The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Memory is a funny thing: when I began reading The Mysterious Affair at Styles I thought I would remember who the murderer was. I actually remembered who Agatha Christie wanted me to think was the murderer, and despite being able to recall a few significant plot points, I was genuinely please to have overestimated myself. This proved to me that despite having already read this book and watching the ITV David Suchet television adaptation, Christie still delivers a good read and a few surprises.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles gives you just enough information and character to keep the story going. Although there are a few twists on the way, Christie cleverly doesn't withhold much in terms of plot; instead it is reader's natural desire to outwit her that conceals the murderer's identity.

This book, aside from introducing Poirot and Hastings, also introduces (Chief) Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard. His character also appears in Christie's next book, The Secret Adversary. I wonder if she has an entire back story for Japp and how much she'll reveal over the course of her writings? I almost wish she had written a biography for him; I think there would some interesting information there.

I enjoyed the relative simplicity of Christie's depiction of Poirot in The Mysterious Affair at Styles. This is early on and she hasn't written herself into any corners yet. Hasting as the slightly hapless old boy allows readers to acknowledge and move past Poirot's quirky idiosyncrasies without dwelling on them. The writing style to me was clean and straight forward. It is easy to see why Agatha Christie became the "Queen of Crime".

Book: The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)

Detectives: Poirot, Hasting, Japp

Observations: How do you lock a busted down door?

Verdict: Fantastic! Four Stars!

Next: The Secret Adversary

Let the Reading Begin!

Well technically the reading has already begun. I was tired researching a reading order and sourcing the books when all I really wanted to do was read. I was camping with my sister and it was bright and sunny and there was a bench by the lake and The Mysterious Affair at Styles was just lying there taunting me. I couldn't help it. I had to pick it up.

I began reading The Mysterious Affair at Styles May 5, 2010. By May 5, 2011 I will have read all of Agatha Christie's mystery novels, stories and plays in roughly the order they were written.*

*I will finish by reading the two books that Agatha Christie intended to be her last: Sleeping Murder and Curtain: Poirot's Last Case, both of which were written in the 1940's.

Every Trip Needs an Itinerary

Before I start actually reading all the mystery works of Agatha Christie I thought I should come up with a plan of action. Do I read the books in the order they were written, or in the order they were published? Or should I just dive in with the first novel I happen to pickup?

I am not new to Agatha Christie. In my teens I read several of her novels and books of short stories, I was Christopher Wren in a production of The Mouse Trap, I've listened to podcasts and radio dramas and I've watched nearly all of the television adaptations of her books. For a creative writing class I even wrote an Agatha Christie style play. So really I've already read some of the books at random, and that wasn't exactly sustainable.

My original intention was to simply read all the books in order of publication: beginning with The Mysterious Affair at Styles and ending with Curtain: Poirot's Last Case. After a bit of research I learned that several Poirot and Miss Marple short stories weren't published until after Curtain. Reading the Poirot stories according to the publishing dates would take me backwards into his storyline; after Curtain you can't just go back to Poirot and Hastings happily solving cases at the Whitehaven Mansions.

I visited www.agathachristie.com and discovered their recommended reading order lists. That resolved my Poirot issues, but created a few problems with Miss Marple. For some reason if you're reading just Miss Marple they suggest one reading order but, if you decide to read ALL of Christie's works they suggest a different reading the Miss Marple stories in another order entirely. And, while I understand their reasoning for putting Sleeping Murder as the fifth Marple story to read, Christie did intended it as Miss Marple's last case.

Ultimately I'll probably decide on a hybrid of the recommended lists and publication order, but for now I'm eager to get started. Tomorrow I'll get The Mysterious Affair at Styles and go from there.