Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our first challenge read of 2025, the first mystery by Agatha Christie, published in 1920, and the first appearance of Hercule Poirot: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Agatha Christie’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was the result of a dare from her sister Madge who challenged her to write a story. The story begins when Hastings is sent back to England from the First World War due to injury and is invited to spend his sick leave at the beautiful Styles Court by his old friend John Cavendish. Here, Hastings meets John’s step-mother, Mrs Inglethorp, and her new husband, Alfred. Despite the tranquil surroundings Hastings begins to realise that all is not right. When Mrs Inglethorp is found poisoned, suspicion falls on the family, and another old friend, Hercule Poirot, is invited to investigate.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread. Happy reading for 2025! We hope you enjoy the challenge, where we will read and compare the early Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries.

Well, I think we all owe Madge a debt of gratitude!

Christie's writing has given so many people pleasure!

One thing I enjoy in the early Christie's is the humour.

"But we must be more intelligent. We must be so intelligent that he does not suspect us of being intelligent at all."
I acquiesced.
"There, mon ami, you will be of great assistance to me."
I was pleased with the compliment. There had been times when I thought that Poirot hardly appreciated me at my true worth.

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Well, I think we all owe Madge a debt of gratitude!

Christie's writing has given so many people pleasure!

One thing I enjoy in the early Christie's is the humour.

"But we must be more intelli..."

Lol, I love that, she had a lot of fun with the character of Hastings!

Indeed, thank you Madge! This is still a joy, no matter how many times I read it. Hastings has always been a favourite character of mine and, bless him, he is even more romantic than Papa Poirot.

Not going to lie, I was waiting the entire time for the poisoning to end up being a mistake. Still a cool mystery, though. I also agree on the humor; that was a pleasant surprise.

I think the plot & whodunnit would have come as a real surprise when this book was first released. I know I was surprised when I first read it!

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "I think the plot & whodunnit would have come as a real surprise when this book was first released. I know I was surprised when I first read it!"

I agree - and I’m always impressed by the fact that Agatha clearly did her research, and learned her pharmaceutical knowledge thoroughly as a dispenser, in coming up with the poison method.

Nick wrote: "Not going to lie, I was waiting the entire time for the poisoning to end up being a mistake. Still a cool mystery, though. I also agree on the humor; that was a pleasant surprise."

lol, same! I think that was a ‘murder’ method that wasn’t truly a murder in another Christie mystery I read somewhere along the line…

Susan wrote: "Indeed, thank you Madge! This is still a joy, no matter how many times I read it. Hastings has always been a favourite character of mine and, bless him, he is even more romantic than Papa Poirot."

Same here, Hastings, and his being a rather naive, clueless foil to Poirot was always a treat in these early books!

Susan in NC wrote: "
I agree - and I’m always..."

From Wikipedia During both World Wars, she served in hospital dispensaries, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the poisons that featured in many of her novels, short stories, and plays.

Interesting that her life lead her down a certain path...

I've just finished this - switched from audio to Kindle halfway as I was impatient to get to the solution. I really enjoyed it and didn't remember the full solution from previous readings/watchings, although I did remember one of the culprits.

I also enjoyed the humour in this - the passage you posted was a highlight for me too, Carol, and I also laughed at the bit where Hastings wrongly deduces that Mary Cavendish may be secretly in love with Hastings himself!

I know Susan has already mentioned this in another thread, but just thought I'd repeat it! The Shedunnit podcast had a recent episode about The Mysterious Affair at Styles as part of its 'Green Penguin Book Club' series, where Caroline Crampton is looking at all the books originally published under the imprint. I'm just about to listen to this after finishing my reread!

Here's a link to the episode:
https://shedunnitshow.com/themysterio...

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: "
I agree - and I’m always..."

From Wikipedia During both World Wars, she served in hospital dispensaries, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the poisons that featured in many of..."

Isn’t it? I find her and her life story fascinating…that’s why I’m reading Come, Tell Me How You Live for my nonfiction January read, and the book pool! I’ve had a used copy for years, just lately been catching Lucy Worsley and some other documentaries about Agatha on our public tv station, prompting me to finally read it!

Does anyone have a recommendation for a film or tv adaptation? I’m curious.

Nick, the book was adapted for an episode of the Poirot series starring David Suchet - I saw this a few years ago and remember it as being very good. I think that is the only English-language screen adaptation, as far as I can tell from looking at the imdb and the book's Wikipedia page.

It's only been a few years since my last reread, but I wasn't feeling well. A good reread can be comforting when you're not feeling well.

Poirot might be the only character that has an accent in my head. My internal narration never changes for anyone else, but Poirot needs a bit of flair.

Come, Tell Me How you Live is such a great read. Her voice really comes through and she is so very honest and funny.

strained my R wrist so typing with left and slow going.

finished the book and struck by how many clues, it is just DENSE with real clues and red herring clues! also loved the humor at Hasting's expense, he is a wonderful character.

enjoyed the shedunnit podcast, thanks for the link Judy!

Vanessa wrote: "It's only been a few years since my last reread, but I wasn't feeling well. A good reread can be comforting when you're not feeling well.

Poirot might be the only character that has an accent in m..."

Hope you feel better! I agree, I always hear David Suchet or Hugh Fraser as Poirot in my head!

Susan wrote: "Come, Tell Me How you Live is such a great read. Her voice really comes through and she is so very honest and funny."

Yes! That is perhaps the most pleasant surprise-she was a pretty amazing and game woman, a successful author, a middle-aged lady used to a comfortable life, going without baths, reliable food, a bed, sleeping in her sleeping bag or “fleabag” in the chapter I read last night!
I kept thinking of Amelia Peabody preparing for a season in Egypt, and arranging housing, donkeys, hiring staff - generally making all the tedious and endless arrangements for the comfort and success of the season. I never thought about the work involved, as Amelia was such a hyper-organized character, and found verbal tussling with anybody to get her way ‘refreshing’. Agatha and Max could’ve used Amelia!

Jackie wrote: "strained my R wrist so typing with left and slow going.

finished the book and struck by how many clues, it is just DENSE with real clues and red herring clues! also loved the humor at Hasting's ex..."

Take care, Jackie! I agree, watching the Suchet tv version, after finishing my reread, I was struck again by how well Christie was already using red herrings and misdirection, applied to so many characters and various plot points. I still vaguely remember how shocked I was at the big reveal on my first read.

Nick wrote: "Does anyone have a recommendation for a film or tv adaptation? I’m curious."

Yes, I really enjoyed the Suchet version- as always, no expense was spared with beautiful locations, lavish costumes, and Suchet and Fraser ARE Poirot and Hastings in my mind.

Speaking of whom, there have been several excellent actresses playing Miss Marple for tv (although Joan Hickson is my favorite, as Marple but also because they stuck to the book plot pretty faithfully). I don’t think Agatha ever needed help with plot, yet they will do it, bending the cast and the plot all out of recognition…

No one else seems to have tackled a tv version of Poirot. I’ve seen the old Ustinov interpretations of Poirot, but he made him seem rather ridiculous - amazing casts, though. Branagh changes the plots so much they come across as melodramatic (maybe that’s just me).

I agree the Branagh versions are too melodramatic, Susan. I really like the Suchet episodes, especially the earlier ones with Hastings and Miss Lemon!

I was surprised just how well developed her style is for such an early work. I really did not remember this story and as others have said the way Hastings is used brought a smile to my face as I read it.

This book is excellent with all of the many layers of plots, clues and suspects.

My edition of this book had a bonus chapter at the end, with Christie's original draft for the ending. It had the same outcome but done very differently. Poirot is called up as a witness in the court trial and does all his reveal while on the stand.

Victoria wrote: "My edition of this book had a bonus chapter at the end, with Christie's original draft for the ending. It had the same outcome but done very differently. Poirot is called up as a witness in the cou..."

That would be interesting to read!

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Victoria wrote: "My edition of this book had a bonus chapter at the end, with Christie's original draft for the ending. ..."

Thank you for sharing that, Victoria! My edition didn't have this but I've just noticed that the alternative ending is included in Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks, edited by John Curran.

This is available on Kindle Unlimited in the UK, so I've downloaded it and am looking forward to reading the bonus chapter while I can still remember the ending in the book! (There is also a 'Complete Secret Notebooks' but that one isn't on KU.)

Also, I have just read an interesting article about Christie's writing of the novel on the official Agatha Christie website:
https://www.agathachristie.com/en/new...

The article is very interesting, Judy. Thanks for sharing it.

thank you, Judy. I find myself more interested in her life the more I know and my next nonfiction read is going to be Come, Tell Me How You Live

Jackie wrote: "thank you, Judy. I find myself more interested in her life the more I know and my next nonfiction read is going to be Come, Tell Me How You Live"

I'll be interested to hear what you think of it, Jackie - I keep meaning to read it!

Jackie wrote: "thank you, Judy. I find myself more interested in her life the more I know and my next nonfiction read is going to be Come, Tell Me How You Live"

I’ll be interested to see what you think, Jackie - I put it in the Book Pool to finally get myself to read it - the more I learn about Agatha, the more interesting I find her!

Sorry, I spoke too soon, the alternative ending is not in Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks, but it is in Agatha Christie's Complete Secret Notebooks, which is a lot more expensive. There is a lot of info about The Mysterious Affair at Styles in the Secret Notebooks though.

I just finished last night and really enjoyed this one a lot. Next to Murder on the Orient Express, I think this is my next favorite. I really like how the mystery is set up and how Poirot enters and uses his methodology. I also agree there are some moments of subtle humor along the way too:

" ' To speak or not to speak' as your great Shakespeare says 'that is the question' " (Poirot)
I did not trouble to correct the quotation.

I thought the unraveling at the end was put together rather nicely and there were plenty of suspects to consider for the crime. I would be interested in watching the David Suchet version if I can find it somewhere online. And the alternate ending would be awesome to compare. I only had the kindle version and there is a biography and timeline of Agatha Christie at the end.

Anyhow, it was a fun read and loved reading the thoughts and comments. Thanks for selecting!

Judy wrote: "Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Victoria wrote: "My edition of this book had a bonus chapter at the end, with Christie's original draft for the ending. ..."

Thank you for sharing that, Victoria! My..."

John Curran wrote the introduction to my edition, he talks about the notebooks in it. The edition was published in 2013 by Harper Collins. I got it in a boxed set of 7 Poirot novels, but I just checked on the Harper Collins website and found they still sell an edition with the John Curran introduction and the unpublished chapter.

Victoria wrote: "John Curran wrote the introduction to my edition, he talks about the notebooks in it... I just checked on the Harper Collins website and found they still sell an edition with the John Curran introduction and the unpublished chapter.

Thank you, this looks like a gorgeous edition! It's possible to read a sample, including the introduction, at the Harper Collins website:
https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/...