Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie

As I have stated before, every mystery series always has one or two episodes of someone with amnesia. In the case of Ordeal by Innocence, it is our protagonist Dr. Arthur Calgary and, I am afraid, his amnesia has costed an innocent man his life. Two years prior Rachel Argyle, a well known philanthropic woman, was found murdered in her own home. She is remembered by her husband Leo, now soon to be married to Gwenda Vaughn, and her 5 children, Mary married to Phillip Durrant, Michael, Hester, Tina, and Jack. Only the children are not her biological children, but adopted. The police believe that is why it was easy for Jack to kill his adoptive mother. Only Jack has been saying that he was innocent the entire time. Sadly, Jack passed away while in prison, and his alibi, Dr. Calgary is none the wiser until now. Dr. Calgary feels it is his responsibility to assist the family and find the true murderer if, for no other reason, than to assuage his own sense of guilt.

I can read Agatha Christie's novels again and again just for the way she writes. She creates such imagery in own heads with simple descriptions, such as

"Superintendent Huish was a tall, sad-looking man. His air of melancholy was so profound that no one would have believed that he could be the life and soul of a children's party, cracking jokes and bringing pennies out of little boys' ears."

Her description of the house named Sunny Point by Rachel Argyle and yet is called Viper's Point by the locals, lends some foreshadowing into the novel. A bit of Jekyll and Hyde to the events that follow and the each character. 

There was only one point to which I found far-fetched. I could wholeheartedly believe that Dr. Calgary had gotten on a boat to the Antarctic, but the addition of a concussion that led to amnesia and then the  research trip felt over the top. I can imagine that news of any kind would not have reached him even without the accident. I also find the idea of someone getting into a car, a stranger's car, and not getting their name a bit weird. Maybe that is now the way things are, but I can't see my grandparents (any of them) having gotten picked up and not know who they were with or where they were going.

Overall I rate the novel 4 out of 5 stars, because only the amnesia was what truly felt out of place. I would also like to add that Amazon Prime made a mini tv series out of the novel. I do NOT recommend anyone watch it. The actors are some of my favorite people but they butchered poor Dr. Calgary's character and altered the beginning of the novel to be completely different. I'm sure they tried but I simply couldn't stomach watching past the first episode.