The Mysterious Affair at Styles

For fans of Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot is a familiar name. Somewhere between Sherlock Holmes and Jacques Clouseau comes Poirot, a brilliant old Belgian man with a ridiculous accent and a fabulous mustache. The Mysterious Affair at Styles was Agatha Christie’s first published book, and the one that introduced Poirot.

It’s the height of World War I, in England. The owner of Styles Court, Emily Inglethorp, has died. Unfortunately for the guests in her home, it appears she died of strychnine poisoning, and it seems everyone at the house had a reason to want her dead. After being invited to make a preliminary investigation, Belgian refugee Hercule Poirot questions the guests and makes a search of the manor, finding more and more evidence pointing—well, all over the place, frankly.

This is a classic detective novel, by the queen of mystery, Agatha Christie. It’s not the best Christie I’ve read, admittedly. Although, it’s the first one she wrote, so that just means she got better with time. Still worth the read, though—and Poirot is delightfully entertaining. ♦

Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express is a classic I’ve just never got around to until now. It’s an Agatha Christie novel, possibly her best-known, featuring Hercule Poirot. If you’re unfamiliar with Poirot, he’s delightful. Take the brains of Sherlock Holmes, and put them inside a slow-moving, funny old Belgian man with an enormous mustache.

The crime occurs when the riders of the Orient Express discover that one of the passengers has been killed in his sleep—stabbed about a dozen times. Poirot, who just happens to be on the train, is immediately enlisted to discover how the crime was committed, and he quickly discovers that the murderer had to have been one of the train’s passengers. The rest of the book is an elaborate game of Clue, questioning each suspect in turn and discovering their hidden secrets, motives, and cover-ups.

This is the mystery novel. It’s a must. And it’s delightfully confusing, with beautiful closure. ♦

The A.B.C. Murders

Agatha Christie is a classic. She is one of the best-known mystery authors out there, and even though few have read all (or anywhere near all) of her works, most readers have dabbled in a Christie novel or two.

The A.B.C. Murders is a mystery novel featuring Hercule Poirot (her popular mustachioed Belgian sleuth) as he takes on a disturbing serial killer who seems intent on working his or her way through the alphabet, with seemingly no other connection between victims. The book is well-connected, although predictable enough. Christie has a knack for leaving a few red herrings, following them up until the very end, and then throwing you for a loop right in the last few pages. If it’s your first Agatha Christie, you’ll be surprised. If not, you’ll just be predicting which “clues” are completely irrelevant.

It’s not fine literature, by any means. But it’s a great, cozy read. If you’re looking for an entertaining escape read, any Agatha Christie is great, and The A.B.C. Murders is no exception. ♦

Black Coffee

The baby inside me has stolen all of my energy. As a result, I have become a reading machine (when awake). This book review is of Black Coffee, supposedly by Agatha Christie. That is, she wrote the stage-play, and an actor named Charles Osborne adapted the script into novel form. It seems to follow her style fairly well, although there are times it’s clear that the action was all designed to take place in one room, for one audience.

I chose this book after finishing The Maze Runner because my mind was blown, and I needed something with a plot that required very little thought or attention. I needed junk-food reading, in short. And Black Coffee was exactly what I was looking for.

I would describe Black Coffee as a “silly mystery” – an old-fashioned whodunit, set in the 1930’s, complete with poisoning, blackmail, nearly-fainting-women, and ridiculous mustaches. For most of the novel (and play, I presume), all fingers point to the Italian, because apparently poisoning someone is a very “Italian” thing to do. A Belgian sleuth discusses the ways of the English. An old spinster is horrified by jazz music. A safe is broken into. A knitting needle goes missing for the entirety of the story.

That pretty much sums it up. And while I would probably consider the story a comedy by today’s standards, the play was quite successful at the time, and the whole story follows Christie’s style to a tee. So if you’re looking for a silly mystery, pick up a copy. ♦

And Then There Were None

Okay, before I start raving, let me get this out of the way: Agatha Christie is dated. This is an English author, writing during the 1930’s and 40’s. I usually have to take a moment to shut down the “political correctness” part of my brain to some extent when reading Christie, simply because she writes like a White Anglophile at the start of the 20th century. All the main characters are White, and usually English. All foreigners are “quaint.”

Alright, I got that off my chest. I can continue.

This book is fantastic! Agatha Christie writes good mystery any day, but I remember reading And Then There Were None for the first time when I was in elementary or junior high school, and I still remember the crazy plot twists. I still remember whodunnit. And even now, the second time through the book, I was up late into the night reading, because it was gripping. This is quite possibly the best murder mystery I’ve ever encountered.

The book is set up just like a murder-mystery party – except every few hours, there’s a new victim. Ten people come to Indian Island for various reasons, only to discover that their host does not exist, and someone is determined to pick them off, one by one, in theatrical fashion. And despite their best efforts to find the murderer, their number is still dwindling quickly…

Oh, it’s good. Go get a copy and read it. ♦