Ordeal by Innocence

Ordeal by Innocence is the Agatha Christie novel that has been adapted for television several times and that almost no one talks about as one of her best. The premise is unusually adult for Christie: a paleontologist returns to England from a polar expedition and discovers that two years earlier, a young man was hanged for a murder he was not guilty of, because the paleontologist could have given him an alibi and was not in the country to do it. The young man's family received the news of his execution two years ago. He has come to tell them what they cannot now unknow.

What Christie does with this premise is darker than her usual register. The family's reaction to the news is the engine of the book. The real killer is presumably still among them. Each of the surviving members has been living with their own version of the lie for two years, and the paleontologist's revelation forces them all into a different kind of grief.

The puzzle is fair. The emotional weight is unusual for Christie. Four stars. One of her most quietly serious novels and a useful companion to Endless Night for readers exploring her later work.