Home The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie; 1stworld Library (Editor) (ISBN: 9781421809014)

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The Mysterious Affair at Styles Hardcover - 2006

Name: The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Price: 21.90 GBP
Availability: InStock
Author: Agatha Christie
ISBN: 9781421809014

by Agatha Christie; 1stworld Library (Editor)

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About this book

Written in 1916, during World War I, The Mysterious Affair at Styles is Agatha Christie’s first published novel. The story introduces the author’s world-famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, as well as Lieutenant (later Captain) Hastings and Inspector (later Chief Inspector) Japp. The mystery begins with Poirot settling in England near the home of Emily Inglethorp. When Emily is killed, Poirot must apply his detective skills to solve the mystery based on a few seemingly random clues. The book includes maps of the house, the murder scene, and a drawing of a fragment of a will.

Summary

E-book exclusive extras: Christie biographer Charles Osborne's essay on The Mysterious Affair at Styles; "The Poirots": the complete guide to all the cases of the great Belgian detective.Captain Arthur Hastings, invalided in the Great War, is recuperating as a guest of John Cavendish at Styles Court, the 'country-place' of John's autocratic old aunt, Emily Inglethorpe -- she of a sizeable fortune, and so recently remarried to a man twenty years her junior. When Emily's sudden heart attack is found to be attributable to strychnine, Hastings recruits an old friend, now retired, to aid in the local investigation. With impeccable timing, Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgian detective, makes his dramatic entrance into the pages of crime literature.

First line

The intense interest aroused in the public by what was known at the time as "The Styles Case" has now somewhat subsided.

First Edition Identification

After having been rejected by six publishers, John Lane (US) produced the story in novel form for the first time in October 1920. (The Mysterious Affair at Styles had previously been serialized in the UK’s The Times in February of that year.) The first edition of the novel has a hardcover with 296 pages. Beneath the dustjacket illustrated by Alfred James Dewey, the book is covered in pale brown cloth with dark green lettering on the upper cover and spine.