Translator finds a story that likely inspired "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd"

Is this blasphemy?

The Guardian reports that a translator has stumbled upon the plot twist made so famous in Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd in an earlier story.

Lucy Moffatt found an English translation of Norwegian author Stein Riverton’s story "Jernvognen" ("The Iron Chariot") in the April 1924 issue of a British crime magazine.

Christie published The Murder of Roger Ackroyd in 1926, but it wasn’t until much  more recently that scholars began to consider a possible link between it and Riverton’s tale.

You can read more about the connection and how Moffatt cracked the case in the Guardian, which has a very clear and unavoidable alert to leave the page if you don’t want the twist spoiled for yourself.

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