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
By Susan · 13 posts · 22 views

last updated Sep 16, 2025 12:58PM

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What Members Thought

Feb 18, 2021 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Published in 1958, this is a stand-alone mystery by Agatha Christie. It involves the murder of Rachel Argyle, the mother of five adopted children. One of these, Jacko, was accused of the murder and died in prison. He had always claimed that he had an alibi; having hitched a lift at the time of the crime. However, his alibi could not be established and so he was found guilty.

Now, two years after these events, geophysicist, Arthur Calgary, returns home to discover that he was, in fact, Jacko’s ali ...more

23 likes · Like · see review

Apr 10, 2017 Kavita rated it liked it

Shelves: uk, mystery

I am not sure how to rate this. On one hand, it had all the elements I love in a murder mystery - murder within the family, a large number of suspects, family drama, and some humour. But Ordeal by Innocence also bashes you on the head with Christie's private views about adoption and heredity, which are basically utter nonsense. Every chapter contained a polemic, expressed by different people, against adoption and how a mother can never be a mother unless she gives birth. It's annoying to read, e ...more

22 likes · Like · see review

Nov 13, 2018 Amy rated it it was ok

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

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.

7 likes · Like · see review

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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Jul 26, 2018 ShanDizzy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Now that it has been proven beyond doubt that Jacko, the misfit child who would never amount to anything, did not murder his adopted mother, Mrs. Argyle, then who did? It was not a stranger nor outsider...but someone in that house. Was it her husband Leo, who felt neglected because his wife put the children above all else? Or was it his secretary Gwenda, who was clearly in love with him? Or the Swedish masseuse woman Kirsten? She didn't like Mrs. Argyle. She was fond of the children and she's fo ...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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Dec 24, 2020 Becky rated it really liked it

It could have been better. I have a feeling she rushed a bit. Also she played with these ideas of race, adoption and what a background can do to a person growing up but she didn't dare to develop much and the solution fell flat. ...more

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