Ordeal by Innocence

Published in 1958, this detective novel opens after Jacko Argyle has died in prison, convicted of killing his wealthy adoptive mother Rachel at the family house, Sunny Point. Dr Arthur Calgary, a geophysicist, returns from the Antarctic with an alibi that proves Jacko was elsewhere that night, so the murderer is still among the household. Calgary forces the remaining Argyles and their circle to reopen the case. Suspicion shifts among the adopted children, the husband, and dependents who lived on Rachel's money and temper. The book is a country-house investigation about the damage done by a wrong conviction.

Three-quarter bound in black cloth, with a colour image printed and blocked textured paper cover. Brown endpapers. Plain slipcase.