The Mysterious Affair at Styles [and] Curtain

I am re-reading AC's books in the order they were published! This is #1, published when Christie was 30.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles: First person, past tense, single narrator.

I have read this several times, but there is something about Agatha Christie that I keep coming back to. She is my favorite of the golden age writers (Ngaio Marsh is my second favorite). They are not great literature. But they are clever. And Christie succeeds in evoking an era that is long gone. This book, her first, showcases her knowledge of drugs and poison from her own experience of working in a dispensary. The story is lean, the prose is spare, and the clues are scattered throughout. Nothing is left hanging, everything is explained in the end, by the show more officious little man named Hercule Poirot. show less

This book club edition collects the first and last Hercule Poiroit novels. A deliberate bookend, Curtain, the last novel, is set at the same location, as The Mysterious Affair at Styles, the first novel, is a first-person narrative from the same character, Arthur Hastings, and makes frequent references to the first novel.

As a moderate mystery fan but not a reader of many Christie novels,I was not that impressed. Set in the Holmes / Watson mold, Hastings is such a stooge in both books that it's frustrating to watch him interact with characters so naively. Poirot comes across not just as over-impressed with his abilities, which would be fine, but as mocking and dismissive of Hastings. So many of their interactions are basically "so, I show more gave you the clues, didn't you see them? I knew you wouldn't".

The mysteries themselves are technically well put-together, with the usual red herrings and puzzle pieces that seem unrelated but make sense when combined.

OK but I've enjoyed the television and movie adaptations more. show less

I thoroughly enjoyed these two Poirot mysteries. I found it interesting that the publishers chose to put Curtain before Mysterious Affair at Styles in the book, since Curtain is the last Poirot story and Styles is the first. Lots of fun, as one can always expect from Dame Agatha!

One of the few authors I'm able to go back and read over and over. Always a great story! And always well-written. I have a bent towards those featuring Poirot.

Very well written.

Launched me on my love of mysteries - especially those by Agatha Christie. Collected them all during middle and high school!

Reread The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Radio 4 Extra has lead to quite a few tearing rereads of Agatha Christie. This is Poriot's first case and a vey good one. I don't think I sussed out the murderer(s) but may have very vaugely remembered whodunit from my last read. The only downside is managing to get the dust cover caught in a breeze and ripping it nearly in half.