The Mysterious Affair at Styles » (Unabridged)

Agatha Christie is nearly synonymous with upper-class British mysteries, for good reason. She set the standard for the genre in over 60 novels and dozens of short stories, also creating two classic detectives: the fastidious Belgian, Hercule Poirot, and English spinster Jane Marple. No one could match Christie's knack for weaving clues into her stories, then turning the whole thing inside out -- shocking her readers every time.

The eccentric Poirot steps out of retirement to find the killer in this story about the murder of a wealthy heiress, Mrs. Inglethorp, the mistress of Styles Court, and a magnificent English manor house. She dies from strychnine poisoning and Poirot methodically makes his way through the list of suspects, dodging red herrings along the way.

The New York Times

Though this may be the first public book of Miss Agatha Christie, she betrays the cunning of an old hand. . . . You may safely make a wager with yourself that until you have heard M. Poirot's final word on the mysterious affair at Styles, you will be kept guessing at its full solution and will certainly never lay down this most entertaining book. -- Books of the Century; New York Times review, December 1920