THE MYSTERIOUS
AFFAIR AT STYLES –
AGATHA CHRISTIE
Ms. Katya Glanville Vella
THIS IS A VERY
IMPORTANT NOVEL
• It is the first novel that Agatha Christie ever wrote.
• Although it was published in 1920, she started
writing it in the middle of World War 1, in 1916
It introduces the famous detective Hercule Poirot.
 Hercule Poirot in this novel is a refugee
from Belgium.
 He has had to leave his country because
of World War 1.
 During World War 1 Agatha Christie met
a lot of Belgian refugees.
 He used to be a very successful police
detective in Belgium, and he solved many
important cases.
 Poirot lives in a house lent to him by Mrs.
Inglethorp, the victim in this murder
mystery.
It also introduces Captain Arthur Hastings
• Hastings is fighting in the war but at the
moment he is back in England to
recover from an injury.
• He is Poirot’s best friend.
• He is the narrator of this novel.
• He appears in 8 other stories and
narrates several others.
• He is involved in the mystery because
he is staying at Styles. His friend John
Cavendish, Mrs. Ingelthorp’s stepson
has invited him to stay there.
It also introduces Inspector James Japp
Inspector Japp appears in 7 of
Agatha Christie’s novels. All of
these novels feature Hercule
Poirot.
He also appears in a play called
Black Coffee.
He is an Inspector at Scotland
Yard and in later novels he
becomes Chief Inspector of
Scotland Yard.
He is the investigating officer in
The Mysterious Affair at Styles.
So what is the Styles of the novel?
• Styles is a lovely house in the
countryside in Essex.
• It is a large, expensive
building, where many servants
work.
• It is owned by Mrs. Inglethorp
and when she dies her stepson John Cavendish will
inherit it.
Mrs. Inglethorp
 One night, Mrs. Inglethorp , a lady of
around 70, is very ill and then dies.
 She has been poisoned with Strychnine.
 Hastings goes to the village of Styles St.
Mary to get his friend, Poirot.
 Mrs. Inglethorp was a very rich lady. Her
first husband, Mr. Cavendish, had left her a
lot of money.
 She has recently got married to Alfred
Inglethorp, a man 20 years younger than
her. The family thinks he is after her money.
 Mrs. Inglethorp has 2 stepsons, John and
Lawrence.
Cynthia Murdoch
• Cynthia Murdoch is an orphan; her
parents were friends of Mrs.
Inglethorp’s.
• She has been living at Styles for 2
years.
• Just like Agatha Christie, during World
War 1 she is a nurse working in the
pharmacy of a hospital.
• Just like Agatha Christie, Cynthia has
learnt about poisons from her work in
the pharmacy.
In the novel there are two maps and part of a will.
Styles House
The murder scene
The part of a will seems to show that Mrs. Inglethorp wanted to leave all
her money to her husband, Alfred.
There are a lot of suspects…
 John Cavendish: Mrs. Inglethorp’s stepson has a lot of debts and never had a good
relationship with his stepmother
 Lawrence Cavendish: John’s brother, who has a knowledge of medicine.
 Mary Cavendish: John’s beautiful wife and a friend of Dr. Bauerstein’s. She is acting
like she is hiding something.
 Dr. Bauerstein: a toxicologist, an expert in poisoning, who was at Styles at the time
and acts quite suspiciously.
 Alfred Inglethorp: Mrs. Inglethorp’s second husband who seems to be a gold digger.
Who did it?
You have to read the novel to find out!
In the first version of the book
Poirot reveals who the murderer
is in the courthouse.
In the final version he reveals it in
the library at Styles with all the
suspects present.
This would become a feature of
Agatha Christie’s mystery novels.
Did you know that Agatha and
her husband called their house
“Styles”?
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