The Mysterious Affair at Styles: A Hercule Poirot Mystery
Ratings484
Average rating3.8
For many years I have heard of the author Agatha Christie and her creation Hercule Poirot but never had the opportunity to actually read any of her books. When I found a copy of the first in the series at my local library, I eagerly set about to rectify that failure. What I found, despite the fact that the book was published in 1920, was a wonderfully modern tale of a murder mystery and the complexity of thinking required to solve it satisfactorily. I look forward to continuing with the remaining books in the series; Hercule Poirot has become one of my favorite fictional detectives, right up there with Sherlock Holmes.
This is the first Agatha Christie book I have read and it has left me very keen to dive into some more of her work. Poirot is full of life and there are some great moments of comedy as the narrator, Hastings, gets irritated with Poirot's nonsensical actions or thinks that he has got it right and Poirot is barking up the wrong tree. The country estate setting is classic for a murder mystery and the ensemble cast is well flashed-out. A great introduction to Agatha Christie's oeuvre.
An excellent tale. I'm quite surprised that it is Agatha Christie's first book. The story was gripping and masterfully unravelled. I have always been partial to Miss Marple, but Poirot is fun too.
this was my first time reading one of agatha's books. it was AMAZING. i loved the last two chapters, the ending was brilliant. im known for picking up a book and reading a couple of pages and then never picking it up again or just reading it in a very slow phase. but for this book, i finished it so quickly! defenetly looking forward to reading more of her books!! 5 stars!
This was okay. I tried reading it years ago but lost interest, but I thought I'd try again. Not sure if I'll continue with the series to see if Poirot grows on me.
The first Hecule Poirot mystery....story written in 1916!
Over 100 years old, and it is perhaps the best debut novel ever written. Poirot is in peak form from the get go.
Classic mystery, and the prose and plot hold up today, a century later!
5 stars
Initial Thoughts Brilliant this story is! No doubt one of my favorite stories from the queen of mystery, Agatha Christie! I'll try to make this review as unbiased as possible, but there are simply not enough superlatives one can tack on to the ingenious writer. Plot Overview Oh no! Emily Inglethorp, owner of a sprawling estate and a good sum of money, is poisoned in her room! She has a few family members, an orphan she graciously took in, and a new young husband. With wills being written and changed faster than Usain Bolt can run a 100-metre, us readers get a front-row seat to this exciting affair that unfolds in many logical layers. Who benefits the most from her murder? The Murder Now we get down to the nitty-gritty! We have locked doors, we have poison, we have impersonators, we have several witnesses, and we have implicated gardeners. For once, the butler did not do it!
(3.5)I'm pretty sure this was my first Agatha Christie book (how bad is it that I don't remember...) and my expectations were high after a lifetime of hearing about her and her mysteries. It's easy to see how she became an original master of the genre, but as someone who's read so many other mysteries and prefers more thrill to the plot, I ended up feeling underwhelmed.[b:The Mysterious Affair at Styles 52843028 The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot, #1) Agatha Christie https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585632445l/52843028.SY75.jpg 3366260] is the book that started it all — Agatha Christie's debut as well as the first introduction to Hercule Poirot. When a wealthy and elderly woman is poisoned, there are a number of suspects in the household. It's up to Hercule Poirot to deduce who the killer is.The book was good. I love the fine details of everything and it was a great setting. I just struggled to get excited or really into the plot. The problem when you read a lot of mysteries is that the formulas become ingrained. I was more in the mood for a short audiobook at the time rather than a mystery itself, so I'm sure that was part of the problem. I will definitely be returning to Agatha Christie though, particularly [b:Murder on the Orient Express 853510 Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot, #10) Agatha Christie https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1486131451l/853510.SY75.jpg 2285570].
Was a bit hard for me to keep track of all the clues and so I struggled with my suspicions, which I realize is probably why I enjoy the series and movies more. With my memory issues. Though when it was all summarized in the end I was shocked as anyone else would be, I don't want to spoil anything In this review as I wish that everyone reads this and gets as surprised as I was. Incredible ending I ran around telling everyone the story.
The Michael Jordan and Tom Brady of murder mystery writers has done it again folks! The GOAT Ms. Agatha Christie has yet written another novel that will stand the test of time.
This is the first book in the long ongoing saga of Detective Hercule Poirot and it was a fun one. We are introduced to him through his acquaintance Arthur Hastings, whom is telling us the story in first person.
It took me a little to get into the flow on the first person POV because all of the other Christie books I have read were told by a third person narrator and we saw much more of Poirot and gained more insight on his thought process. But as this was an introduced I understand why we were only shown a glimpse of him.
At one point in the book I was a bit let down because I felt like the “who done it” was too predictable and that the killer was revealed too soon. But boy was I wrong because Christie dropped a twist in there that I never saw coming! But wait! There's more! Because she saved the absolute best bombshell for last! My mind was blown more than once while reading this!
I will never doubt Ms. Christie again and she will continue to forever be one of my favorites. As will the quirky but loveable Hercule Poirot.
TWO THUMBS UP!
3.4
My first Agatha Christie was Agatha Christie's first. I enjoyed it, but overall it wasn't memorable for me. I liked Poirot a lot, so I'll give the series another shot, but probably something further into her career.
“At present, we are all thinking so much, and saying so little.”
My mom and I talk on the phone every week or so about what we're reading, and when she asked me this week what I was reading and I told her I was reading this book, there was a pause on the line and then an “oh.......... that doesn't seem like you.” I had to laugh a little, because it really doesn't when you look at my read list. Before this book, I think the only other mystery series I've kept up with was Louise Penny's Armand Gamache books. I've always counted Agatha Christie books as “the books my grandma read” when I was growing up, and I'm ashamed to say I never gave them the time of day. Now that I work at a library though, I've cast my literary net far and wide to scoop up the genres I don't normally read and the “pillars” of each genre to compare them against. It's been a wild ride.
I won't summarize the entire plot (since there's approximately 5 million other reviews here that will do a better job), but basically we're introduced to Hercule Poirot through the perspective of our ride-along character Arthur Hastings at Styles Arms. There's a lot of familial in-fighting within Styles about rich old Emily Inglethorpe's choice in men, and wouldn't you know it, she turns up dead. Hastings, staying at Styles Arms, hears by chance about a group of Belgians staying at a nearby house, and wouldn't you know it, his old detective buddy Poirot is there. Together, the duo wade through the complex family drama and we're introduced to Poirot's method of detective work, equally frustrating and amusing from Hastings' (and our) perspective.
I will say I enjoyed this book a whole lot more once I stopped trying to second-guess the murderer's identity and started just enjoying the process. I noted several comments where people were annoyed they couldn't follow along and guess the murderer, which I get is a feature in some cozy mysteries, but I enjoyed the surprise and the method much more once I stopped worrying about it. It very much felt like a Columbo episode, which I loved.
A pesar de que Hastings pasó todo el rato siendo un onvre con Mary Cavindish, la historia me gustó mucho.
A mi parecer, tiene un desarrollo de personajes y ritmo de narración mejores que varias de las obras posteriores de Christie. No muchos escritores tienen una carta de presentación tan impecable como esta.
The book is likable and the writing is well done. However, I just don't care. I don't care about the murdered woman and who and why she is murdered. There is so little character work done and the characters are so flat that I just don't care. Mysteries may not be for me, honestly.
Agatha Christie's first novel brings us a fully formed Hercule Poirot, a murder in a locked room and too many suspects. There are twists and turns all dictated by the rather gormless Mr Hastings who consistently gets it wrong. It's most enjoyable, if rather farfetched, I loved it!
Okay. So the summary would be : someone kills someone else and Poirot finds out who, how and why.
The general opinion is that this isn't her best book, and I agree. An excess of red herrings and even more plot twists; more of a tiring and confusing narration than, a gripping one. Still it's good for a one time read.
Poirot notices people's characters, he finds out people's motives based on their characters. I find it annoying that it is not revealed to the readers, a description of their characters - not just plainly stating it, it could have been somehow made a part of a conversation.
Poirot just says “Haven't you noticed that so-and-so is a jealous person”
And Hastings says “oh really, I haven't noticed”.
Me neither, man.
