The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Encyclopedia
The Mysterious Affair at Styles is a detective novel
by Agatha Christie
. It was written in 1916 and was 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 January 21, 1921
. The U.S. edition retailed at $
2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence
(7/6).
It is Christie's first published novel, and introduces Hercule Poirot
, Inspector (later, Chief Inspector) Japp
and Lieutenant Hastings
(later, Captain). The story is told in first person
by Hastings, and features many of the elements that, thanks to Christie, have become icons of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction
. It is set in a large, isolated country manor. There are a half-dozen suspects, most of whom are hiding facts about themselves. The book includes maps of the house, the murder scene, and a drawing of a fragment of a will. Also, there are a number of red herrings
and surprise plot twists.
at Styles Court, an Essex
country manor (also the setting of Curtain
, Poirot's last case). Upon her husband's death, the wealthy widow, Emily Cavendish, inherited a life estate
in Styles as well as the outright inheritance of the larger part of the late Mr. Cavendish's income. Mrs. Cavendish became Mrs. Inglethorp upon her recent remarriage to a much younger man, Alfred Inglethorp. Emily's two stepsons, John and Lawrence Cavendish, as well as John's wife Mary and several other people, also live at Styles. John Cavendish is the vested
remainderman
of Styles; that is, the property will pass to him automatically upon his stepmother's decease, as per his late father's will. The income left to Mrs Inglethorp by her late husband would be distributed as per Mrs. Inglethorp's own will.
Late one night, the residents of Styles wake to find Emily Inglethorp dying of what proves to be strychnine poisoning
. Lieutenant Hastings, a houseguest, enlists the help of his friend Hercule Poirot, who is staying in the nearby village, Styles St. Mary. Poirot pieces together events surrounding the murder. On the day she was killed, Emily Inglethorp was overheard arguing with someone, most likely her husband, Alfred, or her stepson, John. Afterwards, she seemed quite distressed and, apparently, made a new will — which no one can find. She ate little at dinner and retired early to her room with her document case. The case was later forced open by someone and a document removed. Alfred Inglethorp left Styles earlier in the evening and stayed overnight in the nearby village, so was not present when the poisoning occurred. Nobody can explain how or when the strychnine was administered to Mrs. Inglethorp.
At first, Alfred is the prime suspect. He has the most to gain financially from his wife's death, and, since he is so much younger than Emily was, the Cavendishes already suspect him as a fortune hunter. Evelyn Howard, Emily's companion, seems to hate him most of all. His behaviour, too, is suspicious; he openly purchased strychnine in the village before Emily was poisoned, and although he denies it, he refuses to provide an alibi
. The police are keen to arrest him, but Poirot intervenes by proving he could not have purchased the poison. Scotland Yard
police later arrest Emily Inglethorp’s oldest stepson, John Cavendish. He inherits under the terms of her will, and there is evidence to suggest he also had obtained poison.
Poirot clears Cavendish by proving it was, after all, Alfred Inglethorp who committed the crime, assisted by Evelyn Howard, who turns out to be his kissing cousin
, not his enemy. The guilty pair poisoned Emily by adding a precipitating agent, bromide
(obtained from Mrs Inglethorp's sleeping powder), to her regular evening medicine, causing its normally innocuous strychnine
constituents to sink to the bottom of the bottle where they were finally consumed in a single, lethal dose. Their plan had been for Alfred Inglethorp to incriminate himself with false evidence, which could then be refuted at his trial. Once acquitted, due to double jeopardy
, he could not be tried for the crime a second time should any genuine evidence against him be subsequently discovered, hence prompting Poirot to keep him out of prison when he realized that Alfred wanted to be arrested.
of February 3, 1921, gave the book an extremely enthusiastic, if short, review, which stated that "The only fault this story has is that it is almost too ingenious". It went on to describe the basic set-up of the plot and concluded: "It is said to be the author's first book, and the result of a bet about the possibility of writing a detective story in which the reader would not be able to spot the criminal. Every reader must admit that the bet was won".
The New York Times Book Review
of December 26, 1920, was also impressed:
Poirot was described as a "delightful little old man".
The novel's review in The Sunday Times
of February 20, 1921, quoted the publisher's promotional blurb concerning Christie writing the book as the result of a bet that she would not be able to do so without the reader being able to guess the murderer, then said, "Personally we did not find the "spotting" so very difficult, but we are free to admit that the story is, especially for a first adventure in fiction, very well contrived, and that the solution of the mystery is the result of logical deduction. The story, moreover, has no lack of movement, and the several characters are well drawn."
The contributor who wrote his column under the pseudonym of "A Man of Kent" in the February 10, 1921, issue of the Christian newspaper The British Weekly praised the novel but was perhaps overly generous in giving away the identity of the murderers. To wit,
The Bodley Head quoted excerpts from this review in future books by Christie but understandably did not use those passages, which gave away the identity of the culprits.
In his book, A Talent to Deceive — An Appreciation of Agatha Christie, the writer and critic Robert Barnard
wrote:
in the UK on Sunday September 16, 1990 as a special episode in their series Agatha Christie's Poirot
to celebrate the centenary of the author's birth.
The adaptation was generally faithful to the novel, although some minor characters were left out. A slight mistake is, however, that it is left unexplained how the door of the late Mrs. Inglethorp's room (that had been broken in at her death) is fixed in the early morning before Poirot's arrival (which could prevent the other residents from altering the traces).
Adaptor: Clive Exton
Director: Ross Devenish
Cast:
David Suchet
as Hercule Poirot
Hugh Fraser
as Lieutenant Arthur Hastings
Philip Jackson
as Inspector James Japp
Gillian Barge
as Mrs Emily Agnes Inglethorp
Michael Cronin as Alfred Inglethorp
David Rintoul
as John Cavendish
Anthony Calf
as Lawrence Cavendish
Beatie Edney
as Mrs Mary Cavendish
Joanna McCallum
as Miss Evelyn Howard
Allie Byrne
as Miss Cynthia Murdoch
Tim Munro as Edwin Mace
Donald Pelmear as Judge
Morris Perry
as Wells
Tim Preece
as Phillips, KC
David Savile as Superintendent Summerhaye
Eric Stovell as Chemist
Caroline Swift as Nurse
Merelina Kendall as Mrs Dainty
Ken Robertson as Army Officer
Robert Vowles as Driver of Hired Car
Michael D. Roberts
as Tindermans
Michael Godley as Dr Wilkins
Penelope Beaumont as Mrs Raikes
Lala Lloyd as Dorcas
Bryan Coleman
as a Vicar
Gordon Dulieu as the Clerk of the Court
Jeffrey Robert as the Jury Foreman
in 2005. John Moffatt
reprised his role of Poirot. The serial was broadcast weekly from Monday, September 5 to Monday, October 3 at 11.30am to 12.00pm. All five episodes were recorded on Monday, April 4, 2005, at Bush House
. This version retained the first-person narration by the character of Hastings.
Adaptor: Michael Bakewell
Producer: Enyd Williams
Cast:
John Moffatt as Hercule Poirot
Simon Williams
as Arthur Hastings
Philip Jackson
as Inspector James Japp
Jill Balcon
as Emily Inglethorp
Hugh Dickson as Alfred Inglethorp
Susan Jameson
as Mary Cavendish
Nicholas Boulton as Lawrence Cavendish
Hilda Schroder as Dorcas
Annabelle Dowler as Cynthia Murdoch and Annie
Nichola McAuliffe
as Evelyn Howard
Sean Arnold as John Cavendish
Richard Syms as Mr Wells
Ioan Meredith as Mr Phillips
Michael Mears as Sir Ernest Heavyweather
Harry Myers as Mr Mace
Richard Katz as Costumer's assistant
Peter Howell
as the Coroner
Robert Portal as Dr Bauerstein
Don McCorkindale as Summerhayes and a Rustic
The novel received its first true publication as an eighteen-part serialisation in The Times
newspaper's Colonial Edition (aka The Weekly Times) from February 27 (Issue 2252) to June 26, 1920 (Issue 2269). This version of the novel mirrored the published version with no textual differences and included the maps and illustrations of handwriting examples used in the novel. At the end of the serialisation an advert appeared in the newspaper, which announced "This is a brilliant mystery novel, which has had the unique distinction for a first novel of being serialised in The Times Weekly Edition. Mr John Lane is now preparing a large edition in volume form, which will be ready immediately." Although another line of the advert stated that the book would be ready in August. In any event, it was first published by John Lane
in the United States in October 1920 and was not published in the UK by The Bodley Head
until the following year. Some sources state that the exact date of the UK publication was January 26, 1921, others state February 1. However the English Catalogue of Books confirms the latter month of release.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles later made publishing history by being one of the first ten books to be published by Penguin Books
when they were launched on July 30, 1935
. The book was Penguin Number 6.
Christie's mother, Clarissa ("Clara") Boehmer Miller (1854–1926), was a strong influence on her life and someone to whom Christie was extremely close, especially after the death of her father in 1901. It was whilst Christie was ill (in about 1908) that her mother suggested that she write a story. The result was The House of Beauty, now a lost work but one which hesitantly started her writing career. (Christie later revised this story as The House of Dreams and it was published in issue 74 of The Sovereign Magazine in January 1926 and many years later in book form in While the Light Lasts and Other Stories
in 1997.)
Christie also dedicated her debut novel
as Mary Westmacott, Giant's Bread
(1930), to her mother who, by that time, had died.
on the inside flap of the dustwrapper of the first edition reads:
The Mysterious Affair at Styles was the only first edition of Christie's to be published by The Bodley Head, which carried such a blurb on its dustwrapper.
in the US (the other being The Secret Adversary). The copyright on the book will not expire in many Western countries before 2047. (without the illustrations)
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
by Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
. It was written in 1916 and was first published by John Lane
John Lane (publisher)
-Biography:Originally from Devon, where he was born into a farming family, Lane moved to London already in his teens. While working as a clerk at the Railway Clearing House, he acquired knowledge as an autodidact....
in the United States in October 1920
1920 in literature
The year 1920 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Agatha Christie publishes her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introducing the long-running character detective, Hercule Poirot....
and in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by The Bodley Head
The Bodley Head
The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name has been used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books since 1987...
(John Lane's UK company) on January 21, 1921
1921 in literature
The year 1921 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Edgar Rice Burroughs – Tarzan the Terrible*James Branch Cabell – Figures of Earth*Hall Caine – The Master of Man*Willa Cather – Alexander's Bridge...
. The U.S. edition retailed at $
Dollar sign
The dollar or peso sign is a symbol primarily used to indicate the various peso and dollar units of currency around the world.- Origin :...
2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence
British sixpence coin
The sixpence, known colloquially as the tanner, or half-shilling, was a British pre-decimal coin, worth six pence, or 1/40th of a pound sterling....
(7/6).
It is Christie's first published novel, and introduces Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. Along with Miss Marple, Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, appearing in 33 novels and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era.Poirot has been portrayed on...
, Inspector (later, Chief Inspector) Japp
Chief Inspector Japp
Detective Chief Inspector James Japp is a fictional character who appears in several of Agatha Christie's novels featuring Hercule Poirot.-Japp in Christie's work:...
and Lieutenant Hastings
Arthur Hastings
Captain Arthur Hastings, OBE, is a fictional character, the amateur sleuthing partner and best friend of Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot...
(later, Captain). The story is told in first person
First-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
by Hastings, and features many of the elements that, thanks to Christie, have become icons of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction
Golden Age of Detective Fiction
The Golden Age of Detective Fiction was an era of classic murder mystery novels produced by various authors, all following similar patterns and style.-Origins:Mademoiselle de Scudéri, by E.T.A...
. It is set in a large, isolated country manor. There are a half-dozen suspects, most of whom are hiding facts about themselves. The book includes maps of the house, the murder scene, and a drawing of a fragment of a will. Also, there are a number of red herrings
Red herring (plot device)
Red herring is an idiomatic expression referring to the rhetorical or literary tactic of diverting attention away from an item of significance...
and surprise plot twists.
Plot summary
The novel is set in England during World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
at Styles Court, an Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
country manor (also the setting of Curtain
Curtain (novel)
Curtain: Poirot's Last Case is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in September 1975 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year....
, Poirot's last case). Upon her husband's death, the wealthy widow, Emily Cavendish, inherited a life estate
Life estate
A life estate is a concept used in common law and statutory law to designate the ownership of land for the duration of a person's life. In legal terms it is an estate in real property that ends at death when there is a "reversion" to the original owner...
in Styles as well as the outright inheritance of the larger part of the late Mr. Cavendish's income. Mrs. Cavendish became Mrs. Inglethorp upon her recent remarriage to a much younger man, Alfred Inglethorp. Emily's two stepsons, John and Lawrence Cavendish, as well as John's wife Mary and several other people, also live at Styles. John Cavendish is the vested
Remainder (law)
A remainder in property law is a future interest given to a person that is capable of becoming possessory upon the natural end of a prior estate created by the same instrument...
remainderman
Remainderman
A remainderman is a person who inherits or is entitled to inherit property upon the termination of the estate of the former owner. Usually this occurs due to the death or termination of the former owner's life estate, but this can also occur due to a specific notation in a trust passing ownership...
of Styles; that is, the property will pass to him automatically upon his stepmother's decease, as per his late father's will. The income left to Mrs Inglethorp by her late husband would be distributed as per Mrs. Inglethorp's own will.
Late one night, the residents of Styles wake to find Emily Inglethorp dying of what proves to be strychnine poisoning
Strychnine poisoning
Strychnine poisoning can be fatal to humans and other animals and can occur by inhalation, swallowing or absorption through eyes or mouth. It produces some of the most dramatic and painful symptoms of any known toxic reaction...
. Lieutenant Hastings, a houseguest, enlists the help of his friend Hercule Poirot, who is staying in the nearby village, Styles St. Mary. Poirot pieces together events surrounding the murder. On the day she was killed, Emily Inglethorp was overheard arguing with someone, most likely her husband, Alfred, or her stepson, John. Afterwards, she seemed quite distressed and, apparently, made a new will — which no one can find. She ate little at dinner and retired early to her room with her document case. The case was later forced open by someone and a document removed. Alfred Inglethorp left Styles earlier in the evening and stayed overnight in the nearby village, so was not present when the poisoning occurred. Nobody can explain how or when the strychnine was administered to Mrs. Inglethorp.
At first, Alfred is the prime suspect. He has the most to gain financially from his wife's death, and, since he is so much younger than Emily was, the Cavendishes already suspect him as a fortune hunter. Evelyn Howard, Emily's companion, seems to hate him most of all. His behaviour, too, is suspicious; he openly purchased strychnine in the village before Emily was poisoned, and although he denies it, he refuses to provide an alibi
Alibi
Alibi is a 1929 American crime film directed by Roland West. The screenplay was written by West and C. Gardner Sullivan, who adapted the 1927 Broadway stage play, Nightstick, written by Elaine Sterne Carrington, J.C...
. The police are keen to arrest him, but Poirot intervenes by proving he could not have purchased the poison. Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
police later arrest Emily Inglethorp’s oldest stepson, John Cavendish. He inherits under the terms of her will, and there is evidence to suggest he also had obtained poison.
Poirot clears Cavendish by proving it was, after all, Alfred Inglethorp who committed the crime, assisted by Evelyn Howard, who turns out to be his kissing cousin
Cousin couple
A cousin couple is a pair of cousins who are involved in a romantic or sexual relationship.-See also:*Consanguinity*Genealogy*Genetic sexual attraction*Westermarck effect*Inbreeding*Pedigree collapse*Prohibited degree of kinship-External links:...
, not his enemy. The guilty pair poisoned Emily by adding a precipitating agent, bromide
Bromide
A bromide is a chemical compound containing bromide ion, that is bromine atom with effective charge of −1. The class name can include ionic compounds such as caesium bromide or covalent compounds such as sulfur dibromide.-Natural occurrence:...
(obtained from Mrs Inglethorp's sleeping powder), to her regular evening medicine, causing its normally innocuous strychnine
Strychnine
Strychnine is a highly toxic , colorless crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine causes muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia or sheer exhaustion...
constituents to sink to the bottom of the bottle where they were finally consumed in a single, lethal dose. Their plan had been for Alfred Inglethorp to incriminate himself with false evidence, which could then be refuted at his trial. Once acquitted, due to double jeopardy
Double jeopardy
Double jeopardy is a procedural defense that forbids a defendant from being tried again on the same, or similar charges following a legitimate acquittal or conviction...
, he could not be tried for the crime a second time should any genuine evidence against him be subsequently discovered, hence prompting Poirot to keep him out of prison when he realized that Alfred wanted to be arrested.
Characters
- Lieutenant Hastings, the narrator, on sick leave from the Western FrontWestern Front (World War I)Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
. - Hercule PoirotHercule PoirotHercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. Along with Miss Marple, Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, appearing in 33 novels and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era.Poirot has been portrayed on...
, a famous BelgianBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
detectiveDetectiveA detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
displaced by the war to England; Hastings' old friend - Inspector Japp of Scotland YardScotland YardScotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
- Emily Inglethorp, mistress of Styles, a wealthy old woman
- Alfred Inglethorp, her much younger new husband, thought to be a spoiled fortune-hunter
- John Cavendish, her elder stepson and remaindermanRemaindermanA remainderman is a person who inherits or is entitled to inherit property upon the termination of the estate of the former owner. Usually this occurs due to the death or termination of the former owner's life estate, but this can also occur due to a specific notation in a trust passing ownership...
to Styles - Mary Cavendish, John's wife
- Lawrence Cavendish, John's younger brother
- Evelyn Howard, Mrs. Inglethorp's companion
- Cynthia Murdoch, the beautiful, orphaned daughter of a friend of the family
- Dr. Bauerstein, a suspicious toxicologist
- Dorcas, a maid at Styles
Literary significance and reception
The Times Literary SupplementThe Times Literary Supplement
The Times Literary Supplement is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation.-History:...
of February 3, 1921, gave the book an extremely enthusiastic, if short, review, which stated that "The only fault this story has is that it is almost too ingenious". It went on to describe the basic set-up of the plot and concluded: "It is said to be the author's first book, and the result of a bet about the possibility of writing a detective story in which the reader would not be able to spot the criminal. Every reader must admit that the bet was won".
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...
of December 26, 1920, was also impressed:
Though this may be the first published book of Miss Agatha Christie, she betrays the cunning of an old hand … You must wait for the last-but-one chapter in the book for the last link in the chain of evidence that enabled Mr. Poirot to unravel the whole complicated plot and lay the guilt where it really belonged. And you may safely make a wager with yourself that until you have heard M. Poirot's final word on the mysterious affair at Styles, you will be kept guessing at its solution and will most certainly never lay down this most entertaining book.
Poirot was described as a "delightful little old man".
The novel's review in The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
of February 20, 1921, quoted the publisher's promotional blurb concerning Christie writing the book as the result of a bet that she would not be able to do so without the reader being able to guess the murderer, then said, "Personally we did not find the "spotting" so very difficult, but we are free to admit that the story is, especially for a first adventure in fiction, very well contrived, and that the solution of the mystery is the result of logical deduction. The story, moreover, has no lack of movement, and the several characters are well drawn."
The contributor who wrote his column under the pseudonym of "A Man of Kent" in the February 10, 1921, issue of the Christian newspaper The British Weekly praised the novel but was perhaps overly generous in giving away the identity of the murderers. To wit,
It will rejoice the heart of all who truly relish detective stories, from Mr. McKenna downwards. I have heard that this is Miss Christie's first book, and that she wrote it in response to a challenge. If so, the feat was amazing, for the book is put together so deftly that I can remember no recent book of the kind, which approaches it in merit. It is well written, well proportioned, and full of surprises. When does the reader first suspect the murderer? For my part, I made up my mind from the beginning that the middle-aged husband of the old lady was in every way qualified to murder her, and I refused to surrender this conviction when suspicion of him is scattered for a moment. But I was not in the least degree prepared to find that his accomplice was the woman who pretended to be a friend. I ought to say, however, that an expert in detective stories with whom I discussed it, said he was convinced from the beginning that the true culprit was the woman whom the victim in her lifetime believed to be her staunchest friend. I hope I have not revealed too much of the plot. Lovers of good detective stories will, without exception, rejoice in this book.
The Bodley Head quoted excerpts from this review in future books by Christie but understandably did not use those passages, which gave away the identity of the culprits.
In his book, A Talent to Deceive — An Appreciation of Agatha Christie, the writer and critic Robert Barnard
Robert Barnard
Robert Barnard is an English crime writer, critic and lecturer.- Life and work :Born in Essex, Barnard was educated at the Colchester Royal Grammar School and at Balliol College in Oxford....
wrote:
Christie's debut novel
Debut novelA debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...
, from which she made £25 and John Lane made goodness knows how much. The Big House in wartime, with privations, war work and rumours of spies. Her hand was over-liberal with clues and red herrings, but it was a highly cunning hand, even at this stage
....
In general The Mysterious Affair at Styles is a considerable achievement for a first-off author. The country-house-party murder is a stereotype in the detective-story genre, which Christie makes no great use of. Not her sort of occasion, at least later in life, and perhaps not really her class. The family party is much more in her line, and this is what we have here. This is one of the few Christies anchored in time and space: we are in Essex, during the First World War. The family is kept together under one roof by the exigencies of war and of a matriarch demanding rather than tyrannical — not one of her later splendid monsters, but a sympathetic and lightly shaded characterization. If the lifestyle of the family still seems to us lavish, even wasteful, nevertheless we have the half sense that we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the Edwardian summer, that the era of country-house living has entered its final phase. Christie takes advantage of this end-of-an-era feeling in several ways: while she uses the full range of servants and their testimony, a sense of decline, of breakup is evident; feudal attitudes exist, but they crack easily. The marriage of the matriarch with a mysterious nobody is the central out-of-joint event in an intricate web of subtle changes. The family is lightly but effectively characterized, and on the outskirts of the story are the villagers, the small businessmen, and the surrounding farmers – the nucleus of Mayhem Parva. It is, too, a very clever story, with clues and red herrings falling thick and fast. We are entering the age when plans of the house were an indispensable aid to the aspirant solver of detective stories, and when cleverness was more important than suspense. But here we come to a problem that Agatha Christie has not yet solved, for cleverness over the long length easily becomes exhausting, and too many clues tend to cancel each other out, as far as reader interest is concerned. These were problems which Conan Doyle never satisfactorily overcame, but which Christie would.".
Agatha Christie's Poirot
The Mysterious Affair at Styles was adapted as a 103-minute drama and transmitted on ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
in the UK on Sunday September 16, 1990 as a special episode in their series Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
to celebrate the centenary of the author's birth.
The adaptation was generally faithful to the novel, although some minor characters were left out. A slight mistake is, however, that it is left unexplained how the door of the late Mrs. Inglethorp's room (that had been broken in at her death) is fixed in the early morning before Poirot's arrival (which could prevent the other residents from altering the traces).
Adaptor: Clive Exton
Director: Ross Devenish
Ross Devenish
Ross Devenish is a South African film director. His 1980 film Marigolds in August, which entered into the 30th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Berlin Bear Anniversary Prize.-External links:...
Cast:
David Suchet
David Suchet
David Suchet, CBE, is an English actor, known for his work on British television. He is recognised for his RTS- and BPG award-winning performance as Augustus Melmotte in the 2001 British TV mini-drama The Way We Live Now, alongside Matthew Macfadyen and Paloma Baeza, and a 1991 British Academy...
as Hercule Poirot
Hugh Fraser
Hugh Fraser (actor)
Hugh Fraser is an English actor and theatre director.-Early life:Born in London but raised in the East Midlands, Fraser studied acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art...
as Lieutenant Arthur Hastings
Philip Jackson
Philip Jackson (actor)
Philip Jackson is an English actor, known for his many television and film roles, most notably as Chief Inspector Japp in the television series Poirot and as Abbot Hugo, one of the recurring adversaries in the cult 1980s series Robin of Sherwood. Jackson was born in Retford, Nottinghamshire...
as Inspector James Japp
Gillian Barge
Gillian Barge
Gillian Barge was an English stage, television and film actress.She was born in Hastings, Sussex and she started acting at the age of 17, training at the Birmingham Theatre School....
as Mrs Emily Agnes Inglethorp
Michael Cronin as Alfred Inglethorp
David Rintoul
David Rintoul
David Rintoul is a stage and television actor.Rintoul was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He studied at Edinburgh University and won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London....
as John Cavendish
Anthony Calf
Anthony Calf
Anthony Calf is a British actor, born in Hammersmith, London, England. He studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art . He has recurring roles in the television medical drama Holby City, as Michael Beauchamp, and New Tricks as Strickland...
as Lawrence Cavendish
Beatie Edney
Beatie Edney
Beatrice "Beatie" Edney is an English television actress.Born Beatrice Edney in London, she is the daughter of famous British actress Sylvia Syms and cousin of Nicholas Webb. Edney first came to audiences' attention as Heather MacLeod the 1986 film Highlander, the first film in the Highlander series...
as Mrs Mary Cavendish
Joanna McCallum
Joanna McCallum
Joanna McCallum is a British theatre, film and television actress. She is the daughter of British actress Googie Withers and Australian actor John McCallum...
as Miss Evelyn Howard
Allie Byrne
Allie Byrne
Allie Byrne is a British stage, film and television actress.Her first major television role was in the Agatha Christie's Poirot adaptation of The Mysterious Affair at Styles in 1990. She has since appeared in episodes of The Bill, Goodnight Sweetheart, Men Behaving Badly, A Touch of Frost and Van...
as Miss Cynthia Murdoch
Tim Munro as Edwin Mace
Donald Pelmear as Judge
Morris Perry
Morris Perry
Morris Perry is an English actor, best known for his roles on television.Perry was born in Bromley, Kent, England. Credits include: The Avengers, Z-Cars, Champion House, The Champions, The Persuaders!, Doctor Who , Special Branch, The Sweeney, Survivors, The Professionals, Secret Army,...
as Wells
Tim Preece
Tim Preece
Tim Preece is an English actor, prominent in 1970s television.He played the politically correct Tom Patterson in two series of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin and The Legacy Of Reginald Perrin and also had a role in Doctor Who in 1973...
as Phillips, KC
David Savile as Superintendent Summerhaye
Eric Stovell as Chemist
Caroline Swift as Nurse
Merelina Kendall as Mrs Dainty
Ken Robertson as Army Officer
Robert Vowles as Driver of Hired Car
Michael D. Roberts
Michael D. Roberts
Michael D. Roberts is an American actor.-Career:Roberts played the role of "Roosters" in the 1970s television series Baretta. Roberts starred in the short-lived 1980s television series Manimal, appearing in five of the eight episodes which aired, as Tyrone C. Earl...
as Tindermans
Michael Godley as Dr Wilkins
Penelope Beaumont as Mrs Raikes
Lala Lloyd as Dorcas
Bryan Coleman
Bryan Coleman
Bryan Coleman was a British film actor and television actor.-Selected filmography:* A Window in London * Jassy * Landfall * The Lost Hours * The Planter's Wife...
as a Vicar
Gordon Dulieu as the Clerk of the Court
Jeffrey Robert as the Jury Foreman
BBC Radio 4 Adaptation
The novel was adapted as a five part serial for BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
in 2005. John Moffatt
John Moffatt (actor)
John Moffatt is an English actor and playwright, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Hercule Poirot on BBC Radio....
reprised his role of Poirot. The serial was broadcast weekly from Monday, September 5 to Monday, October 3 at 11.30am to 12.00pm. All five episodes were recorded on Monday, April 4, 2005, at Bush House
Bush House
Bush House is a building between Aldwych and The Strand in London at the southern end of Kingsway. The BBC World Service occupies the Centre Block, North East and South East wings. The North West wing was formerly occupied by BBC Online until they relocated to BBC Media Village in 2005, with some...
. This version retained the first-person narration by the character of Hastings.
Adaptor: Michael Bakewell
Michael Bakewell
Michael Bakewell is a British television producer. He is best known for his work during the 1960s, when he was the first Head of Plays at the BBC after Sydney Newman divided the drama department into separate series, serials and plays divisions in 1963...
Producer: Enyd Williams
Cast:
John Moffatt as Hercule Poirot
Simon Williams
Simon Williams (actor)
Simon Williams is an English actor known for playing James Bellamy in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. Frequently playing upper-class roles, he is also known for playing Dr...
as Arthur Hastings
Philip Jackson
Philip Jackson (actor)
Philip Jackson is an English actor, known for his many television and film roles, most notably as Chief Inspector Japp in the television series Poirot and as Abbot Hugo, one of the recurring adversaries in the cult 1980s series Robin of Sherwood. Jackson was born in Retford, Nottinghamshire...
as Inspector James Japp
Jill Balcon
Jill Balcon
Jill Angela Henriette Balcon was an English film and radio actress. She made her film debut in Nicholas Nickleby , though she was best known for her stage, television, and radio work....
as Emily Inglethorp
Hugh Dickson as Alfred Inglethorp
Susan Jameson
Susan Jameson
Susan Jameson is an English actress who is best known for her television work.Jameson was born in Barnt Green, Worcestershire, England, UK. She is married to actor James Bolam with whom she has a daughter, Lucy...
as Mary Cavendish
Nicholas Boulton as Lawrence Cavendish
Hilda Schroder as Dorcas
Annabelle Dowler as Cynthia Murdoch and Annie
Nichola McAuliffe
Nichola McAuliffe
Nichola McAuliffe is an English television and stage actress and writer, best known for her role as Sheila Sabatini in the sitcom Surgical Spirit.-Background:McAuliffe was born in 1955 in Surrey, England...
as Evelyn Howard
Sean Arnold as John Cavendish
Richard Syms as Mr Wells
Ioan Meredith as Mr Phillips
Michael Mears as Sir Ernest Heavyweather
Harry Myers as Mr Mace
Richard Katz as Costumer's assistant
Peter Howell
Peter Howell (actor)
Peter Howell is a British actor.A regular in 1950s television hospital drama series Emergency Ward 10, he has made guest appearances in The Avengers, The Prisoner, and Doctor Who. He played the prison governor in the 1979 film Scum. He played Saruman in the 1981 BBC Radio production of The Lord of...
as the Coroner
Robert Portal as Dr Bauerstein
Don McCorkindale as Summerhayes and a Rustic
Publication history
- 1920, John Lane (New York), October 1920, Hardcover, 296 pp
- 1920 National Book Company, 1921, Hardcovcer, 296 pp
- 1921, John Lane (The Bodley Head), January 21, 1921, Hardcover, 296 pp
- 1926, John Lane (The Bodley Head), June 1926, Hardcover (Cheap edition - two shillings) 319 pp
- 1931, John Lane (The Bodley Head, February 1931 (As part of the Agatha Christie Omnibus along with The Murder on the Links and Poirot InvestigatesPoirot InvestigatesPoirot Investigates is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by The Bodley Head in March 1924. In the eleven stories, famed eccentric detective Hercule Poirot solves a variety of mysteries involving greed, jealousy and revenge. The American version of...
), Hardcover (Priced at seven shillings and sixpence, a cheaper edition at five shillings was published in October 1932) - 1932, John Lane (The Bodley Head), July 1932, Paperback (ninepence)
- 1935, Penguin Books, July 30, 1935, Paperback (sixpence), 255 pp
- 1945, Avon BooksAvon (publishers)Avon Publications was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. As of 2010, it is an imprint of HarperCollins, publishing primarily romance novels.-History:...
(New York), Avon number 75, Paperback, 226 pp - 1954, Pan BooksPan BooksPan Books is an imprint which first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the British-based Macmillan Publishers owned by German publishers, Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group....
, Paperback (Pan number 310), 189 pp - 1959, Pan Books, Paperback (Great Pan G112)
- 1961, Bantam BooksBantam BooksBantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
(New York), Paperback, 154 pp - 1965, LongmanLongmanLongman was a publishing company founded in London, England in 1724. It is now an imprint of Pearson Education.-Beginnings:The Longman company was founded by Thomas Longman , the son of Ezekiel Longman , a gentleman of Bristol. Thomas was apprenticed in 1716 to John Osborn, a London bookseller, and...
(London), Paperback, 181 pp - 1976, Dodd, Mead and CompanyDodd, Mead and CompanyDodd, Mead and Company was one of the pioneer publishing houses of the United States, based in New York City. Under several names, the firm operated from 1839 until 1990. Its history properly began in 1870, with the retirement of its founder, Moses Woodruff Dodd. Control passed to his son Frank...
, (Commemorative Edition following Christie's death), Hardback, 239 pp ISBN 0-39-607224-0 - 1988, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollinsHarperCollinsHarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
), Paperback, 208 pp ISBN 0-00-617474-4 - 1989, Ulverscroft Large Print Edition, Hardcover, ISBN 0-70-891955-3
- 2007, Facsimile of 1921 UK first edition (HarperCollins), November 5, 2007, Hardcover, 296 pp ISBN 0-00-726513-1
The novel received its first true publication as an eighteen-part serialisation in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper's Colonial Edition (aka The Weekly Times) from February 27 (Issue 2252) to June 26, 1920 (Issue 2269). This version of the novel mirrored the published version with no textual differences and included the maps and illustrations of handwriting examples used in the novel. At the end of the serialisation an advert appeared in the newspaper, which announced "This is a brilliant mystery novel, which has had the unique distinction for a first novel of being serialised in The Times Weekly Edition. Mr John Lane is now preparing a large edition in volume form, which will be ready immediately." Although another line of the advert stated that the book would be ready in August. In any event, it was first published by John Lane
John Lane (publisher)
-Biography:Originally from Devon, where he was born into a farming family, Lane moved to London already in his teens. While working as a clerk at the Railway Clearing House, he acquired knowledge as an autodidact....
in the United States in October 1920 and was not published in the UK by The Bodley Head
The Bodley Head
The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name has been used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books since 1987...
until the following year. Some sources state that the exact date of the UK publication was January 26, 1921, others state February 1. However the English Catalogue of Books confirms the latter month of release.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles later made publishing history by being one of the first ten books to be published by Penguin Books
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
when they were launched on July 30, 1935
1935 in literature
The year 1935 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* June 15 - W. H. Auden enters a marriage of convenience with Erika Mann.* July 30 - Allen Lane founds Penguin Books to publish the first mass market paperbacks in Britain....
. The book was Penguin Number 6.
Book dedication
The book's dedication reads: "To my Mother".Christie's mother, Clarissa ("Clara") Boehmer Miller (1854–1926), was a strong influence on her life and someone to whom Christie was extremely close, especially after the death of her father in 1901. It was whilst Christie was ill (in about 1908) that her mother suggested that she write a story. The result was The House of Beauty, now a lost work but one which hesitantly started her writing career. (Christie later revised this story as The House of Dreams and it was published in issue 74 of The Sovereign Magazine in January 1926 and many years later in book form in While the Light Lasts and Other Stories
While the Light Lasts and Other Stories
While the Light Lasts and Other Stories is a short story collection by Agatha Christie first published in the UK on August 4 1997 by HarperCollins...
in 1997.)
Christie also dedicated her debut novel
Debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...
as Mary Westmacott, Giant's Bread
Giant's Bread
Giant's Bread is a tragedy novel written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by William Collins & Sons in April 1930 and in the US by Doubleday later in the same year. The UK edition retailed for seven shillings and sixpence and the US edition at $1.00...
(1930), to her mother who, by that time, had died.
Dustjacket blurb
The blurbBlurb
A blurb is a short summary or some words of praise accompanying a creative work, usually used on books without giving away any details, that is usually referring to the words on the back of the book jacket but also commonly seen on DVD and video cases, web portals, and news websites.- History :The...
on the inside flap of the dustwrapper of the first edition reads:
This novel was originally written as the result of a bet, that the author, who had previously never written a book, could not compose a detective novel in which the reader would not be able to "spot" the murderer, although having access to the same clues as the detective. The author has certainly won her bet, and in addition to a most ingenious plot of the best detective type she has introduced a new type of detective in the shape of a Belgian. This novel has had the unique distinction for a first book of being accepted by the Times as a serial for its weekly edition.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles was the only first edition of Christie's to be published by The Bodley Head, which carried such a blurb on its dustwrapper.
International titles
- Danish: De låsede døre (The Locked Doors)
- Dutch: De Zaak Styles (The Affair-Styles)
- Croatian: Misteriozna Afera u Stylesu (The Mysterious Affair at Styles)
- French: La Mystérieuse Affaire de Styles (The Mysterious Affair at Styles)
- German: Das fehlende Glied in der Kette (The missing link in the chain)
- Hungarian: A titokzatos stylesi eset (The Mysterious Affair at Styles)
- Italian: Poirot a Styles Court (Poirot in Styles Court), Poirot e il mistero di Styles Court (Poirot and the Styles Court Mystery)
- Polish: Tajemnicza historia w Styles (The Mysterious Affair at Styles)
- Portuguese: O Misterioso Caso de Styles (The Mysterious Affair at Styles)
- Russian: Таинственное происшествие в Стайлз (=Tainstvennoe proisshestvie v Staylz, The Mysterious Affairs at Styles), Загадочное происшествие в Стайлзе (=Zagadochnoe peoisshestvie v Staylze, The Mysterious Affair at Styles)
- Serbian: Мистериозна афера у Стајлсу (=Misteriozna afera u Stajlsu, The Mysterious Affair at Styles)
- Spanish: El misterioso Caso de Styles (The mysterious Case at Styles)
External links
It is one of two of Christie's books that are in the public domainPublic domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
in the US (the other being The Secret Adversary). The copyright on the book will not expire in many Western countries before 2047. (without the illustrations)
- The Mysterious Affair at Styles at the official Agatha Christie website