Ordeal by Innocence 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 h

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Published 01 October 2003

Citation: Lee, Amy. "Ordeal by Innocence ". The Literary Encyclopedia. 1 October 2003.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3014, accessed 21 November 2009.]