Reviews - The Mysterious Affair at Styles

9k reviews for:

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

I liked this book! Hercule Poirot is Agatha Christie’s take on Sherlock Holmes, complete with a useful idiot of a narrator who’s been sent home from war due to injury and now pals around with an incredible detective to pass the time (although Watson was never quite so hopelessly out of the loop as poor Hastings).

There is no end of viable suspects in this one, and Christie did have me fooled about the culprit! I much prefer this series to Miss Marple. Probably because if the person who solves the crime is a man, no one needs to take the time to explain why it’s actually an unattractive quality for someone so old and unmarried to be so smart and observant. 🫠

kkelly14's review against another edition

3.0

Enjoyable & clever introduction to Hercule Poirot.

taylornicole3's review against another edition

3.0

challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ed_moore's review against another edition

3.25

mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

“If the fact does not fit the theory, let the theory go”

Christie’s ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’ is a classic locked room poisoning murder mystery, concerning the murder of Emily Inglethorp, the elderly owner of the Styles estate and boarding house. It’s classic in its method, investigation and the small pool of suspect all closely linked to one another, but in this very standard style it was the least engaging of the Christie’s that I have thus far read, although it was also her first mystery so this isn’t a huge surprise. In not having written any murders before her need to innovate was much lesser, resulting in a very traditional murder story but also unfortunately one that lacked the signature Agatha Christie twist. I did not have that spine chilling moment of revelation reading that I have had so many times with her books and honestly the conclusion of the case was quote predictable. It was still well written, just Christie’s standards are so high that her first Poirot novel is expectedly a little unremarkable.

As for the quality of the narration, it would get a bump up for Wanda points (favourite narrator ever I have said many a time she is brilliant!) although the audio quality was not brilliant whatsoever making the read a little difficult to engage with and occasionally lines would be repeated, evidently some unedited sound mixing issue. Hence the Wanda points are nullified.

sydneyglickman's review against another edition

3.0

mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I have such a love-hate relationship with Christie's mysteries as someone who reads for the characters more than the plot, but I find the revelation so intriguing (usually the last 10-15 pages).
For how highly acclaimed this book is, I found it quite underwhelming. Again, because the unraveling the mystery is my favorite part, I thought the solution was unsatisfying and perfunctory at best.