NEW YORK (CNS) -- Artfully intriguing and smartly produced, the miniseries "Ordeal by Innocence" is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Shown in one-hour installments, the three-episode series originally aired on the BBC in April.

This is the third filmed production of legendary mystery writer Agatha Christie's eponymous 1958 novel. Of the 66 the Englishwoman wrote, this was reputedly one of her favorites, along with 1949's "Crooked House."

Christie purists may be less than happy with the liberties screenwriter Sarah Phelps takes with the story: changing the setting from England's West Country to Scotland and even shifting the identity of the culprit, among numerous other significant alterations.

The series opens at Sunny Point, the estate of the Argyll family, on Christmas Eve 1954. As the clan gathers for the holiday, their longtime servant, Kirsten Lindstrom (Morven Christie), discovers that wealthy philanthropist and family matriarch Rachel (Anna Chancellor) has been murdered.

The physical evidence strongly suggests her son Jack (Anthony Boyle) -- one of her five now-grown adopted children -- killed her. Jack is unrepentant when his father, Leo (Bill Nighy), says, "All your life you've caused trouble, and never faced any consequences."

But Jack insists an alibi witness will clear him. He left Sunny Point that night, he tells Leo, and hitched a ride with a man wearing a dark overcoat and a striped shirt. Leo dismisses Jack's seemingly far-fetched attempt to save his own skin because he believes his son incapable of telling the truth.

After he's killed in prison, Jack's claims of innocence don't get a hearing in court. A year and a half later, still solid in his belief Jack did it, Leo prepares to marry his former secretary, Gwenda Vaughn (Alice Eve). Days before the wedding, however, a stranger, Arthur Calgary (Luke Treadaway), appears at the estate to confirm he gave Jack a ride that fateful night.

Because others have made similar claims that proved false, Leo initially dismisses the nervous, sincere, but mysterious young man's assertions. Calgary explains that he's a physicist and has been in the Arctic on a scientific expedition -- which is why he didn't come forward sooner.

Believing nothing good will come from Calgary's quest to set things right, another of Leo's sons, Mickey (Christian Cooke), tries to run him out of town. But Calgary's disturbed conscience obliges him to return to Sunny Point. Clearing Jack's name, he tells Leo, would be the "one good, true thing" he's done in his life.

Unburdening himself, Calgary acknowledges he escaped from a mental institution the night he encountered Jack. Leo is reluctant to push away the vulnerable Calgary, and Leo's son-in-law, Phillip Durrant (Matthew Goode), uses Calgary's news to stir up suspicions that others may have been responsible for Rachel's demise.

Suspects include the other siblings: fragile Hester (Ella Purnell), tightly wound Tina (Crystal Clarke) and Phillip's needy wife, Mary (Eleanor Tomlinson). Everyone in the household had a motivation to kill Rachel.

Despite the perception that she rescued her orphaned children by adopting them, Rachel, it turns out, took a "Mommie Dearest" approach to parenting.

When then-youthful Tina (Abigail Conteh) disappoints her, Rachel vociferously repeats the word filth. Coming upon Hester playing the piano one day, Rachel says, "If you're going to be mediocre, Hester, at least look pretty."

Besides Rachel's murder, "Ordeal by Innocence" includes an incestuous relationship, adultery, sexual references and partial nudity. Characters also occasionally use strong vulgar language. But, to the credit of the writers, others object to this. When things go too far in this direction one morning, for instance, Gwenda says, "That language and subject matter is not fit for the breakfast table."

The show is best for discerning adults not averse to tackling some unsavory content, especially if they're fans of the genre.

"Ordeal by Innocence" gets the period details right. The series also wonderfully conveys the Argylls' opulent, privileged lifestyle on the basis of which they believe themselves to be superior to others.

As the script relentlessly homes in on what actually happened that Christmas Eve, layers of longstanding secrets and lies among the tortured members of the clan are revealed. And the doozy of a wrap-up dishes out twisted, yet somehow fitting, justice.

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Byrd is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service.