Deadly Error (novel)

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Deadly Error (original title Ordeal by Innocence ) is the 50th detective novel by Agatha Christie . It first appeared in the UK on November 3, 1958 at Collins Crime Club and in 1959 in the US on Dodd, Mead and Company. The German first edition was published in 1960 by Scherz Verlag (Bern, Stuttgart, Vienna) under the title Feuerprobe der Innschuld in the translation by Dorothea Gotfurt, which is still used today, as a shortened version. In 1986 the same publisher published the unabridged version , now under the title Tödlicher Errtum or Fire Trial of Innocence . Some of the names in the translation of Gotfurt have been changed; in particular, the name of the family around which the novel is based is not Argyle, as in the original, but Jackson.

This novel is named by Christie in her autobiography as one of her two best along with The Crooked House .

action

While Jacko Argyle was serving the sentence for the murder of his foster mother - a crime he always claimed not to have committed - he dies in prison. Two years later, a man suddenly appears who can give him an alibi for the time of the murder: Arthur Calgary, the narrator of the novel. He undertakes investigations on his own and tries, together with the local doctor, to protect the innocent and to identify the murderer.

When the family realizes that the wrong person has been in prison and the killer is still among them, mutual suspicions begin, in the course of which another family member, Philip Durrant, is murdered. Ultimately, it turns out that Jacko was by no means innocent, but planned the murder together with the housekeeper Kirsten Lindstrom, who committed the murder and was supposed to provide him with the alibi. When she found out that he did not love her, but was already married, she decided, however, not to exonerate Jacko and to leave him to his fate. Lindstrom escapes after the murders have been solved.

people

  • Arthur Calgary, geologist and alibi of the wrongly convicted and deceased in custody Clark Jackson (orig. Jacko Argyle)
  • Leo Jackson (orig. Argyle), father of the late Clark Jackson (orig. Jacko Argyle) and widower of Rachel Jackson (orig. Argyle)
  • Gwenda Smith (orig. Vaughan), secretary to Leo and his mistress
  • Christina "Tina" Jackson (orig. Argyle), adopted daughter
  • Hester Jackson (orig. Argyle), adopted daughter
  • Mary Durrant, adopted daughter
  • Philip Durrant, Mary's husband
  • Michael "Micky" Jackson (orig. Argyle), adopted son
  • Maureen Clegg, widow of Clark Jackson (orig. Jacko Argyle)
  • Joe Clegg, Maureen's current husband
  • Donald "Don" Craig, a doctor and friend of Hester
  • Kirsten Lindstrom, housekeeper and carer
  • Finney County Commissioner
  • Superintendent Huish
  • Andrew Marshall, the Jackson (Argyle) family lawyer

Film adaptations

Ordeal by Innocence (1985)

In 1985 a film was made that is very close to the novel. The main roles were played by Donald Sutherland , Christopher Plummer and Sarah Miles .

Agatha Christie's Marple

A film adaptation was made in 2007 for the British television series Agatha Christie's Marple . The plot has been changed so that Miss Marple , who does not appear in the novel, takes over the investigation instead of the village doctor together with Arthur Calgary. The second victim is not Philip Durrant, but the new wife of the host, Gwenda Vaughan. Kirsten Lindstrom is also arrested in the end.

Major expenses

  • 1958 Collins Crime Club (London), 3rd November 1958
  • 1959 Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1959
  • 1960 German first edition by Scherz Verlag
  • 1986 new edition

Audio books

  • 2003 Tödlicher Errtum (5 CDs): only unabridged reading. Speaker: Michael Schwarzmaier. Director: Hans Eckardt. Translation from English by Dorothea Gotfurt. Publishing house and studio for audio book productions (Marburg)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. Collins Crime Club - A checklist of First Editions . Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (Page 15)
  2. ↑ John Cooper and BA Pyke. Detective Fiction - the collector's guide : Second Edition (Pages 82 and 87) Scholar Press. 1994. ISBN 0-85967-991-8
  3. ↑ American Tribute to Agatha Christie
  4. ↑ a b German first edition in the catalog of the German National Library
  5. ↑ a b new edition (1986) in the catalog of the German National Library
  6. ↑ Audiobook (complete) in the catalog of the German National Library
Works by Agatha Christie


Novels with
Hercule Poirot

The Missing Link in the Chain  (1920) • Murder on the Golf Course  (1923) • Alibi  (1926) • The Big Four  (1927) • The Blue Express  (1928) • The House on the Dune  (1932) • Thirteen at Table  ( 1933) • Murder on the Orient Express  (1934) • Nicotine  (1935) • Death in the clouds  (1935) • The murders of Mr ABC  (1936) • Murder in Mesopotamia  (1936) • With open cards  (1936) • Death on the Nile  (1937) • The dog playing the ball  (1937) • Death awaits  (1938) • Hercule Poirot's Christmas  (1938) • Morphine  (1940) • The secret of the buckled shoes  (1940) • Evil under the sun  (1941) • The Unfinished Portrait  (1942) • The Owl House  (1946) • The Death Whirlwind  (1948) • Four Women and a Murder  (1951) • The Wax Bouquet  (1953) • The Kleptomaniac  (1955) • Reunion with Mrs. Oliver  (1956) • The Cat in the Dovecote  (1959) • On a Double Track  (1963) • The Forgetful Murderess  (1966) • The Snow White Party  (1969) • Elephants Don't Forget  (1972) • Curtain  (1975)

Novels with
the Beresfords

A Dangerous Adversary  (1922) • Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf  (1941) • Lots of charming old ladies  (1968) • Age does not protect against ingenuity  (1973)

Novels with
Miss Marple

Murder in the Rectory  (1930) • The Dead in the Library  (1942) • The Shadow Hand  (1943) • A Murder Is Announced  (1950) • Fata Morgana  (1952) • The Secret of the Gold Mine  (1953) • 4:50 p.m. from Paddington  ( 1957) • Murder in the Mirror  (1962) • Caribbean Affair  (1964) • Bertrams Hotel  (1965) • Fate in Person  (1971) • Rough Rest  (1976)

Novels with
fellow investigators

The Man in the Brown Suit  (1924) • The Count's Memoirs  (1925) • The Last Joker  (1929) • The Secret of Sittaford  (1931) • A Step into the Void  (1934) • The Dying in Wychwood  (1939) • And then There was no more  (1939) • Shortly before midnight  (1944) • Avenging ghosts  (1944) • Hydrocyanic acid  (1945) • The crooked house  (1949) • They came to Baghdad  (1951) • The uncanny way  (1954) • Fatal error  ( 1958) • The pale horse  (1961) • Murder made to measure  (1967) • Passenger to Frankfurt  (1970)

Anthologies

Poirot accounts  (1924) • Pandora's Box  (1929) • The Strange Mister Quin  (1930) • The Tuesday Night Club  (1932) • The Dog of Death  (1933) • Something's Lazy  (1934) • Parker Pyne Investigates  ( 1934) • Hercule Poirot Never Sleeps  (1937) • The Labor of Hercules  (1947) • A Diplomatic Incident  (1960) • Poirot's First Cases  (1974) • Miss Marple's Last Cases  (1979) • The Murderous Tea Round  (1991) • As long as it bright is  (1997)