The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Returning from the Great War, Captain Arthur Hastings is invited by his friend John Cavendish to stay at beautiful Styles Court, owned by his stepmother Emily Inglethorp, where he resides with his family. Despite the manor's idyllic exterior, Hastings soon realizes that all is not right within the grounds - relations between the residents are clearly strained, some more so than others. When Mrs. Inglethorp is discovered dead in her room one night, suspicions abound and her new husband Alfred immediately falls under scrutiny, though there is only circumstantial evidence to prove it. Tempers flare and tensions are high, but fortunately Hastings' old friend, a retired Belgian ex-police detective named Hercule Poirot is residing nearby and provides his assistance in the matter. The Mysterious Affair at Styles was Agatha Christie's first published novel, and the first book to introduce the magnificent Hercule Poirot and his "little grey cells" to the world, and it remains one of her most memorable works to date.