The Mysterious Affair at Styles: A Hercule Poirot Mystery
Ratings484
Average rating3.8
(Second book in my Agatha Christie reread/read project. I realized I read the book before while reading it, but for some reason, I don't seem to have a copy of it.)
The mystery is a pretty standard, serviceable Christie mystery: a woman is murdered, likely via poison, in her locked bedroom, the chief suspect is her universally disliked new husband, but there's also her two sons and a daughter-in-law and assorted servants/help. Good thing Poirot is on the case.
I did enjoy the mystery - what I didn't enjoy was being inside Arthur Hastings' head. He is insufferable with his condescension towards Poirot (oh, he's such a funny little, old man, I'm sure he's quite lost his touch, good thing I'm here to look after him) and is busy lusting after any young unmarried - or married - woman that he comes across.
Contains spoilers
I kept having this issue that a lot of us have where I wish I could focus on two things at the same time. I recently discovered I can do that by listening to audiobooks while drawing. My first pick was this book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, also my first Agatha Christie book.
I hit the jackpot with Hugh Fraser narrating the audiobook because otherwise I don't think I would have enjoyed it so much. Hugs Fraser is amazing, his voice acting was on point, he made every character sound unique and he effortlessly drew me into the story. Most of my enjoyment came from his brilliant narration.
If I would have read the book myself I think I would have struggled a little. That's because of Hastings, I did not like him. I don't know how to say this in a kinder way, but he is so dumb, he is an idiot and he overestimates himself greatly from all points of view. At the start of the book he sees himself as a skilled detective, and later he sees himself like a catch for any woman, and, man, no, you are not any of those things. It bothered me how he couldn't make up his mind about Poirot. He went from saying Poirot is the greatest detective to saying he'd gone mad, to saying he's the greatest detective again. The manner in which he oscillated between the two mildly pissed me off.
The plot was very interesting and I liked it a lot. I loved trying to reach a conclusion, to find out who the murderer was, by piecing together every bit of information. I was, of course, not successful, but it was fun nonetheless. I liked how Agatha Christie shifted the view from one suspect to another and by the time I reached the reveal I thought I knew who did it.
I also liked that none of the characters were plain. They all had something about them to make them stand out in a way or another. Every character had a motive to their actions and none of them were there solely for advancing the plot.
With or without Hastings (although that's kind of a package deal in more ways than one), I am going to say yes to another of Poirot's adventures, especially (or maybe I should say 'only'?) narrated by Hugh Fraser.
It's been a long while since I have read an Agatha Christie novel, last one was And There Were None back in grade school, and ultimately I have mixed opinions about. I think because of the novel having been written so long ago and set in a different world from the one we live in today, it was a bit harder to get through this novel than I was anticipating. Still, I am glad that I ventured outside of my comfort zone and gave a good classic mystery a shot because I do not regret reading this one. It had it's pluses and minuses but ultimately it's a story that transcended time and made history so I am working on expanding my horizons a bit.
A Mysterious Affair at Styles is the first novel in the Hercule Poirot series and it's an old fashioned “who-dunn-it”, where a wealthy woman gets poisoned at her estate and the rest of the book is spent trying to figure out what exactly occured and who did the deed. The plot was interesting enough and I enjoyed experiencing something that happened during a different time. A lot of things were a bit confusing to me because the language used was fitting for the times but ultimately I was able to get the gist. It wasn't the most exciting and exhilarating plot but it was nice to take a step back and try to think like detective Hercule Poirot.
Further on, the characterization specifically of Hercule Poirot is astounding. He is a very complex character and that is very evident from the novel. All his intricacies are laid out for us and I grew in awe of him and his brilliance. The other characters weren't as closely observed or delved into but they did show somewhat of themselves and we got a brief look into who they were. All in all, not bad in that area.
Thirdly, the writing is where I struggled the most with this novel. It was rather long winded and drawn out and I was sad to discover that I couldn't get through this novel as quickly as I wanted to because I had to take my time when reading it for fear of misunderstanding something. I understand that this book was written long ago but I don't think I will be venturing into another novel by Christie for a while since this one was just too much for me in regards to the writing style. I want to get to all of her novels eventually but I am in no hurry to do so and will be taking my time.
In conclusion, I think that this classic mystery novel is definitely worth a read but even though the plot and mystery is rather light, the writing makes it feel very heavy and a lot of the information gets repeated many times throughout the book. Also, be prepared not to have any clue as to who the culprit is until the last few pages because even though the information is given to us all throughout the novel, the answers are not revealed until the very end. That frustrated me a little bit but not enough to deter me from her books forever. It was not bad.
Story : One lady dies in a mysterious way and the family members are all suspects, but Hercule Poirot is here to save the day. I really dig this story because there are a lot of twists and you are always focused on everyone and on every element that might give you a clue on who's the killer. The last chapters are tense, because maybe is that guy considering what he's done, but it can be that lady too. Also, the reveal was so well done!
Characters : Hercule Poirot is shining here! He's like Sherlock Holmes, but much friendly. Our narrator is interesting too because he has different takes on people, in comparison with Poirot. Every member in this Styles family has something intriguing and every clue is given to us slowly and steady.
Overall : This is my first story with Poirot and I must say, it's a great one! The setting and the characters are likable and you always wonder... why did he/she do that? Poirot explains in a few words... oh, it makes sense and it's so easy to figure that, dumb dumb!
This was a great introduction to Hercule Poirot! I love the fact that our narrator already has a relationship with Poirot. It is our introduction to Poirot, but he is not new to this detection business.
I do think listening to this on audio was a bit of a mistake. It was harder to follow who all the people are. But the mystery made sense in the end. Agatha Christie is always a good bet!
Good mystery, but maybe a bit too convoluted. In my opinion, a good mystery should explain itself just as a reader would figure it out. That being said, I might just be a dumb dumb. The main character is a hilarious example of what would corporate assholes were like a hundred years ago.
After reading Murder on the Orient Express last fall I decided to start at the beginning and read the whole series. I found this story pretty scattered and frustrating at times. Hastings seems to be really dumb. His sole purpose seems to be to have someone dumb for Poirot to explain things to. He would miss a jetliner that flew right over his head. He also falls for every pretty girl he sees and wants to marry them within the first five minutes.
The mystery itself was interesting and I suspected who was involved but wasn't quit sure how it would work out. There are a lot of things going on. I really hope this series gets better though.
Really good mystery and a great introduction to Poirot! How have I not read this before? :)
Short and entertaining enough. Also occasionally racist and antisemitic, which keeps the reader awake. “Did that just say– Oh, God, no!” But, yeah, if you put that aside, which you pretty much have to do if you want to read any older books and not be sick to your stomach, it was interesting to read the first story with Hercule Poirot, and to have it be so text book on the whole gathering everyone in the salon or drawing room, etc.
Again a 3.5 book for this Booktube-a-thon 2017.
Agatha Christie is amazing, but you can really see that here she's at the beginning. Can't wait to go on with the story of Poirot!
Un roman policier très classique d'Agatha Christie. Je l'ai lu quand j'étais adolescent, à l'époque où je dévorais tous les romans de la Reine du Crime.
Агата Кристи, бесспорно, королева детектива.
Читала много ее произведений, но решила немного систематизировать их и начать читать по мере написания.
Это - первая книга леди Агаты, и она прекрасна, - напряженность действия, живость характеров, конечно, непредсказуемость развязки, - все признаки идеального герметичного детектива налицо.
И сказать-то больше нечего, кроме того что обязательно прочитаю все ее истории.
This was a good mystery, but definitely did not live up to “And Then There Were None”. I wanted to start reading about Hercule Poirot from the first in the series, and I'm definitely not disappointed. I like Poirot a lot. He's hyperactive and intuitive. But there was still the extreme suspense missing. This story was a little more slow-moving, I think because Hastings really got on my nerves. I just don't like him, not even a little bit.
Overall, this was a clever story that tied up very nicely at the end, even after everyone was suspected in some way or another.
I just have to read a series in order, so this was my first Agatha Christie. I enjoyed it immensely, and will continue reading!