Mystery at Styles Castle
Styles Manor and the first Hercule Poirot case
"Keep an eye on her, Mr. Hastings. My poor Emily. They're sharks - all of them."
In the summer of 1917, the thirty-something Captain Hastings finds himself on the Styles estate in Essex, at the invitation of his friend John Cavendish, to spend a period of medical leave after his discharge from the army. There's tension in the house. The reason is the recent marriage of John's widowed stepmother Emily to Alfred Inglethorpe, at least twenty years her junior. Both John and his brother Lawrence depend on their mother's support, but since she got married, their financial situation has become more complicated. At the post office in the village, Captain Hastings nearly collides with an elderly, petite Belgian. What a reunion! A perfectly groomed man of distinctive appearance - with an egg-shaped head and a waxed moustache - he was one of the most celebrated members of the Belgian police at the time. After the fateful night, when Mrs Cavendish is convulsing in bed, it is Hercule Poirot who is approached by the family to investigate her death.
The queen of detective stories finished her first novel in 1916. It wasn't finally published until after the war in 1920, thanks to the Bodley Head Company. The first case of Hercule Poirot, the greatest detective of all time, had previously been rejected by six publishers.
They wrote about the book:
I believe that until Poirot speaks his final words, the solution will elude you. You will never want to put down a book this entertaining.
- Reviewer
Agatha Christie
(1890-1976) Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Lady Mallowan, née Miller, was born in the seaside resort of Torquay in southern England. She is the best-known author of detective stories and the most published writer of all time. She made her Hercule Poirot the hero of 33 novels and nearly 60 short stories. In a literary career spanning fifty-five years, she has enriched the sleuthing scene with the elusive Mr. Quin and the retired clerk Parker Pyne, but her favourite investigator remains the little Belgian. She also became famous as a playwright (1952's The Mousetrap is the longest-running play in history) and wrote social novels under a pseudonym. The enduring interest in her work is confirmed by a number of film adaptations, most recently including the miniseries Witness for the Prosecution (2016), The Swimming Horse (2020) and Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (2022). The big screen adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Death on the Nile (2022) will be joined in 2023 by a film adaptation of I Saw Murder, under the title Ghosts of Venice - all directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh.
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| Code: | AK1I119 |