Morven Christie as Kirsten Lindstrom
In the novel Ordeal by Innocence, Kirsten “Kirsty” Lindstrom is a nurse and masseuse from Sweden. She joined the Argyle household during the war when Rachel Argyle opened their home as a place for children age 2 to 7, safe from the bombing of the Second World War. She stays on as a housekeeper.
Kirsten is described as having a "flat homely face", which is "like a pancake". She is middle-aged, and has "frizzy yellowish grey hair". She speaks excellent English, but with a faint foreign intonation.
When Dr Calgary first comes to Sunny Point, Kirsten peers at him suspiciously. She reminds him of a lay-sister at a foreign convent, who peers at one suspiciously, before grudgingly taking one to the visiting parlour or the Reverend Mother. She later tells Dr Calgary that until he came, the family had been resigned, but now that they had heard that Jacko Argyle was innocent, they would suffer, and so it would have been better to "leave well alone".
Kirsten first came to Sunny Point in 1940. She stayed on after the war, and even after Mrs Argyle's death, because she loved the family. She wanted to look after them, keep the house clean and comfortable, and see that they got good food. She tells Dr Calgary that she loves all the family, and had also loved Jacko, even though he was no good.
Kirsten tells Hester Argyle that she should be on her guard against all the members of the household, warning her that even though she thinks she knows someone well and can trust them, she can never be sure. To illustrate the point that one can never know what someone else is thinking, Kirsten mentions a case of a woman who killed the friend she had lived with for years. She does not mention any names, but this could be the case of Hilda, which was mentioned in the novel Elephants Can Remember.
She becomes the accomplice of Jacko. She stabs Phillip Durrant, and she also tries to kill Tina Argyle without success.
Portrayals[]
In the 2007 Agatha Christie's Marple episode, Kirsten is portrayed by actress Alison Steadman. The portrayal is faithful to the original except that at the end, after the denouement, instead of simply walking off, Miss Marple persuades Kirsten to confess because she does geniunely love the children and this is the only way they can be set free from the mutual suspicion that was tearing the family apart. She agrees to do so and is taken away by the police.
In the 2018 BBC Ordeal by Innocence miniseries, the characters are mostly kept but the story is almost completely rewritten. The murderer of the case is changed from Jacko to Rachel's husband Leo. When the family realizes that Leo was the murderer of Rachel and Phillip (the attempted murder of Tina is not present here) Kirsten locks him in a safe room at Sunny Point. In this adaptation Kirsten was revealed to be the biological mother of Jacko. Kirsten is played by actress Morven Christie.