Product Description

With impeccable timing Hercule Poirot, the renowned Belgian detective, makes his dramatic entrance on to the English crime stage. Recently, there had been some strange goings on at Styles St Mary. Evelyn, constant companion to old Mrs Inglethorp, had stormed out of the house muttering something about 'a lot of sharks'. And with her, something indefinable had gone from the atmosphere. Her presence had spelt security; now the air seemed rife with suspicion and impending evil. A shattered coffee cup, a splash of candle grease, a bed of begonias all Poirot required to display his now legendary powers of detection.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6927 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Customer Reviews

Opens the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.
Thirty-year old Mrs Agatha Christie turned a nice little profit with this, her first book, in 1920. It introduced Hercule Poirot. Wisely, she gave him many flamboyant, eccentric characteristics to leaven the depiction of detection work, but unwisely she created a character of advanced age that she subsequently needed to preserve for a further fifty years.

What became the regular Christie recipe for a whodunit is found here. Perhaps there is a tad more reliance on the dispensing of medicines, reflecting the author's occupation during World War One. A formula that she later discarded was the use of a narrator - Hastings - who presents one of the "cases" on his friend Poirot. 1920 and the publication of this book marked the opening of the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction". Expect that there are plenty of servants, plenty of drinks at bedtime, much making and re-making of wills, and characters - including Poirot - who walk everywhere.

This rates highly in the Christie collection for classic charm, readability and ingenuity. Few of her books from the 1920s excel it.

SIMPLY THE BEST
After reading many of Agatha's books before, i was expecting this to be just as enthralling. But as the first book she ever wrote, i found it to be the best i have ever read. Meticulous Hercule Poirot is at his finest along with sidekick Hastings and the plots and twists of the book are simply brilliant; Christie is a genius. The only downside to the book is the slightly slow beginning but after the first few chapters i guarantee you won't be able to put it down! I gave it to my mum to read and she's been hooked on Agatha Christie ever since! A good read for young and old fans alike.

"I had a premonition of approaching evil"
Readers everywhere are grateful to the sister of Agatha Christie for placing a bet with her, claiming that the woman that nowadays is known as the Queen of Mystery would not be able to write a good detective story. That is actually how this novel and the character of Hercule Poirot came into existence. In this first effort we can see the basic traits that later established Christie as one of the best mystery writers ever, though some of her technique is not yet completely polished. For example we get only a brief description of each of the characters, except for Poirot, so it is hard to picture some of them clearly. Nevertheless, the story deserves high praise, and I am pretty sure Agatha won the bet!

The story is narrated by Hasting, who gets an invitation to spend some time in the country place of John Cavendish at Styles Court. Upon his arrival, Hasting notices that there is a certain level of tension in the family, since John's mother, Emily, has recently married a younger man, who the family considers to be a fortune hunter. Meanwhile, John and his brother Lawrance are having financial trouble, and a set of interesting characters surround Emily and have all kinds of suggesting exchanges with her. When the lady of the house is murdered it comes as no surprise. There is a main suspect, but also a myriad of possible candidates for the role of the killer.

Luckily, Hasting runs into Poirot at the time of these events, and the small man with the peculiar moustache, who has retired from the Belgian police, is more than happy to help solve the baffling case. Those that have read other novels by Christie know that the author has an outstanding ability to mislead us into believing we have discovered the culprit, only to turn the tables on us and leave us dumbstruck. This case is no different...Ahhh, those little grey cells!