Ordeal By Innocence
(Agatha Christie)
A well-meaning scientist provides a murderer's alibi, two years too
late, only to discover that nobody wants the past to be unburied.
The supposed murderer has died in prison, but his presence - and that
of his victim - are tangible, such was the effect they had on the
members of their family.
The original victim was a rich and apparently somewhat obsessive
adoptive mother of five now-grown children. Her husband is now engaged
to his pleasant secretary, and the four remaining children are getting
on with their lives - the fifth being the convict, Jacko. He was a "bad
'un", and nobody was too surprised when he was arrested. The alibi he
claimed - hitch-hiking on a particular stretch of road - was
unsupported, but that was bad luck on his part.
The man who picked him up was a scientist about to travel to
Antarctica, who first got hit by a truck and suffered a little amnesia
and was then, of course, out of contact with the everyday world. When
he regains his memory, he goes to the law and confirms Jacko's alibi.
He travels to the family home to tell them, and is confused when the
news is not greeted with joy.
But the murder was committed in a locked house, and Jacko - the black sheep of the family - was a convenient suspect.
And so the family falls under suspicion again. The husband? His
secretary, now fiancee? The eldest daughter? Her crippled husband? The
resentful son? The timid "half-caste" daughter? The "wild" youngest
daughter? The family nurse? Or was it indeed Jacko?
This novel is full of quasi-psychological insights, which may have been
interesting at the time, but now seem quaint and fairly insulting. The
interestingly transgressive background relationships - an older woman,
a mixed-race couple - hardly compensate for the detailed analysis of
just why a woman without her own children will never be happy and the
casually sexist, racist and classist tone of much of the book.
There's a reason why Agatha Christie is known as the "Queen of Crime"
and this novel certainly supports it; the twists and turns of
"whodunit?" are gripping and unpredictable. It's an exciting read,
which only suffers from the failings of its age.
Resumos Relacionados
- Ordeal By Innocence
- Where My Mother Came From
- Épreuve Par Innocence (ordeal By Innocence)
- Agatha Christie-biography
- Sister Against Sisters
|
|
