The Mysterious Affair at Styles (written and published in 1920) is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie. It is her first novel, and introduces the characters of Hercule Poirot, Chief Inspector Japp and Captain Arthur Hastings.

In the midst of World War I, the residents of Styles wake one morning to find Emily Inglethorpe has been fatally poisoned. Captain Hastings, staying with the family, enlists the help of his old friend, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. With the evidence mounting against one member of the family, Poirot uses his technique to prove who really killed Emily.

The novel is told in first person by Hastings, and features many of the elements that, thanks to Christie, would become icons of the Golden age of detective fiction: it is set in a large, isolated country manor and includes a half-dozen suspects, most of whom are hiding facts about themselves; the book maps of the house, the murder scene and a drawing of a fragment of a will; and there are a number of red herrings and surprise plot twists.

The Suspects and the Victim at Styles St. Mary

• Emily Inglethrop, a wealthy old lady
• Alfred Inglethorp,her unpopular second husband
• John Cavendish, her older stepson
• Mary Cavendish, John's wife
• Lawrence Cavendish, John's younger brother
• Evelyn Howard, Mrs Inglethorp's companion
• Cynthia Murdoch, the beautiful orphaned niece
• Dr. Bauerstein, a suspicious toxicologist

Trivia

Styles would be the setting of Poirot's last book, published in 1975, Curtain.

Film versions

• Adapted for television in 1990.

External links

• (without the illustrations)
• Free Audiobook at LibriVox

Hercule Poirot | Agatha Christie novels | 1920 novels | Debut novels

La Mystérieuse Affaire de Styles | Tajemnicza historia w Styles | The Mysterious Affair at Styles