Ordeal By Innocence

While serving a sentence for killing his mother - a crime he insisted he didn't commit - Jacko Argyle dies in prison. Two years later, the man who could have supported Jacko's alibi suddenly turns up. It appears that Jacko was innocent... and that the murderer is part of the surviving family.

Year: 1958
Location: England

Cast of characters

The Argyles: Christina, Hester, Jack ('Jacko'), Leo, Michael and Rachel, Dr. Arthur Calgary, Joe and Maureen Clegg, Dr. Donald Craig, Mary and Philip Durrant, Major Finney, Cyril Green, Superintendent Huish, Kirsten Lindstrom, Dr. MacMaster, Andrew Marshall, Gwenda Vaughan

Publishing history

Publishing: First published in 1958 by William Collins Son & Co. in London, and in 1959 by Dodd, Mead & Co. in New York. Films: Filmed in 1984 by Golan-Gobus Productions in England starring Donald Sutherland, Sarah Miles and Christopher Plummer. The film adheres closely to the novel.

Notes and reviews

One of Christie's most engaging works. "Characteristically surprising, trickily constructed and yet firmly based in character..." - The New York Times

Murder methods:

Multiple.

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