The Mysterious Affair at Styles: Agatha Christie

I first read Agatha Christie mysteries when I was very young, probably in my teens and twenties. Then I went many years without reading her books. The first book I tried later was The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 2007, and I did not care for it at the time. The circumstances were not good; I was visiting my family in Alabama and my father was very ill. It was not until five years later, after I started blogging, that I tried reading Christie's mysteries again, and I had much better success.

Thus, for the #1920 Club I decided to read Agatha Christie's first mystery novel again. I have learned to love the Hercule Poirot series in the last few years, so why didn't I like this one when I read it before?


This summary is from the back cover of my paperback edition:

Styles Court was a magnificent English country estate which should have been left to John Cavendish. But instead it was left to his stepmother, Emily Cavendish, who promptly married a fortune hunter... and promptly met her death! Dapper, brilliant Monsieur Poirot knew he was the only man who could catch her killer.

Arthur Hastings narrates this book and is staying at Styles Court. Hastings explains how he ended up visiting Styles Court at this time...

I had been invalided home from the Front; and, after spending some months in a rather depressing Convalescent Home, was given a month's sick leave. Having no near relations or friends, I was trying to make up my mind what to do, when I ran across John Cavendish. I had seen very little of him for some years. Indeed, I had never known him particularly well. He was a good fifteen years my senior, for one thing, though he hardly looked his forty-five years. As a boy, though, I had often stayed at Styles, his mother's place in Essex.

Hastings is invited to stay with the Cavendish family in early July. By the middle of the month, John's stepmother Emily is dead, killed by strychnine poisoning, and Hastings has brought in Hercule Poirot to investigate. Hastings had met Poirot earlier, and coincidentally Poirot has been living along with other Belgian refugees in a house on the Cavendish estate.

This is the first description of Poirot:

Poirot was an extraordinary looking little man. He was hardly more than five feet, four inches, but carried himself with great dignity. His head was exactly the shape of an egg, and he always perched it a little on one side. His moustache was very stiff and military. The neatness of his attire was almost incredible. I believe a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound. Yet this quaint dandyfied little man who, I was sorry to see, now limped badly, had been in his time one of the most celebrated members of the Belgian police.

There are many characters. Emily Inglethorp and her two stepsons, John and Lawrence Cavendish. Emily's second husband, Alfred Inglethorp. John's wife, Mary, and a young woman living with the family, Cynthia. Evelyn Howard, Emily's companion and a distant relative to Alfred Inglethorp. Dr Bauerstein, a toxicologist, who lives near to Styles. Most of these were at Style Court when the murder took place and are suspects.

My Thoughts:

This mystery is nowhere near the top of my list of Agatha Christie novels or Hercules Poirot novels, but it is still a good read. It does have a different flavor than many of the later novels, but as it was Agatha Christie's debut novel, that is to be expected.

What did I like?

• Hastings is the narrator. I wish he had narrated more of the novels. He always adds humor to the mysteries when he is present.
• Christie provides a drawing of the floor plan for Styles showing the placement of the bedrooms, and also one of Emily Inglethorp's bedroom, where she dies.
• The country house setting.
• The World War I setting. I have read a lot of mysteries which take place during World War II, but far fewer that involve World War I.

What did I dislike?

• There were casual racist and ethnic slurs. There was not a lot of this, but it was offensive. Although I usually successfully ignore this in books of this age, and there were not many instances, they were extremely offensive and bothered me in this case.
• Too many red herrings for my taste, and the resolution was too drawn out.

I read this book on the Kindle because I could not find my copies of the book. My copies were found later and I have included scans. The Bantam edition has a cover illustration by Tom Adams. The other edition is a very early Avon paperback that is falling apart.


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Publisher:   Bantam Books, 1983. Orig. pub. 1920.
Length:      182 pages
Format:      Paperback
Series:       Hercule Poirot, #1
Setting:      Essex, UK
Genre:       Country House Mystery
Source:      Purchased at the Planned Parenthood book sale, 2017.