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seraphjewel 's review for:
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
by Agatha Christie
So far I haven't found a Christie novel I haven't enjoyed. It may be because this one I listened to as an audiobook, but I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish. Was it a little convoluted with red herrings all over the place? Maybe, but for me that's what kept the story interesting. In some of her other stories, the culprits were pretty easy to figure out. "Death on the Nile" I figured out before the murder even happened, and that's no fun for a mystery.
I also liked that it got the tiniest bit meta when they were actually talking about mystery stories and discussing how the characters involved never seemed to know who did it. They also referenced Sherlock Holmes, which was a bit weird but I like that Christie acknowledged her inspiration for Poirot's methods. For me, what makes him different from Holmes is that he deals with people just as much as the evidence. In this one, for example, he uses his friend and one of the other characters to help him in the case without them being fully aware of what he's doing. Maybe it's the psychology minor in me who loves those bits in the story.
For being her first novel, this is extremely impressive. I thought it was well planned-out and executed. I say it's still worth the read (or the listen, in my case).
I also liked that it got the tiniest bit meta when they were actually talking about mystery stories and discussing how the characters involved never seemed to know who did it. They also referenced Sherlock Holmes, which was a bit weird but I like that Christie acknowledged her inspiration for Poirot's methods. For me, what makes him different from Holmes is that he deals with people just as much as the evidence. In this one, for example, he uses his friend and one of the other characters to help him in the case without them being fully aware of what he's doing. Maybe it's the psychology minor in me who loves those bits in the story.
For being her first novel, this is extremely impressive. I thought it was well planned-out and executed. I say it's still worth the read (or the listen, in my case).