Ordeal by Innocence
ISBN: 9780008242862
Description
No one felt sorry when Jacko Argyle died in prison. Everyone knew he had bludgeoned his mother to death with a poker from the fire.
But when a doctor turns up at the house two years later with proof of Jacko's innocence, the whole family is horrified. Because it can mean only one thing – that their mother's killer is still among them.
Reviewed on 24th December 2022
I wanted something short to read in the few days left before Christmas so grabbed a random not-yet-read Agatha Christie novel from the shelf, and this was it.
It’s from the 1950s, so there’s some dated language that definitely wouldn’t be used today, particularly what we’d now consider racist and sexist. Although I do wonder a little if it’s already been edited to reduce it.
The plot starts when it’s revealed that the convicted murderer did in fact have an alibi, and the case is reopened. This leads to a lot of talk and a lot of characters - it’s hard sometimes to really understand which of the characters is even doing the investigating.
It definitely feels like one of Christie’s weaker stories - I didn’t feel like the clues were there to help me solve the case, and the ending felt rushed and unsatisfactory.
