John Parker

In the novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, John Parker is Roger Ackroyd's highly efficient butler.

A call by Parker saying that Roger Ackroyd was dead was made to James Sheppard. However, Parker claims not to have called out Dr Sheppard to Fernly Park the night of the murder.

Parker was present when the body was found, where he noted that an armchair was moved from its original position. Go visit the page Roger Ackroyd (more specifically the heading "After the murder") for more information.

Prior to the opening of the story, Parker was the butler of Major Ellerby. Major Ellerby was a drug addict, and he once got in a case of murder. John Parker blackmailed him. When Parker heard Roger talk about blackmail, he thought Roger was being blackmailed and try to gain something. However, the person that was blackmailed was Mrs Ferrars.

The investigating officer for Roger's murder believed Parker was the culprit. However, Caroline Sheppard believed that the only idea that Parker was the murderer was ridiculous.

Portrayals
In the 2000 Agatha Christie's Poirot episode of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, he was portrayed by actor Roger Frost. Here there is no mention of blackmail or a Major Ellerby. Just like in the original novel, he didn't receive any inheritance from his employer. He ws discussing this with one of his friends at a local pub (presumably the Blue Boar) and he was ran over at the exit (not present in the original novel). It was probably made because he would have remembered what was behind the armchair, which was an object on which the murderer's alibi depended of.