The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)

Cast of Characters

Hercule Poirot
Captain Hastings
John Cavendish
Emily Inglethorp
Alfred Inglethorp
Lawrence Cavendish
Mary Cavendish
Dr. Bauerstein
Evelyn Howard
Cynthia Murdoch
Manning
Dorcas

 

The Plot

The Mysterious Affair at Styles, published in 1920, is Agatha Christie's first novel. In it Agatha introduces her world-famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot.

The story begins when Captain Hastings, recovering from wounds he suffered during the World War I, runs into an old friend, John Cavendish. Hastings is invited down to Styles, where Cavendish lives, to recuperate.

At Styles, the center of attention is Emily Inglethorp, John Cavendish's stepmother. Emily inherited Styles from John's father when he died and runs the household with a firm hand. Hastings describes her as "an energetic, autocratic personality" with a fondness for "playing the Lady Bountiful." She is devoted to charitable causes and is always getting involved in bazaars and other functions.

Emily hasn't changed since Hastings last saw her, and there is no question of who is running the show at Styles. Emily Inglethorp's presence and conversation dominate everyone's life at Styles. This domination must upset someone very deeply because soon Emily is found dead from strychnine poisoning. Emily was a forceful person but even so, who would want to kill her?

One obvious answer is Emily's current husband, Alfred Inglethorp. He started out being the old lady's secretary and got promoted to husband. "Rotten little bounder" is how John Cavendish describes him. Inglethorp is years younger than his wife and gushes attention on her in a very obsequious manner.

The second suspect to consider is John Cavendish himself. John, the older of two Cavendish sons, was a lawyer who has settled down to the life of a country squire. John's dislike for life at Styles is obvious from the first. The situation between Inglethorp and his stepmother is "making life jolly difficult for us," he tells Hastings. John and his wife, Mary, haven't the funds to move to a place of their own. Emily controls all the money and it apparently never occurs to John to go back to working for a living.

Mary Cavendish is also far from happy with life at Styles. She was the free-spirited daughter of a government official who took her with him on his travels. She dislikes the inaction forced upon them by Emily's control of the money and she yearns for the days when she was not tied down. About the only interesting thing we can see in her life is an occasional tete-a-tete with the mysterious Dr. Bauerstein. Of course, she claims these meetings are totally innocent.

The next suspect is John's brother Lawrence. He is a doctor who gave up his practice to live at home and pursue a writing career. Unfortunately, he doesn't appear to be much of a success at it. "He's gone through every penny he ever had, publishing rotten verses in fancy bindings," says John. Could there be anyone better than a doctor to know about the effects of strychnine and how to get it? And if he could control his own finances, Lawrence could publish a lot more of those "rotten verses," couldn't he?

Cynthia Murdoch was the daughter of an old friend of Emily's and was left a penniless orphan when her parents died. Emily took her in and made Cynthia her ward. Emily keeps Cynthia jumping to obey her requests, which are actually just thinly veiled orders. Cynthia also works in the dispensary of a nearby hospital. Isn't that convenient for acquiring a bottle of poison?

There is also Evelyn Howard, Mrs. Inglethorp's companion and assistant. She is "a pleasant looking woman of about forty, with a deep voice, almost manly in its stentorian tones, and had a large sensible square body." Soon after Hastings's arrival at Styles, Evelyn leaves her employment with Mrs. Inglethorp. Her leaving came after a heated argument with Emily where Evelyn said, "You're an old woman, Emily, and there's no fool like an old fool. The man's twenty years younger than you, and don't you fool yourself as to what he married you for. Money! I'm going to warn you, whether you like it or not. That man would as soon murder you in your bed as look at you." This warning of death comes true all too soon. It remains to be seen, however, if Alfred is the culprit. Everyone had opportunity administer the poison.

We also have to concern ourselves with Dr. Bauerstein, a toxicologist who is in the village recovering from a nervous breakdown. But why is it that he is seen wandering through the neighborhood at all hours, appearing after dinner at Styles completely covered with mud? How is it that he is conveniently passing the house before dawn on the day that Mrs. Inglethorp dies?

Rounding out the cast at Styles itself are the servants, the gardener Manning and the maid Dorcas.

After the murder Hastings calls on his old friend, Hercule Poirot, the retired Belgian detective, now a refugee from the war and a resident at the neighboring village of Styles St. Mary. Though Poirot has retired, he quickly agrees to investigate the murder of Mrs. Inglethorp. After all, Emily had been instrumental in settling Poirot and some other Belgians in the village.

The clues are plentiful. There is the crushed coffee cup in Mrs. Inglethorp's room, the remains of the cocoa in another cup, the stain on the carpet, the locked despatch case, the thread on the door bolt, the candle grease on the floor, the burned fragments of paper in the fireplace.

The police are kept busy with suspects. First, there is Alfred Inglethorp. But his alibi is convincing. Then there is John Cavendish, but the evidence also points to his brother Lawrence. Even Dr. Bauerstein is taken into custody.

In the end, of course, it is up to Poirot to use his "little gray cells" to discover the murderer.