The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie [Review]

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot #1) by Agatha Christie
Format: ebook
Source: purchased
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Date read: January 29, 2025

Hercule Poirot
1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Paperback | Kindle
2. The Murder on the Links
3. Poirot Investigates
4. The Murder of Roger Akroyd
5. The Big Four
6. The Mystery of the Blue Train
7. Black Coffee
8. Peril at End House
9. Lord Edgeware Dies
10. Murder on the Orient Express
11. Three Act Tragedy
12. Death in the Clouds
13. The ABC Murders
14. Murder in Mesopotamia
15. Cards on the Table
16. Dead Man's Mirror
17. Dumb Witness
18. Death on the Nile
19. Appointment with Death
20. Hercule Poirot's Christmas
21. Sad Cypress
22. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
23. Evil Under the Sun
24. Five Little Pigs
25. The Hollow
26. The Labors of Hercules
27. Taken at the Flood
28. Mrs. McGinty's Dead
29. After the Funeral
30. Hickory Dickory Dock
31. Dead Man's Folly
32. Cat Among the Pigeons
33. Double Sin and Other Stories
34. The Clocks
35. Third Girl
36. Hallowe'en Party
37. Elephants Can Remember
38. Curtain

Agatha Christie
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Synopsis (Goodreads):

Set in Essex in the English countryside, The Mysterious Affair at Styles is one of the great classic murder mysteries. The victim, Mrs. Emily Inglethorp, is the wealthy mistress of Styles Court. After an evening of entertaining family and guests, she is found poisoned in her locked bedroom. The long list of suspects includes her gold-digging new husband, her stepsons, her best female friend, and a visiting doctor.

Here, in her first published mystery, Agatha Christie introduces us to her beloved Belgian protagonist, inspector Hercule Poirot, who methodically pieces together the intricate evidence of this bewildering crime. From his very first appearance, Poirot amuses us with his oddly fastidious habits--then astonishes us with the power of his razor-sharp mind. Christie keeps us guessing as to the murderer's identity until Poirot finally presents his ingenious solution to this landmark mystery. And, voila, one of the genre's most famous sleuths is born.

Thoughts on The Mysterious Affair at Styles: I'm going back and re-reading some classic AC books and HOO-BOY are they good reads. Admittedly, some of the language used (slang terms for certain ethnicities, mostly) are a little problematic (and cause me to do a double-take when reading), but I remind myself that these books are a hundred years old (TMAaS was originally released in 1920, so I'm talking a literal hundred years here) and times were different then. Do I like reading these words? No, I do not. But I can accept them as being part of the culture and mind-set at the time.

So. This is the book that introduces the famously sharp sleuth Hercule Poirot. He's intelligent. He has a sharp (and mindful) eye. He knows he's good at what he does. Which doesn't always endear him to those around him. Mostly because they look on his statement of fact about his intelligence when it comes to solving crimes as boasting. But the little man IS good. So he just handwaves the upsets he causes and goes about the business of solving the crime.

We're also introduced to Captain Hastings who is Poirot's...uhh, he's kind of his wingman. Maybe. Hastings is quick to jump to conclusions that Poirot dismisses quickly and he has a romantic bent (or at least he becomes enamored of pretty women with disarming ease) that sometimes blinds him to the truth.

While Hastings is busy falling for beautiful women, we have a poisoning, some possible infidelity, complicated relationships, clues, and one meticulous detective who is very good at unraveling crime. *thumbs up*