Novel La Mystérieuse Affaire de Styles (1920)

Everyone around him could have benefited from the death of Mrs Ingelthorp, the wealthy mistress of the Styles estate: her second husband, Alfred Ingelthorp; her stepchildren, kept in financial dependence; Cynthia, his young protégé… And all of them could have obtained the strychnine that killed her. But why is Hercule Poirot so stubbornly protecting Alfred Ingelthorp, when he is barely defending himself against the growing suspicions that are hanging over him? Patience! Only in the last pages will we understand the subtle game of strategy that has been played between these two men, each as formidable as the other. From this first novel, published in 1920, Agatha Christie demonstrates her extraordinary ability to keep us on the edge of our seats until the end, even though the circumstances, the characters and the clues are perfectly known to us. And above all, she created the duo that was to make her famous: the little Belgian detective and his faithful Hastings.