From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Ordeal by Innocence

Agatha Christie

Start date: March 1, 2021

Finish date: March 31, 2021

Discussion: Group Challenges

Why we're reading this: Next in our Assorted Christies challenge for 2021.
[close] Next in our Assorted Christies challenge for 2021.

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Group Challenges

* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) by Agatha Christie
By Susan · 16 posts · 18 views

last updated Sep 12, 2025 08:12PM

* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) - SPOILER Thread
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last updated Sep 16, 2025 12:58PM

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What Members Thought

Oct 21, 2018 Shabbeer Hassan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: whodunit, 2018

A classic Christie tale which explores the central theme - "If you love someone dearly, how far would you go to protect them". Instead of Poirot or Marple, we have a bespectacled geophysicist investigating a crime to which he was an alibi to the hanged murderer, in a family which is dysfunctional at its core and only a thin veneer of sanity covering it up. As you read, our protagonist peels those layers to reveal the true murderer and the hidden crime of many years ago.

My Rating - 3.5/5 ...more

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Nov 13, 2018 Amy rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2018, read-as-an-audiobook, brit-trip

No more Agatha Christie written after 1955 for me. It gets way too weird. Also what did she have against adoption? Because this book made it seem like adopting children is up there with homicide and robbing banks as despicable behavior.

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Jan 20, 2016 Christine PNW rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: vintage-women

Through this Christie reread, I've discovered that some of my favorite books are the ones where she abandons the fussy, arrogant Poirot and the cotton-wool-over-steel Miss Marple for a one-or-two-off character study of a murder. Crooked House, And Then There Were None, Towards Zero, Endless Night have all ended up as favorites. Perhaps my least favorite part of the Poirot novels is Poirot?

Not really, but he can be truly irritating.

Anyway, this is another of her stand-alones, featuring a charac ...more

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Mar 22, 2021 Franky rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, 2021-reading-challenge, mystery, classics

“Nothing is ever settled until it is settled right.” – Rudyard Kipling

This was my first mystery I have read from Agatha Christie that did not feature either Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple at the helm of solving the case. In fact, I think there is quite a different approach to how the crime gets solved in Ordeal by Innocence.

Christie sets the stage in the opening chapter for the mystery at hand. A certain Arthur Calgary visits the residence at Viper’s Point to make a quite startling confession: “Nothing is ever settled until it is settled right.” – Rudyard Kipling

This was my first mystery I have read from Agatha Christie that did not feature either Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple at the helm of solving the case. In fact, I think there is quite a different approach to how the crime gets solved in Ordeal by Innocence.

Christie sets the stage in the opening chapter for the mystery at hand. A certain Arthur Calgary visits the residence at Viper’s Point to make a quite startling confession: he was with the supposed and alleged murderer, Jacko Argyle, during the time of the killing of Mrs. Argyle. Calgary, believing he has done a good deed for the family by seemingly absolving Jacko of the murder (Jacko had died in prison), is shocked that this revelation seems to have the opposite effect on the Argyles and those who are close by. It not only has newly opened up a case that was seemingly shut, but it now also seems that the guilty may be among them.

I think what makes Ordeal by Innocence tick and work effectively is the claustrophobic atmosphere created once the new revelation is revealed. Now many of the Argyle clan and those who knew the victim well know that suspicions all lie within the confines of the same household, and these avenues of suspicion begin to take hold of the members of the family as they begin to suspect one another. There is a feeling that no one at the property can be fully trusted for they could, in fact, be the murderer. As the novel unfolds, we begin to examine the deep, dark secrets contained within the confines of the household and family that get pushed to the surface. Family members must tread lightly and with caution, and they now harbor secret feelings that certain members are the guilty ones. It seems that everyone has some sort of motive.

If there is one criticism, is that I felt like the ending could have been a tad more flushed out, as it seemed to end a bit abruptly.

However, overall, another winner and enjoyable mystery from Christie. ...more

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May 30, 2017 Nanosynergy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, reviewed, mysteries-thrillers-espionage, british, fiction-1950s, 2017read

A stand-alone Christie book. Jacko Argyle is sentenced for killing his mother and dies in prison. He was the problem child everyone, including his own family, was inclined to assume would do such a crime. But then the one person who could support his alibi shows up. Rather than rejoicing in a son/brother's name being cleared, the family faces the case being reopened and the possibility that one of them is actually the murderer.

Book contains an antiquated and negative view of adoption and adoptiv ...more

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Dec 10, 2018 Paperbackreader rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: all-collections, read-but-unowned, british, classic, crime, audiobook

I have always found Christie’s mysteries to be quotable. “Ordeal by Innocence” is one of her most quotable, I believe. Musings on justice, benevolence, and gratitude pepper the narrative. I enjoyed that very much. The story is one of her most innovative ones. Despite knowing what was coming, I found myself intrigued by the narrative. What I did not like was the fact that (view spoiler) Hester Argyle was unbearably irritating! Yes, most of the Argyle children ...more

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