Set in the summer of 1917 in an Essex country estate, the story follows the war-wounded Captain Arthur Hastings to the Styles St. Mary manor of his friend John Cavendish. The Cavendish household is wrought with tension due to the marriage of John's widowed old aunt Emily, she of a sizeable fortune, to a suspicious younger man, Alfred Inglethorp, twenty years her junior. Emily's two stepsons, John and Lawrence Cavendish, as well as John's wife Mary and several other people, also live at Styles. Late one night, the residents of …
Set in the summer of 1917 in an Essex country estate, the story follows the war-wounded Captain Arthur Hastings to the Styles St. Mary manor of his friend John Cavendish. The Cavendish household is wrought with tension due to the marriage of John's widowed old aunt Emily, she of a sizeable fortune, to a suspicious younger man, Alfred Inglethorp, twenty years her junior. Emily's two stepsons, John and Lawrence Cavendish, as well as John's wife Mary and several other people, also live at Styles. Late one night, the residents of Styles wake to find Emily Inglethorp dying. When Emily's sudden heart attack is found to be attributable to strychnine, Hastings, who had runs into his old friend, the Belgian Hercule Poirot, he recruits him to aid in the local investigation. With impeccable timing, Hercule Poirot, the insightful retired detective, makes his dramatic entrance to solve a most baffling case.
Who poisoned the wealthy Emily Inglethorpe, and how did the murderer penetrate and escape from her locked bedroom? Suspects abound in the quaint village of Styles St. Mary--from the heiress's fawning new husband to her two stepsons, her volatile housekeeper, and a pretty nurse who works in a hospital dispensary. On the day she was killed, Emily Inglethorp was overheard arguing with someone, most likely her husband, Alfred, or her stepson, John. Afterwards, she seemed quite distressed and, apparently, made a new will--which no one can find. Nobody can explain how or when the strychnine was administered to Mrs. Inglethorp. High on Poirot's list of suspects are: John Cavendish, the elder stepson; Mary Cavendish, his wife; Lawrence Cavendish, the younger stepson; Evelyn Howard, Mrs. Inglethorpe's companion; Cynthia Murdoch, her protegee; and Dr. Bauerstein, a mysterious stranger who lives in Essex. All have motive and opportunity but only Poirot can discover the truth.
Paperback, 182 pages
English language
Published Nov. 3, 2006 by Hard Press.
Reviews
joelchrono reviewed The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot, #1)
My first novel by Christie, super cool!
4.0 stars
This book was a bit confusing at first with the dozen or so characters that are presented during the beginning chapters. However, I quickly familiarized with them—I still mixed up some of the last names but I knew who was who. It is a simple story in theory: a rich lady with an inheritance, a second husband, two sons and a wife of one, some servants, a doctor, you know the drill.
Honestly, this was very fun to read along someone else, after each chapter we each had our suspects and opinions on the cast, it was as entertaining as the novel itself every time Poirot explained his findings and changed our whole perspective on the events all the way up to the final reveal, which is just amazing.
It is funny and well written, a definite page turner for me, I read the …
This book was a bit confusing at first with the dozen or so characters that are presented during the beginning chapters. However, I quickly familiarized with them—I still mixed up some of the last names but I knew who was who. It is a simple story in theory: a rich lady with an inheritance, a second husband, two sons and a wife of one, some servants, a doctor, you know the drill.
Honestly, this was very fun to read along someone else, after each chapter we each had our suspects and opinions on the cast, it was as entertaining as the novel itself every time Poirot explained his findings and changed our whole perspective on the events all the way up to the final reveal, which is just amazing.
It is funny and well written, a definite page turner for me, I read the last four chapters altogheter because all the revelations and explanations were quite mind-boggling to me—also because isa kept reading ahead, so evil lol.
I recently acquired And Then There Were None, considered to be one of Agatha Christie’s best work, and one of the best selling books of all time, because if this one amazed me, I can’t help but wonder what her best writing would be like. Yes, I have an e-reader but I couldn’t help myself. Good stuff.
I might continue my read of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, just to refresh myself and see the way both fictional detectives work, and have some more fun outside of the Science Fiction genre.