Ordeal by Innocence

Ordeal by Innocence is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 3 November 1958 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at twelve shillings and sixpence (12/6) and the US edition at $2.95. A crucial witness is unaware of his role as such until two years after a man is found guilty of a murder. When he realizes the information he holds, he re-opens the pain of loss in a family, and re-opens the question of who was the murderer two years ago. This novel received mixed reviews at the time of publication, as reviewers were not generally comfortable with the psychological aspects of the story. The plot had her "customary ingenuity" but lacked "blitheness" and was "much too like an attempt at psychological fiction". Sympathy is evoked for too many characters, "but the unravelling is sound and the story well told." Another said there is ingenuity and a good ending, but the plot "lacks a central focus" and it appears that the "serious socio-psychological approach doesn't suit" Christie's writing. A later review considered it one of the better Christie novels of the 1950s, and noted that the author sometimes called it her own favourite. Plot summary Geologist Arthur Calgary appears at the Argyle home Sunny Point two years after Rachel Argyle, wife and mother of five adopted children, was bludgeoned to death. Her son Jacko was tried and imprisoned, and he died after 6 months in prison. Calgary explains that Jacko is innocent of murder, because his alibi was true. Calgary is the man who gave Jacko a ride to town and talked with him, when the murder was known to happen. Calgary is confused by the family’s reaction to his news. It had been difficult to face them with his failure to appear by the time of the trial, yet no one is pleased at his effort for justice. Brother Mickey Argyle realises immediately that there is a murderer among them still, and visits Calgary in his hotel room to tell him. As the new police investigations proceed, they suspect in turn Jacko's father Leo, his brother Mickey, his sisters Mary, Tina and Hester, his father’s secretary Gwenda, and the long-time housekeeper Kirsten. Calgary visits the defense lawyer, who gives him more details of the event and some insights into the family, and the position in which the news puts them. Calgary feels he must now assist the family in the new situation.