The Mysterious Affair at Styles

by Agatha Christie

Overview

The Mysterious Affair at Styles is a detective novel by British writer Agatha Christie. It was written in the middle of the First World War, in 1916, and first published by John Lane in the United States in October 1920 and in the United Kingdom by The Bodley Head (John Lane's UK company) on 21 January 1921.

Styles was Christie's first published novel. It introduced Hercule Poirot, Inspector (later, Chief Inspector) Japp, and Arthur Hastings. Poirot, a Belgian refugee of the Great War, is settling in England near the home of Emily Inglethorp, who helped him to his new life. His friend Hastings arrives as a guest at her home. When the woman is killed, Poirot uses his detective skills to solve the mystery.

The book includes maps of the house, the murder scene, and a drawing of a fragment of a will. The true first publication of the novel was as a weekly serial in The Times, including the maps of the house and other illustrations included in the book. This novel was one of the first ten books published by Penguin Books when it began in 1935.

This first mystery novel by Agatha Christie was well received by reviewers. An analysis in 1990 was positive about the plot, considered the novel one of the few by Christie that is well-anchored in time and place, a story that knows it describes the end of an era, and mentions that the plot is clever. Christie had not mastered cleverness in her first novel, as "too many clues tend to cancel each other out"; this was judged a difficulty "which Conan Doyle never satisfactorily overcame, but which Christie would." (wikipedia.org)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9788027342211
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press Inc DBA Indepe
Publication date:	02/22/2022
Pages:	108
Sales rank:	440,980
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.23(d)

About the Author

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was an English author of mystery fiction whose status in the genre is unparalleled. A prolific and dedicated creator, she wrote short stories, plays and poems, but her fame is due primarily to her mystery novels, especially those featuring two of the most celebrated sleuths in crime fiction, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Ms. Christie’s novels have sold in excess of two billion copies, making her the best-selling author of fiction in the world, with total sales comparable only to those of William Shakespeare or The Bible. Despite the fact that she did not enjoy cinema, almost 40 films have been produced based on her work.

Date of Birth:

September 15, 1890

Date of Death:

January 12, 1976

Place of Birth:

Torquay, Devon, England

Education:

Home schooling

Website:

http://www.agathachristie.com

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I. I GO TO STYLES 7

CHAPTER II. THE 16TH AND 17TH OF JULY 18

CHAPTER III. THE NIGHT OF THE TRAGEDY 25

CHAPTER IV. POIROT INVESTIGATES 31

CHAPTER V. IT ISN'T STRYCHNINE, IS IT?" 47

CHAPTER VI. THE INQUEST 69

CHAPTER VII. POIROT PAYS HIS DEBTS 80

CHAPTER VIII. FRESH SUSPICIONS 90

CHAPTER IX. DR. BAUERSTEIN 103

CHAPTER X. THE ARREST 114

CHAPTER XI. THE CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION 127

CHAPTER XII. THE LAST LINK 142

CHAPTER XIII. POIROT EXPLAINS 151

Editorial Reviews

Almost too ingenious...very clearly and brightly told.

-Times Literary Supplement (London)

Altogether a skillfull tale and a talented first book.

-Daily News (UK)

Reading a perfectly plotted Agatha Christie is like crunching into a perfect apple: that pure, crisp, absolute satisfaction.

-Tana French

Future scholars of the simon-pure detective novel will hold that its greatest practitioner . . . has been Agatha Christie."

-The New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher