Ordeal By Innocence by Agatha Christie (Read Christie 2024 September Selection)

 

Publication Date:

November 3, 1958

Length:

256 pages

Summary:

I have had a hard time keeping up with Read Christie this summer. So despite my post from two years ago about not liking audiobooks I'm fast changing my mind! I listened to this one. And it was a great break from reading in that the narration by Hugh Fraser from Poirot made it a lot of fun. I have missed out on reading the March, July, and August selections so it was nice to get back to my commitment of reading them each month.

Dr. Arthur Calgary is an explorer who has been away for some time in Antarctica. When he discovers he is the sole alibi for a man named Jacko Argyle in a murder conviction, he realizes he must contact the man's family and clear his name. Jacko was accused of murdering his adoptive, overbearing mother, Rachel Argyle. Unfortunately, when Dr. Calgary arrives at the family home, they are not receptive to his good news. It seems Jacko was convicted and died in prison, seemingly guilty of the crime. And the family feels that everyone should leave well enough alone. Jacko was not beloved by them, always in trouble, and causing mischief. No one seems to care if he was innocent of this particular crime as he was the cause of so much strife in their lives anyway. They also realize that if Jacko was innocent, then one of them might be the guilty party. And that is another burden no one wants to deal with.

But Dr. Calgary is not so sure the "leave well enough alone" scenario is acceptable. He feels a duty to get to the bottom of the question: If Jacko didn't murder the mother, then who did? And why? And so he sets out to discover motive, opportunity, and the reason behind it all. He meets resistance at every turn from the children and father and knows he is treading in dangerous territory. 

As he learns more about the family's backstory it becomes clear that the five adopted children of Rachel Argyle were far from happy. Rachel couldn't have children and so took in some whose parents had either died in the war or seemingly had died. She was unwilling to give them back and hovered over their lives well into adulthood. Family dysfunction occurred on a grand scale and because of this, the list of suspects is high. 

My Thoughts:

I have to confess....this was one of my least favorite Christie books. So I find it amazing that I read it was one of her favorites! How different we all can be when it comes to writing and books. I found it repetitive and Dr. Calgary boring. He seems to mull over and over the same ideas and sometimes I found the children to be a bit whiney as adults, but did understand their reasons for resenting a "mother" who seems to have almost stolen some of them from their rightful parents. There just weren't very many agreeable characters for me in this one.

I also didn't care for the lack of a strong detective. Miss Marple and Poirot are what make her other books so entertaining. Using the Dr. as the stand in "detective" just didn't work for me.

That being said, the psychological element of Rachel Argyle's intentions was both interesting and downright creepy. She acted like a jailor of these poor children who often thought they were going home only to realize they were with her forever. She selfishly puts her need for love and validation about others and so one isn't sorry to see her meet her fate. I also found it fascinating that the father seemed unwilling or unable to stand up to her decisions and say "this is wrong!", not helping get the children back to their families. This seems like something that would happen in real life, the husband or wife going along to get along and not wanting to cause a fuss but endangering others in the process. Once again, I think Christie is often ahead of her time when it comes to psychology and she seems to have an incredible knack for dissecting human nature. I suspect this is one of the reasons her books are so long lasting and draw in readers from all walks. 

I know Read Christie likes to challenge everyone to read different Christie books and not just ones with their favorite detectives, but I'm looking forward to a new month with a better choice. In the meantime, I still give props to the author for always being creative in her mysteries and keeping me guessing. I wasn't sure who did it until the end!