The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) is the first Hercule Poirot mystery! Can Belgian detective Hercule Poirot solve an unsolvable crime? From the Times Literary Supplement (1921): “[The story] is said to be the result of a bet about the possibility of writing a detective story in which the reader would not be able to spot the criminal. Every reader must admit that the bet was won.”
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We're excited to have Jill Carstens as a guest to discuss Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles! Jill is a journalist and an author of narrative nonfiction, and she was also a teacher for 30 years. These days, Jill is concentrating on memoir writing and painting. As she likes to say, "art and words can make a difference." An avid outdoor enthusiast, she has homes in both Denver and Salida, Colorado, where she, her husband, and her son spend as much time outside as possible.
You can find Jill on Instagram @lettersfrommissjill & @graphittirainbow
Welcome Jill!
A Funny Little Man with a Matter of Method: Hastings notes he “came across a man in Belgium once, a very famous detective …. He was a marvellous little fellow. He used to say that all good detective work was a mere matter of method. … He was a funny little man, a great dandy, but wonderfully clever.”
Later, Poirot says to Hastings, “Beware! Peril to the detective who says: ‘It is so small—it does not matter. It will not agree. I will forget it.’ That way lies confusion! Everything matters.”
Poirot also tells Hastings, “You gave too much rein to your imagination. Imagination is a good servant, and a bad master. The simplest explanation is always the most likely.”
Let’s talk about Hercule Poirot and his method.
The Worst Proposal Ever?
“Mr. Hastings—you are always so kind, and you know such a lot.”
“It struck me at this moment that Cynthia was really a very charming girl! Much more charming than Mary, who never said things of that kind.”
Hastings proposes. Cynthia laughs and walks away. And Carolyn is confounded by both Hastings and Cynthia. How about you?
Marriage as Escape: “[It] was a very good match for me. … [John] was simply a way of escape from the insufferable monotony of my life. … Don’t misunderstand me. I was quite honest with him. I told him, what was true, that I liked him very much, that I hoped to come to like him more, but that I was not in any way what the world calls ‘in love’ with him. He declared that that satisfied him, and so—we were married.”
Surrounded by Family and Yet Unloved:
In working so hard to cover tracks, neither Mary nor Lawrence seem to care about saving Mrs. Inglethorp. Hastings at one point asks, “Was the family prostrated by grief? Was the sorrow at Mrs. Inglethorp’s death so great? … The dead woman had not the gift of commanding love. Her death was a shock and a distress, but she would not be passionately regretted.” Mrs. Inglethorp thus dies with no one to truly mourn her.
Evie says, “Emily was a selfish old woman in her way. She was very generous, but she always wanted a return. She never let people forget what she had done for them—and, that way she missed love. … I was on a different footing. I took my stand from the
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Stay mysterious...
