Ordeal by Innocence (Queen of Mystery)

Quality product, great price and speedy delivery. Perfect!

Entertaining story and the narrator did an excellent job. I took one star off because the ending was predictable

Another great book by Agatha Christie! Two years after the murder of their adopted mother and subsequent imprisonment of one of her children, a witness steps forth to clear the man found guilty. Alas, it's too late for him, as he died 6 months into his sentence. That means, though, that someone else did it. A burglary gone wrong is out of the question, so it can only be one of them...but which one? As in several of her other books, Christie focuses on what suspicions can do to those that are innocent. Mrs. Argyle can't have children, and in the way that women do who have too much money (yes, Angelina and Madonna) do, she adopts several children. Most of these children had unfortunate starts, but she doesn't care about that. She will ensure they want for nothing. And while she never tried to make them feel they weren't her children, she did expect them to be grateful for everything they'd been given. And people don't like to be reminded constantly of how grateful they should be. I don't like being beholden to anyone for this very reason. Each of her children dislike her, and the "nature over nurture" controversy is squarely settled on the side of nature in this book. The ending is a little far fetched. I don't pretend to know how police worked in the 50's in England, but I find it hard to believe that they'd give a civilian details in an ongoing case, whether he's the witness and a doctor or not. It's a bit reminiscent of "Towards Zero" but overall, a great read.

What can you say about a vastly successful writer ... what, 60, 70 books by the end? She had something for sure. But this one is lacking. It's sloooooow, burdened by psychological anguish (atypical of the author), and so repetitive (maybe why it's so slow). Again (and once again), there are a number of suspects in a secluded venue -- can you say Death of the Nile or Murder on the Orient Express -- and one of them MUST be the suspect., but everyone would LIKE it to be so-and-so. Once again there is a cold case murder. And you get the idea that the writer is slowing everything down just to reach the "mandated" novel length of whatever, 80k words or so. The protagonist meets with each of the suspects, and mulls and agonizes and questions and the suspects stonewall evasively ... and then he goes on to the next suspect and repeats the whole dang thing over again with the exact same questions and the same angst. And then (of course) there's a SECOND murder, --- ooooh, the murderer is getting nervous, so strikes again! -- so that drags things out even longer and over more chapters. I finally reached chapter 11, got fed up, went to the last, chapter 26, and didn't really miss a thing. at the denouement and "great reveal." Which itself was signaled a bit earlier but was quite contrived. Fans of Ms. Christie really can't fault her after so many successful novels. And her formula holds up nicely in many of her works. But here in this rather late work (1958) the feeling is she was trying to fit one of her typical formulas into a novel of psychological "richness," couldn't figure out how to string it along to novel length, and then invented an implausible "twist. It didn't work for me -- I'm no book critic -- but maybe it would for you.

A fabulous tale of clues, questions, personalities & atmosphere. A murder two years past & the guilty convicted…or maybe not.

This book is among Christie’s personal favorites. The plot is good, but it moves slowly in spots. Perhaps a touch contrived. Dialogue seems a little dated. I think I figured out who was the killer very close to the end, but not really the reasons until revealed. Should keep you entertained. Lots of complex characters.

A really good read! I could hardly put the book down. It keeps you guessing who committed the murder. 10 Stars!

Large adopted family, and it has them wondering how well they really know each other. This book kept me on the edge of my seat with plenty of murder and deceit. Another well written book by the Queen of Mystery.

As always with a Christie it is well written. I really enjoyed this story and it was nice to read a Christie story that didn't feature Poirot, Miss Marple and Tommy and Twopence. Highly recommended.

un excellent suspense jusqu'au bout. Un pur bonheur de redécouvrir l'auteur en V O !

Agatha Christie never disappoints and this is a wonderful novel. It’s about a case that’s being investigated two years after the event and the psychology keeps you hooked till the end. Makes for lovely reading.

Después de leer mas de 70 novelas de Agatha Christie Ordeal by Innocence es la mejor, según la autora también es de sus favoritas.

A typical Agatha Christie story. A large group of people living in a fine country home, among them a murderer schemes. False arrests are made and alibies sought after. Eventually the culprit is revealed.