Innocence

“But you know, it isn’t really guilt that is important--it's innocence. That's the thing that nobody will realise.” So said Sir Henry Clithering in The Four Suspects. Many Agatha Christie stories explore the theme that, very often, unjustified suspicion had a destructive effect on the innocent. In such cases, the duty of an investigator was not so much in finding the perpertrator of a crime but in establishing the innocence of everyone else.

Stories in which establishing innocence was an important theme

 * Ordeal by Innocence
 * The Four Suspects - Of the four suspects in a crime, three have had to suffer the destructive effects of suspicion. Miss Marple also mentioned the village parallels of Mrs Arthur and Annie Poultny. In the last case, she was exonerated but it was too late as she had already died after many bitter years living under a cloud of suspicion.
 * The Blue Geranium - After the death of Mrs Pritchard, Miss Marple worried that George Pritchard and Jean Instow were attracted to each other but "probably both suspecting each other and keeping apart—and life so very short."
 * The Body in the Library - Miss Marple worried that the explanation for the body in the library would never be found and the suspicion would have a destructive effect on Arthur Bantry and Dolly Bantry.
 * Death in the Clouds - in chapter 15, Poirot asserts that the most important thing in an investigation is to clear the innocent because until the culprit is found, the others associated with the crime would suffer in varying degrees.
 * Five Little Pigs - Caroline Crale died in prison for a crime she didn't commit: the murder of her husband.
 * Mrs McGinty's Dead - Superintendent Spence contacted Poirot to clear an innocent man and find the real killer of Abigail McGinty.