Agatha Christie, Ordeal by Innocence

Amy Lee (The Open University)
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Ordeal by Innocenc

e features one of Christie’s favourite characters from her previous stories, Arthur Calgary, a doctor and occasional unofficial detective. Here he is involved in the murder as a witness. Like Charles Hayward in

Crooked House

, he is the outsider involved in an investigation of a family; and like Charles he finally marries the woman he loves at the end of the story.

At the beginning of the novel, we see Arthur Calgary making a trip visit the Argyle family at Sunny Point. He is very troubled because he is going to announce to the Argyle family that he could have saved Jacko Argyle’s life by giving evidence at his trial two years ago, when he was convicted of murder. In his defence, Jacko had told the jury a complicated story about his whereabouts when the murder was

1231 words

Citation: Lee, Amy. "Ordeal by Innocence". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 October 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3014, accessed 24 April 2024.]

3014 Ordeal by Innocence 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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