Friend Suggestion: Agatha Christie (The Mysterious Affair at Styles)

A couple weeks ago I asked my friends to suggest books for me to read. Many of my future posts will fall under this category.

One of my friends recommended I read Agatha Christie. Since I obviously have lots of books to read I decided to pick one of her works and review it. I chose The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles is Agatha Christie's first published novel. As with all of Agatha Christie's works, it is a detective novel. It was published in the US in 1920 (Great Britain 1921).

The novel is written in first person and narrated by Lt. Hastings. Hastings goes to visit friends and almost immediately the benefactress is murdered. He knows a great Belgian detective (who just happens to be in the area) and is an amateur detective himself. The two begin investigating the case.


The plot is solidly twisting, just as any good detective novel should be. The characters are engaging enough without being too emotional. The detectives can see things the casual observer cannot. It follows right in line with Sherlock Holmes without mirroring him. I did find the beginning a little slow but once the story began, I was drawn in enough to read it in one sitting. I can see why Agatha Christie is heralded as a great detective writer.

Honestly, reading detective novels isn't my favorite thing to do. I love watching them on TV or in movies but for some reason I just don't enjoy reading them as much as I think I will. This novel is not an exception. As I mentioned in my The Woman in White post, this is not in any way to dissuade you from reading the book.

If you enjoy detective stories, you should enjoy this novel.

--As a side note, the great Belgian detective is Poirot. He (apparently) shows up a lot in Agatha Christie's novels (Thanks wikipedia!). If you like other Poirot novels, you should read this, the first.--

BBC #77: The Woman in White

Published in 1859-1860, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is one of the first mystery and sensation novels. It is often applauded as being one of the greatest of it's kind. The novel is written in the form of statements, letters, and diary entries, and compiled by the editor and primary writer, Mr. Walter Hartright.

Hartright is drawing master who finds himself lucky enough to get a position at the Limmeridge house (somewhere in the country), tutoring two young ladies. Before he can leave London he meets a mysterious woman dressed all in white with connections with the Limmeridge house. Upon seeing her distress, Hartright helps her find a cab and sees her safely off. Only then does he run across two gentlemen asking about a woman in white who had escaped from an asylum. Thinking he's leaving the mysterious event behind him, Hartright heads to the Limmeridge house and meets the two ladies, Miss Halcombe and Miss Fairlie. The mystery of the woman in white does not stay in London, however, and very soon both young ladies and Mr. Hartright are drawn into the midst of it. The author then takes these pieces and twists and weaves them into a compelling novel.


This book drew no strong emotions from me. The villains mildly disgusted me. The hero I silently applauded. The main characters were vaguely interesting with only one character really appealing to me: Miss Halcombe. Since she was only a supporting character I even lost my emotional attachment to her.

These words should not dissuade anyone from reading this book. Mystery novels are not about the depth of character, they are about the story line and that was masterfully written. From the first line to the last it is full of surprises to keep your mind busily engaged while it works the real story out without you noticing.

While I think this novel is very well written, it will not end up on my "favorites" list. I read it, I enjoyed it, but I did not love it.