Why a Booktrail?
WW1: Welcome to the mysterious Manor House they call Styles.. and the murderous rooms within
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Poirot)
What you need to know before your trail
Hastings is sent back to England from the First World War due to injury and his old friend John Cavendish invites him to spend time recuperating at the beautiful Styles Court. When settle in the grand manor house, he meets John’s step-mother, Mrs Inglethorpe, and her new husband, Alfred but despite the tranquil surroundings Hastings begins to realise that something is not quite right. right. His worst fears are confirmed when Mrs Inglethorpe is found poisoned. Just who inside the Manor House could have poisoned her and why?
Agatha Christie’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was written as the result of a dare from her sister Madge who challenged her to write a story.
Travel Guide
This is the first Poirot novel. Poirot was inspired by the Belgian refugees from the First World War who had settled in Agatha Christie’s hometown of Torquay at the time she wrote the book.
In a lovely fiction twist, Agatha Christie and her first husband Archie called their house Styles after The Mysterious Affair at Styles.
There is sadly no real House of Styles but the booktrail locations feature where the novel was filmed –
The lovely picture postcard village stood in for the fictional Styles St Mary and the beautiful Chavenage House, near Tetbury in Gloucestershire, for the Styles Manor itself.
Booktrailer Review
The first Poirot and perhaps not as polished as later stories but a very fine mystery with red herrings and that famous Christie magic. The novel does, however, introduce three well-known Christie characters: Hercule Poirot, Captain Hastings, and Inspector Japp.
Styles is a large manor house where Emily Inglethorpe lives with her much younger husband. There is an assembly of people living in the house with an interest in it to some degree. So, when Emily is found poisoned there is no end of suspects.
I like this as it felt fresh and exciting to be there when Poirot makes his entrance. A story nicely set up with some fantastic mystery elements and the grand old manor house acting as a character in itself.
Where Next?
