In the novel Ordeal by Innocence, Christina “Tina” Argyle is an adopted daughter of Leo and Rachel. She came to them at age 3, and remembers no other parents. She works in the library in Redmyn, and has her own place there. Her birthmother was English and her father was of Indian origin, and she has a calm personality.
Tina was only three years old when she came to Sunny Point, and hardly remembers her biological mother. She says that she was always terrified when she was with her biological mother, who had many noisy quarrels woth seamen. As an adult, Tina also understands that her biological mother must have been drunk most of the time.
According to Leo, the family had never known what had happened to Tina's biological mother. She had never written to Tina, had not claimed her after the war, and was impossible to trace. Tina considers Mrs Argyle her mother, and Sunny Point her home.
Tina is described as being neat, small, quiet, and efficient. Her hair is blue-black, and she wears it "coiled neatly in her neck". Her skin is darker, and her bones smaller, than those of typical English people. Her eyes are dark, and her voice is "low and sympathetic".
Tina is often described as being like a cat. She moves with a "rather sinuous grace of movement". Micky Argyle says that Tina sits in the library "all cuddled up like a cosy little kitten in front of the fire", and she then gets up with "a lazy, graceful movement" similar to the kitten to which he compares her.
Tina says that she hates England in the winter, and she would like to go abroad, to a place where the sun is always shining, and the air is warm and moist. According to Hester Argyle, Tina has always wanted to be somewhere where it is warm.
Tina is not at Sunny Point when Dr Calgary comes to tell them that Jacko Argyle did not murder Mrs Argyle. However, she hears the news from Mr Argyle, who writes to her about it. Dr Calgary later meets her in Redmyn.
Tina tells Dr Calgary that she was not fond of Jacko, and she disliked and distrusted him. She is able to say this clearly, and without passion.
Tina thinks of Mrs Argyle without gratitude or resentment, but with love. She had loved Mrs Argyle, and knows that because of Mrs Argyle, she had had food, drink, warmth, toys and comfort.
Tina tells Micky that she was grateful to Mrs Argyle, and did not feel the resentment that the other adopted children had felt towards her. She says that this was easy for her, because she did not want to be herself, and did not want to be where she was. Mrs Argyle had made her into someone else, and for that, she was grateful.
Tina visits the cemetery where Mrs Argyle is buried, and leaves a bunch of carnations at her grave. She tells Micky that she does this once a year.
Tina tells Superintendent Huish that on the day of the murder, she had finished work at the library at half past five. She had done some shopping, and then gone home to her flat. She cooked her own supper and enjoyed a quiet evening playing gramophone records.
She drives a Messerschmitt car, which she refers to as a bubble. She parks it in a side street near the flat. It is bright red.
It is later revealed that Tina went to Sunny Point on the day of Mrs Argyle's death. Her car was seen by Cyril Green. When Superintendent Huish asks Tina about this, she tells him that she did drive out to Sunny Point, but changed her mind and did not go into the house. Superintendent Huish suggests that this was because she saw or heard something. However, Tina tells him that she saw and heard nothing, and simply changed her mind.
Tina later tells Micky that on the day of Mrs Argyle's death, she was at Sunny Point. She had been thinking of changing her job, and wanted to consult her adoptive parents about it. She drove there, but did not take the car all the way up to the gate.
When Tina approached the house on foot, she heard two people whispering. One of them said, "Between seven and seven-thirty". Tina did not know who was speaking, or if it was a man or woman, but when she turned back towards the car, she saw someone walking by on the other side of the road. She thought it could have been Micky, because the person was about his height and size. Because of this, she did not tell anyone what she had heard.
Tina is with Kirsten Lindstrom when she finds Philip Durrant dead. Tina feels like she is in a bad dream, and without thinking objectively, her mind takes in various details of her surroundings. She tells Leo and Gwenda Vaughan that Philip has been killed.
Tina goes outside, and finds Micky coming around the corner of the house. His arms are open, and she goes straight into them, and later collapses. It is initially thought that she has fainted from the shock of Philip's death. However, it is revealed by Dr Craig that she has not fainted, but has been stabbed in the back.
Tina is taken to hospital. Superintendent Huish later gets a telephone call informing him that she recovered consciousness for a few minutes. During that time, she said, "Micky", "The cup was empty", and "The dove on the mast".
At the end of the novel, Tina is still in hospital. However, Dr Calgary is of the opinion that she will not die, because she is in love with Micky. Hester suggests that after Tina recovers, she and Micky could get married, and she could go to Kuwait with him, as she always wanted to be somewhere where it is warm.
Portrayals[]
Ordeal by Innocence (1984)[]
In the Cannon Films 1984 adaptation, Tina is portrayed by Phoebe Nicholls. Here she has moved out of the house and is already living together with Mickey in town. They have a motor mechanic business on the Dartmouth waterfront. Philip Durrant saw Tina go up to the house on the night of Rachel Argyle's murder. She admits this to Arthur Calgary and says that she had gone to get some sheets because they were hers and she needed them. No one let her in because she had a key. As for the sheets, she did not get them in the end because she changed her mind. While in the house, she heard two people whispering to each other. She did not tell the police at the time because she feared that the two were Leo Argyle and Gwenda Vaughan. Calgary tells Inspector Huish and he begins questioning family members about it. This unfortunately results in the killer planning Tina's murder. Mickey is lured away with a fake phone call and Tina is struck dead with a wrench. In this adaptation, Tina did not survive.
Agatha Christie's Marple (2007)[]
In the 2007 ITV adaptation which was episode 2 of series 3 of Agatha Christie's Marple, Tina Argyle is portrayed by Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Her plot role is slightly smaller than in the original although the portrayal still tracks closely. Like in the original she is a librarian and lives with Micky Argyle in town. Rachel Argyle had got Tina a job in Scotland to separate her from Mickey with whom she is romantically attached. On the night of the murder she had gone to Sunny Point to speak to her mother. She later lied about her whereabouts to the police, and like in the original, Cyril Price spotted her vehicle, which in this case was a motorbike. Unlike the original, Tina is not attacked. This is partly because, by the time she becomes a threat to the murderer, Tina had already been taken into police custody for questioning.
Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha (2009)[]
In Am Stram Gram, the France Télévisions adaptation of Ordeal by Innocence for the TV series Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie, the parallel character is Tina Vallabrègues.