Hercule Poirot is happily retired in the picturesque village of King's Abbott even if in the last year, he has been unable to grow the perfect marrow. When his friend and local industrialist Roger Ackroyd is found murdered in his study, Poirot is reunited with his old friend Chief Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard. Poirot is convinced that Ackroyd's death must somehow be connected to the suicide of Mrs. Dorothy Ferrars who had died the previous day and whom Roger Ackroyd had admitted was the love of his life. He also believed she was being blackmailed by someone. There are many secrets in the Ackroyd household, not the least of which is a secret marriage, but Poirot pieces it all together and identifies the killer.