The Mysterious Affair at Styles (*****)

HERCULE POIROT ... IT ALL STARTED RIGHT HERE!

“The Mysterious Affair at Styles” can only be categorized as a classic among classics. In 1920, on the strength of a dare, Agatha Christie penned a cozy mystery that introduced a grateful reading world to Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings, the detective and sidekick duo who hold their place in literary fame alongside such luminaries as Holmes and Watson or Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe.

Captain Arthur Hastings, a guest at Styles Court, the family manor of long-time friend John Cavendish, finds himself hip-deep in a locked room murder mystery when Cavendish’s mother, Emily Inglethorpe, is discovered poisoned by strychnine inside her bedroom! Hastings, who fancies himself a competent amateur sleuth, suggests the Cavendish family engage his friend, Hercule Poirot, a recently retired Belgian detective of no small skill and reputation, to find the culprit.

There is certainly no shortage of possible motives, clues and suspects – John and Lawrence Cavendish, the victim’s sons who are suffering from pecuniary difficulty and constant financial embarrassment; Alfred Ingelthorpe, the blackguard, money-grubbing husband who stands to inherit the entire estate at the expense of the rest of the family; Evie Howard, Mrs Inglethorpe’s companion and long-time family friend recently dismissed from the estate after a bitter argument with the matriarch over the intentions of her new husband; Cynthia Murdoch, the chemist with access to strychnine; or perhaps Dr Bauerstein, a renowned expert on poisons entangled in an affair with Mary Cavendish!

A thoroughly enjoyable novel, easily read in a couple of sittings, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” introduced us to all the hallmarks of typical Poirot mysteries – the quirky, vain fastidiousness of the little Belgian detective and his love of method, order and the use of “the little gray cells”; the loyalty, charm, unfailing gentlemanly behaviour and decidedly humorous upper class character of the ex-military man, Hastings; the liberal sprinkling of clues and possible suspects; and, of course, the much-loved and often imitated stereotypical congregation of the entire cast in the single room climax in which Poirot outlines his deductions and reveals the culprit for the edification of all!

If you’ve never read an Agatha Christie mystery, this would perhaps be THE place to start! If you’ve read her work before, then pick this one up again, re-read it and discover why you fell in love with Agatha Christie and Poirot in the first place.

Highly recommended.