#ReadThis #TheMysteriousAffairatStyles by #AgathaChristie First #1 #HerculePoirot #Mystery @VintageAnchor
The most read after the Bible and Shakespeare, Agatha Christie is hugely deserving of your literary attention and it's sad we were born too late to interview her. We begin at the beginning with The Mysterious Affair at Styles and she hit the ground running with her debut novel. If you have to read it more than once to ensure you fully comprehend and don't miss anything, you're in good company. Published today by Vintage Anchor of Penguin Random House, Agatha Christie is exactly the kind of excitement your extended social distancing at home needs! It's the perfect time for it. It will improve your brain power.
Taking place at the conclusion of WWI, war veteran Hastings narrates and intelligently introduces you to all the characters, and they are characters in every sense of the word. John Cavendish generously invites his pal Hastings to his stepmother's estate, Styles, in beautiful Essex, England. With two grown sons in the family, a new young husband, beaucoup de estate staff and the townspeople, it is quite unclear to the reader exactly whodunnit. However, ta da! Elucidating all the grey matter is Belgian detective legend Hercule Poirot, and if you think that name sounds familiar perhaps you saw Murder on the Orient Express starring Kenneth Branagh, who plays Poirot in this later tale. We're getting there! And you might have also heard Death on the Nile is hitting the big screen shortly. We hope to get to that too. Best on the screen that we've seen is And Then There Were None, but we're really getting ahead.
We want to read them all, and we know you do too. So begin at the beginning. Virtually visit Styles St. Mary to meet Mrs. Emily Inglethorp, who rules the roost until she's poisoned. That's not the mystery: the mystery is who on earth did it and why? It's an understatement to say this book is well done right down to the map of the night of the tragedy in Chapter Three. There is much to learn from the pieces of Belgian Refugee Poirot's thought process that is truly timeless and if you carefully follow along, you might guess correctly, and if not, read it again! Valuing Method and Order, Poirot makes sense. Six points of interest can punctate each of the six months you've been sequestered...
Agatha Christie began writing this in 1916 and it's set in 1917 and it first went on sale in the UK in 1921. Keep in mind back then there was no demand for dumbed down beach reading or competition from other media like tv or the internet, and intellect was valued in a higher regard. Well, everything that's old is new again and as the world has slowed down we think the demand for Christie is going to go up. Compared to the light reading we see coming out today, this is what you want to read to really be entertained properly.
Pay attention to the law. Pay attention to the weather. Pay attention to human behavior. Use all your grey cell matter! It matters. What's a mere distraction? What's a coincidence? What is deliberate?
We won't say too much about the specifics of each character because we want you to think for yourselves, but don't put off reading Agatha Christie for one more minute.
The Mysterious Affair at Style has Earned Whom You Know's Highest Recommendation. We hope you're reading up there, Agatha!
THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
Agatha Christie’s debut novel was the first to feature Hercule Poirot, her famously eccentric Belgian detective. A refugee of the Great War, Poirot is settling in England near Styles Court, the country estate of his wealthy benefactress, the elderly Emily Inglethorp. When Emily is poisoned and the authorities are baffled, Poirot puts his prodigious sleuthing skills to work. Suspects are plentiful, including the victim’s much younger husband, her resentful stepsons, her longtime hired companion, a young family friend working as a nurse, and a London specialist on poisons who just happens to be visiting the nearby village. All of them have secrets they are desperate to keep, but none can outwit Poirot as he navigates the ingenious red herrings and plot twists that earned Agatha Christie her well-deserved reputation as the queen of mystery.
