The Mysterious Affair at Styles Review

One of the primary areas of interest for me in creating The Cozy Nook was to have a space to talk about books and literature. I can do so through book reviews.

First up is The Mysterious Affair at Styles by the Queen of Mystery, Agatha Christie.

In this novel, a soldier named Hastings is spending his leave time with a childhood friend and his family when the matriarch, Mrs. Inglethorp, is murdered in her sleep. It is then up to the Belgian detective and friend of Hastings, Hercule Poirot, to figure out which members of the household are guilty and which are innocent.

One of my favorite things about this novel is the plot and mystery itself. I find each character has their own compelling and believable motives. The evidence presented and the character interactions makes the twist and solution feel real and unexpected. The conclusion was one that had me wanting to throw the book across the room because the overall craft of the story had me believing the true answer was not possible. Which is what I feel a good mystery should be able to do to us as readers.

I also enjoyed the friendship between Hastings and Poirot. It had a vibe similar to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Poirot is cryptic and keeps knowledge to himself while encouraging Hastings to make deductions of his own instead of just asking for answers. Their banter is refreshing in a mystery and it forces the reader to draw their own conclusions as well.

However, having the story told from Hastings point of view was a drawback for me. The first person point of view kept me from being able to put pieces of the puzzle together on my own. All the information I'm given is being filtered through Hastings and his opinions, so my deductions were often in line with his. There were times I didn't want to agree with Hastings, but the novel was forcing me to take his opinions as truth.

The characterization of Poirot was another area that the novel felt lacking. He is portrayed as highly eccentric and there is seemingly no method to his detective skills. I feel this is a factor of The Mysterious Affair at Styles being one of Christie's earlier works as Poirot is not characterized this way in her later works. While it is a bit odd for this novel in particular, I can recognize this characterization as being one created by an author still developing her characters.

Overall, I still enjoyed the book despite the flaws; flaws which I didn't think much of until I was part way through the novel or finished. They certainly didn't take away from the overall mystery or shock of the story.

I'd give the work a 4/5.