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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book goes into quite a bit of depth about how preconceptions of class and even race can impact the way people judge others. It surprised me with the compassion that it challenged those assumptions, especially given the age of the book. Characters were very interesting, though the case is resolved quite abruptly.
Okay-ish mystery. The ending is very hard to guess at first, but towards the conclusion it gets more and more obvious. But it was a fun read, except for the awful ideas about adoption that the author has poured into it. If you're adopted or your child is adopted, don't read this book. Your blood will boil in rage, and rightfully so. Sometimes it's really hard to endure Agatha Christie's personal beliefs, and this is a very good example.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A stand alone mystery in which a stranger upends all a family's certainties - the man who died in prison, found guilty of murder, has an alibi...
Which means someone else in.that house committed the killing - but who, and just as importantly, why?
Good, suspenseful mystery.
Which means someone else in.that house committed the killing - but who, and just as importantly, why?
Good, suspenseful mystery.
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
I liked it but idk.... felt a bit, weird?
Years ago a man was sentenced and hanged for the murder of his mother. Now a new witness affirms the alibi of the supposed murderer. Of course this means that the whole case is dug up again and the question of who really murdered the woman is raised. The main suspects are the rest of the family, especially a mixed bag of adopted children.
As always she manages to lay false hints to make more or less everybody suspicious. I didn’t have a clue who might have been the real culprit until the was revealed. Again a great novel by Agatha Christie (and a great audiobook production, although, alas, only in German as I listened to it together with my mom).
As always she manages to lay false hints to make more or less everybody suspicious. I didn’t have a clue who might have been the real culprit until the was revealed. Again a great novel by Agatha Christie (and a great audiobook production, although, alas, only in German as I listened to it together with my mom).
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The Queen of Crime poses a plot when the truth comes out too late and a man innocent of killing his mother dies in prison. Ordeal by Innocence is aptly titled because after Dr. Calgary delivers his stunning information that he is the missing witness who could have testified to Jacko Argyle's alibi, the remaining family are back under judicial and community scrutiny. The innocent suffer the taint of being suspected right along with the guilty.
There are elements of the story- not the least of which is a mystery that is a cold case investigation by this time- that were of equal interest. A big piece that is woven down the center of the story is how being abandoned and unwanted children affected all five Argyle children. How it affects their approach to life, emotions, their birth parents, and their adopted parents. All of them have narration time except Mary whose husband, Phillip, narrates their portions. There is also the sad reflections of the father, Leo Argyle, who looks back on his deceased wife and how her childlessness and then subsequent work with children and her obsession with her adopted children pushed him away and smothered those children to the point they all resented her attempts at maternal love.
My only niggle was the convoluted reason Arthur Calgary was unable to give Jacko an alibi at the time. Personally, I think just having him leave the country on his arctic expedition and scientific research was all that was needed and not the complicated version that pushed believe-ability.
Much of the book bounces between the family reflecting back and then how they side-eye each other now. Arthur Calgary doesn't leave the area after he drops his bombshell. He wants to help the Argyles by getting the answers to the past. The stolid and not as stupid as he pretends to be police superintendent allows Arthur to assist. But a killer is getting nervous under the renewed pressure so there is danger and suspense right to the surprising end. I say surprising even though I had my finger on the right person just not why.
This one had a bittersweet tone and a heightening suspense that turned out to be a solid, engaging mystery
Hugh Fraser did a stellar job bringing depth to a good solid mystery.
There are elements of the story- not the least of which is a mystery that is a cold case investigation by this time- that were of equal interest. A big piece that is woven down the center of the story is how being abandoned and unwanted children affected all five Argyle children. How it affects their approach to life, emotions, their birth parents, and their adopted parents. All of them have narration time except Mary whose husband, Phillip, narrates their portions. There is also the sad reflections of the father, Leo Argyle, who looks back on his deceased wife and how her childlessness and then subsequent work with children and her obsession with her adopted children pushed him away and smothered those children to the point they all resented her attempts at maternal love.
My only niggle was the convoluted reason Arthur Calgary was unable to give Jacko an alibi at the time. Personally, I think just having him leave the country on his arctic expedition and scientific research was all that was needed and not the complicated version that pushed believe-ability.
Much of the book bounces between the family reflecting back and then how they side-eye each other now. Arthur Calgary doesn't leave the area after he drops his bombshell. He wants to help the Argyles by getting the answers to the past. The stolid and not as stupid as he pretends to be police superintendent allows Arthur to assist. But a killer is getting nervous under the renewed pressure so there is danger and suspense right to the surprising end. I say surprising even though I had my finger on the right person just not why.
This one had a bittersweet tone and a heightening suspense that turned out to be a solid, engaging mystery
Hugh Fraser did a stellar job bringing depth to a good solid mystery.
I did not see that ending coming. Review coming soon!