There is something special about returning to the beginning.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles, published in 1920, introduced readers to Hercule Poirot for the first time. More than a century later, we know what followed: dozens of cases, an extraordinary literary career for Agatha Christie, and a detective who would become one of the most recognisable characters in crime fiction.
But returning to Styles is interesting for another reason. Once we already know who Poirot is, we can stop reading simply to discover who committed the murder and begin noticing everything else Christie has placed around it. And there is a great deal to notice.
A House Full of People
Styles Court gives us the setting we now associate so readily with the classic English mystery: a substantial country house, a limited group of people and, beneath the respectable surface, an assortment of tensions, loyalties and secrets. At the centre is Emily Inglethorp, a wealthy woman whose recent marriage to the much younger Alfred Inglethorp has unsettled the household.
Around her are people whose lives are connected to hers financially, emotionally or practically. John and Mary Cavendish have their own difficulties. Lawrence Cavendish appears uncertain and withdrawn. Cynthia Murdoch occupies an unusual position within the household. Evelyn Howard makes no attempt to disguise her hostility towards Alfred. Then there is Alfred himself, whose appearance and behaviour make him remarkably easy to suspect.
Christie gives us a murder mystery, but she also gives us something resembling a small social ecosystem. Everyone sees everyone else through the filter of their own experiences, assumptions and relationships. That matters.
The People Are Part of the Puzzle
One of the things I enjoy most about Agatha Christie's novels is that clues are rarely confined to physical objects. A cup, a stain, a document or a medicine bottle may matter enormously, but so do conversations, relationships and the way somebody behaves when frightened, angry, jealous or embarrassed. Sometimes what appears to be evidence about a crime is actually evidence about something else entirely.
This is one reason Styles rewards rereading. Once we are no longer racing towards the solution, we can pay more attention to how Christie directs our suspicions. Why do we believe one person but doubt another? Why does certain behaviour appear suspicious? What assumptions are we making? And perhaps most importantly, are we noticing what actually happened, or are we interpreting what happened through the story we have already constructed?
That distinction sits at the heart of Poirot's method.
Meeting Poirot Again for the First Time
There is also great pleasure in encountering Hercule Poirot at the beginning of Christie's published work. For Hastings, the unexpected meeting is a reunion. For Christie's original readers, however, Poirot was entirely new. That is easy to forget.
We now approach him carrying more than a century of cultural familiarity. We know about the little grey cells. We recognise his concern for order and method. We expect him to notice what others overlook. The first readers knew none of that.
At Styles, we can watch Christie establish the qualities that will become so important to him. Poirot observes. He asks questions that can initially seem unimportant. He is interested in inconsistencies. He does not automatically accept the interpretation other people have placed upon an event. Most importantly, he thinks about people.
The physical clue matters, but so does the person who handled it. A statement matters, but so does the reason someone might make it. Behaviour has to be understood within context. Poirot is solving a murder, but he is also continually interpreting human beings.
Hastings Matters Too
Returning to Styles also reminds us how important Captain Hastings is to our experience of Poirot. Hastings is intelligent, loyal and observant, but he is also wonderfully human. He forms impressions, makes assumptions, responds to appearances and develops theories. In other words, he often does exactly what readers do.
Through Hastings, Christie allows us to stand beside Poirot without giving us direct access to everything Poirot is thinking. We see many of the same clues he sees, yet we do not necessarily understand them in the same way.
That makes Hastings much more than simply the person telling us the story. He helps Christie demonstrate the difference between seeing something and understanding what it means.
Knowing the Solution Changes the Experience
There is an obvious problem with revisiting a detective novel: you may already know who did it. But with Christie, that can actually become an advantage.
The first reading asks, Who did it? A later reading allows different questions. How did Christie persuade me to look in the wrong direction? Which clues did I notice but misunderstand? What did I assume about the characters? What was Poirot paying attention to that others dismissed? And perhaps most interestingly, what does all of this tell us about the way people think?
Those questions are what drew me back to The Mysterious Affair at Styles.
Looking Beyond the Solution
My new audio series, The Mind and Method of Hercule Poirot, grew from a desire to spend more time with individual Christie novels. It isn't simply a retelling of the story, nor is it intended to turn Christie into an academic exercise. Instead, I want to look more closely: at the characters, the clues, the relationships, the assumptions people make about one another, the ways Christie directs the reader's attention and, of course, Poirot himself—how he thinks and why his method works.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles is the natural place to begin. Not because it shows us the beginning of Poirot's life, or even the beginning of his career. Poirot already has a history when we meet him. It is the beginning of our experience of him.
When we return to Styles Court knowing the detective he will become, Christie's first Poirot novel offers us something rather wonderful: the opportunity to meet him all over again.
If this has encouraged you to look at Styles a little differently, continue the exploration with The Mind and Method of Hercule Poirot: The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Listen to the audiobook here.