The Mysterious Affair at Styles - by Agatha Christie

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautifully bound pocket-sized gift editions of much loved classic titles. Bound in real cloth, printed on high quality paper, and featuring ribbon markers and gilt edges, Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles, published in 1920, was Agatha Christie's first crime novel and the first outing for her world famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot.

When Arthur Hastings is injured during World War One and sent back to England, his old friend John Cavendish invites him to recuperate at his country house, Styles Court. Despite the beautiful surroundings, Hastings detects that all is not well amongst the inhabitants of the house. His suspicions are confirmed when John's wealthy step-mother, Emily Inglethorp, is found dead in her bedroom; she has been poisoned and the door is locked from the inside. Who could have murdered her and how did they do it? Hastings calls on his old friend Hercule Poirot to uncover the truth of this baffling crime.

This edition features an introduction by Barry Forshaw.

About the Author

Agatha Christie is the bestselling crime writer of all time; she created two of the literature's most famous sleuths, Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, and her many novels, short stories and plays have sold over a billion copies in the English language and been translated into over one hundred languages.

She was born in 1890 in Torquay into a comfortable lifestyle. In 1914 she married Lt Archibald Christie. She struggled to find a publisher for her first crime novel, but in 1920 The Bodley Head published The Mysterious Affair at Styles and from there her record breaking career took off. Six years later, Christie found out that her husband was having an affair, and, as was much reported at the time, she disappeared for several days. She divorced in 1928 and in 1930 married archaeologist Max Mallowan. She enjoyed a long and happy marriage and an unparalleled writing career until her death in 1976.