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Mysterious Affair at Styles / Peril at End House / One, Two Buckle My Shoe
THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
A destroyed will, a shattered coffee cup, a splash of candle grease, a newly planted bed of begonias...
Such were the seemingly unrelated details surrounding the murder of wealthy Mrs Inglethorp, mistress of Styles Court. Yet to the meticulous Hercule Poirot, these details were the beginning of his first, and perhaps most fascinating investigation.
PERIL AT END HOUSE
A heavy picture falls across Miss Buckley's bed: a boulder thunders past her on the cliff path: car brakes fail on a steep hill, and a bullet misses her head by inches. But at last the unknown attacker has made a fatal error - Hercule Poirot is on the scene, a witness...
ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE
In the dentist's chair, his mouth stuffed with cotton wool, Hercule Poirot is for once unable to speak! At half-past eleven Poirot stepped out, a free man. But before lunch-time sudden death had claimed a victim...
Soon Poirot was probing into the integrity of his fellow patients of that morning - and investigating one of his best cases.
A destroyed will, a shattered coffee cup, a splash of candle grease, a newly planted bed of begonias...
Such were the seemingly unrelated details surrounding the murder of wealthy Mrs Inglethorp, mistress of Styles Court. Yet to the meticulous Hercule Poirot, these details were the beginning of his first, and perhaps most fascinating investigation.
PERIL AT END HOUSE
A heavy picture falls across Miss Buckley's bed: a boulder thunders past her on the cliff path: car brakes fail on a steep hill, and a bullet misses her head by inches. But at last the unknown attacker has made a fatal error - Hercule Poirot is on the scene, a witness...
ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE
In the dentist's chair, his mouth stuffed with cotton wool, Hercule Poirot is for once unable to speak! At half-past eleven Poirot stepped out, a free man. But before lunch-time sudden death had claimed a victim...
Soon Poirot was probing into the integrity of his fellow patients of that morning - and investigating one of his best cases.
- GenresMystery
Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
11 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Agatha Christie
5,836 books76.3k followersAgatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 30, 2024
I would highly recommend reading or rereading this novel for anyone interested in Agatha Christie's enormous influence on detective fiction.
This isn't nearly as innovative or captivating as many of Christie's later and more beloved books, and the recurring characters of Poirot and Hastings are still being developed. But we see her reworking of the Sherlock/Holmes relationship even more clearly here than in later novels because this early work has less nuance than later ones.
Holmes is often astonished by Watson's failure to grasp the importance of an obscure clue, but he expresses this in an outlandish way that ends up being deeply humorous. Although Watson is sometimes hurt by Holmes' jabs, he quickly learns from them and is soon invaluable to the eccentric detective.
Poirot's eccentricities are less attractive than Holmes's. And he is often very hurtful to Hastings, who never seems to learn. In a lot of ways, the dynamics are similar, but I can't imagine any reason for a Poirot/Hastings slash fiction emporium to arise....whereas there's ever reason for a Holmes/Watson one.
The issue of dynasty and inheritance is also laid out clearly in this first Poirot novel, which suggests that Christie readers should always be sure to follow the money.
This isn't nearly as innovative or captivating as many of Christie's later and more beloved books, and the recurring characters of Poirot and Hastings are still being developed. But we see her reworking of the Sherlock/Holmes relationship even more clearly here than in later novels because this early work has less nuance than later ones.
Holmes is often astonished by Watson's failure to grasp the importance of an obscure clue, but he expresses this in an outlandish way that ends up being deeply humorous. Although Watson is sometimes hurt by Holmes' jabs, he quickly learns from them and is soon invaluable to the eccentric detective.
Poirot's eccentricities are less attractive than Holmes's. And he is often very hurtful to Hastings, who never seems to learn. In a lot of ways, the dynamics are similar, but I can't imagine any reason for a Poirot/Hastings slash fiction emporium to arise....whereas there's ever reason for a Holmes/Watson one.
The issue of dynasty and inheritance is also laid out clearly in this first Poirot novel, which suggests that Christie readers should always be sure to follow the money.
February 23, 2025
The Mysterious Affair at Styles is a solid debut for Hercule Poirot, but the writing can feel scattered at times, making it hard to follow. The mystery itself is cleverly constructed, with plenty of red herrings and an intriguing solution. However, Christie's narrative jumps around, and some scenes feel disjointed, which can make it difficult to track the investigation. Poirot’s deductive brilliance is fun to watch, but the storytelling doesn't flow as smoothly as in her later works. Overall, it's an okay read—worth it for the historical significance, but not the easiest to get through.
February 22, 2026
Mysterious Affair at Styles - 3.25 stars - I enjoyed this AC tale but it didn’t grip me like her other murder mysteries. The outcome was fairly predictable in a sense but with a twist but it wasn’t entirely unexpected. As an avid AC fan, I feel Styles wasn’t her best book.
August 4, 2020
well written
April 23, 2023
Not bad for a debut novel
May 28, 2024
Agatha Christie uses the character of Ariadne Oliver to satirize her own character as a writer of detective stories.
January 7, 2025
Fine
Problem with reading this after more than 100 years is I have seem this before sprinkled around other works I've read.
Problem with reading this after more than 100 years is I have seem this before sprinkled around other works I've read.
May 19, 2025
We must be so intelligent that he does not suspect us of being intelligent at all.
"Silly ass." I ejaculated.
"Silly ass." I ejaculated.
February 20, 2025
Bravo!!
1st in the Hercule Poirot series. And the best one indeed. The book, its characters, the detective, the author!! All of them, ingenious!
1st in the Hercule Poirot series. And the best one indeed. The book, its characters, the detective, the author!! All of them, ingenious!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews