). She is brilliant; just when you think you know who the murderer is, you’re wrong!
If you read her stories, you’ll really take a liking to her brilliant detective Hercule Poirot. I’d say why, but I won’t want to spoil it.
Christie had a great understanding of human nature, which is partly what made her stories so fantastic.
And she has sold more than 2 billion books world-wide.
Her books were published between 1920 and 1976.
Start with the first one, “The Mysterious Affair At Styles”. You’ll see from that first book just how brilliant and entertaining her books are. And it only gets better from there once you go onto her later books!
Trust me, you won’t get bored by ANY Agatha Christie mystery!
I read a couple Agatha Christie books years ago. I re-member one of her books entitled “Mrs. Ginty’s Dead.” I remember that I was very involved in it, and couldn’t put it down! I also read “And Then There Were None,” but I can’t recall anything about it at all!
I have read Sherlock Holmes when I was a teen-ager, but, I didn’t care for that type of detective story.
I still love Ellery Queen Magazines, though!
Early British murder mysteries involved the upper class as characters, and it would have been scandalous if the author had depicted someone with blue blood actually committing a murder. Hence, a servant like a butler ended up being the culprit.
Favorites? I started reading mysteries when my mother bought me my first Nancy Drew (The Clue in the Diary) when I was in fourth grade, but I quickly came to prefer Judy Bolton—-much more of a real person! In my teens I discovered Sherlock Holmes and read and reread those sixty stories; then in college I moved on to Agatha Christie (starting with Roger Ackroyd) and then John Dickson Carr. They’ve all remained favorites, of my husband’s as well as mine, but among living writers we like Ruth Rendell (especially the Inspector Wexford stories, her others being less in the strict mystery genre) and Sharyn McCrumb, who I wish would get over her fascination with NASCAR and return to Spencer Arrowood and Elizabeth McPherson!
i have read “the murder of roger ackroyd” and its the best agatha christie book according to me. the style and plot was pretty new and i rememeber a very beautiful qoute that was in the last page of the book it was”grief passes by time”.as you have already told that its the master piece so i think you can clearly understand why is it called so.
the next thing is that i have read all sorts of thrillers and detective books starting from Agatha Christie Doyle, Robert ludlum’s bourne series ,dan brown Sidney Sheldon and many others Sherlock Holmes i my all time favorite and i believe he is the greatest detective in the world.its just my opinion i won’t try to impose it on you.but i will give you the reason that his methods are very useful for the reader(if he/she hopes to be like him one day)and deduction and observation are the key words for a detective.
i think that i have wrote a lot so won’t bore you any more .but really for the first time i saw someone interested in thrillers. i don’t have any friend who is so interested.
so i would like to add you as a friend and we can discuss about these sometime.
My favorite detective? That would be Shawn Spencer.
most of the old movies.the murdera was the butler.
The house servants are often used as scapegoats for various crimes committed by family members throughout human history. They were dispensable for any misdirection or manipulation their masters cared to inflict, especially by those who grew up not having to work for a living. It all stems from the practice of those placing themselves over others due to superior blood or other attributes. A royal blood family member who committed a crime couldn’t possibly be jailed or executed, so a handy servant was used instead. In the case of one Hungarian royal lady, who routinely tortured and executed all the young women in her province to bathe in their blood. Was never really executed, just placed under house arrest by other family members.
I Love all the of the Christie books I’ve read, except “The Hollow” it was too disturbing. My AC favorites were, “The Body in The Library” and “Sleeping Murder”.
I also love Tony Hillerman mysteries.
i would really like to know if the D.A.R.E. that was put around in schools if anyone really talked to the kids and really showed what they look like.i have found out that just saying no.What are you really saying no too.we are just told to say no and that there not good for you.What dose this thing called drugs look like….. how anyone even said even in school.
i love this book too
I like the Spencer for hire guy, Sara Paretski’s V. I. Warshawski novels,some Dean Koontz books,lots of others
hey john!
love your writing style (greatly entertained!) and how you elevated agatha christie to be the queen of mystery..
love your english – the grammar, the composition and style… got me reading.
Agatha Christie
Dashiell Hammett
Don’t forget Ellery Queen!
I’ve read over 60 of Christie’s books and the ending of The Murder of Roger Akroyd was the one that really made me pull my hair. Talk about hiding in plain sight …. we really had the wool pulled over our heads on that one.
Not sure if you have yet but do go and see “The Mousetrap” play, not just a case if the Butler did it, its also the longest running production in Londons West End. It will blow you away,literally.I saw it back in the 50s and Anthony Oliver was in it.I was also a member of a fringe theatre crew(KIngs Head Islington) and we did Martin Shermans play “Cracks” rather like Ten Little ******* but set in a Hippy Colony. I was off stage firing a Starting pistol each time and actor got “bumped off” .J
Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) anyone?
O.o