The Mysterious Affair at Styles may be downloaded for free from our ebook catalog.
Anyone who reads even a little about literature and probably everyone who is a fan of mysteries is familiar with the name Hercule Poirot. Outside of Sherlock Holmes and Philip Marlowe, he is the best-known detective in the history of the genre.
In this first novel by Agatha Christie, published in 1920, she introduces the inimitable Poirot, who would go on to appear in 33 Christie novels and 54 short stories. In fact, Christie spent so much time with Poirot that she began to think of him as "insufferable" and "an ego-centric creep."
At first read, Poirot appears to have more in common with Inspector Clouseau than Holmes or Marlowe notwithstanding the fact that Poirot has gained the trust and the ear of Scotland Yard. However, as his longtime friend and fellow investigator, Arthur Hastings, confides, "there is method to his madness," perhaps indicating that Poirot's bumbling could be a clever act.
Poirot tells Hastings, "We must be so intelligent that he [the killer] does not suspect us of being intelligent at all." In a clever passage where Hastings attempts to analyze this advice, Christie paints Hastings as the one who does not realize that Poirot thinks Hastings is the ideal one to impress others with his lack of intelligence.
The plot of The Mysterious Affair at Styles deals with a straightforward case of an old woman poisoned with strychnine for the obvious reason: her money. Nothing is obvious, however, in the way Christie handles a plot. The story spirals round and round, leading the reader in one direction, then another, convincing the reader that first one character, then another is the guilty party. By Christie's own admission, while writing a novel, even she doesn't know who is the guilty party. She waits till the end to decide. And a clever ending it is, as she explains convincingly why the guilty party would go to the trouble to frame himself.
Think of this novel as a page-turner but not a beach read. The reader has to pay attention and backtrack often to keep up with the clues, Poirot's analysis of those clues, and Hastings' analysis of Poirot. Backtracking, however, is not laborious, but rather fun, and the ending, satisfying.
Poirot's most famous adventure, Murder on the Orient Express would appear in 1934. It was made into an immensely successful 1974 movie starring Albert Finney. Poirot appears on the small screen in a Hugo Award winning series, aptly named "Agatha Christie's Poirot." The series has been running on British television since 1989. Thus far, 11 seasons have been released on DVD.
Christie killed Poirot in Curtain written in 1935. Hoowever, Christie had the good sense not to publish the novel until 1975, when she realized that she could not keep up with her writing the way she once did. Upon publication of the novel, Poirot became the only fictional character to have been given an obituary in The New York Times.
Surely Lord Peter Wimsey must be included in the list of famous detectives -- and Dorothy Sayers is one of my favorite authors period, independent of genre. Is there any chance that her novels will ever be released as eBooks?
thanks!
I've never heard of Dorothy Sayers, but she looks interesting. You can see her only public domain book, Whose Body?, online here: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/sayers/body/whose-body.html
I'll try to release this as an ebook download sometime soon. Thanks for the suggestion!
Oh, you are in for a treat! The Peter Wimsey books are one of the few mysteries that I enjoy rereading. And as you noticed, Dorothy Sayers was a fascinating woman, way ahead of her time. The later novels introduce a woman named Harriet Vane, who after many trials and tribulations ends up married to Lord Peter. In this books, Sayers investigates the issues of women as wage-earners, as well as the changes in a woman's personal freedom as she becomes involved/married. If there's anything I can do to encourage e-book publication, please let me know!
Well, you're encouraging already. I'm intrigued! I'll definitely put Whose Body up on the list to get on the site.
Then we just have to figure out how to convince the copyright holders for the other novels to let them be published electronically. I can't be the only fan out there...
thanks!
It's sad so many of these books aren't available in ebook. I think Amazon is having a little luck getting publishers to make more of their books available electronically. Until then, we can catch up on our public domain classics!
I'm reading my very first Christie novel: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
I'd love to see more Edith Wharton on the site.
Hey Chris! Will do--we were just talking about putting up The House of Mirth. Any other's you'd recommend?
I'd like to see Summer plus I think she wrote a collection of horror as well.
Hm, Tales of Men and Ghosts?
Tina, at your request, Whose Body? is now available for download. Check out our ebook catalog!
I downloaded it as soon as the Newsletter arrived. Now for the rest of the series 😉
thanks!