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Agatha Christie - The Mysterious Affair at Styles
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Agatha Christie - The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Agatha Christie
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
The novel is set in
England
during
World War I
at Styles Court* an
Essex
country manor (also the setting of
Curtain
* Poirot's last case). Upon her husband's death* the wealthy widow* Emily Cavendish* inherited a
life estate
in Styles as well as the outright inheritance of the larger part of the late Mr. Cavendish's income. Mrs. Cavendish became Mrs. Inglethorp upon her recent remarriage to a much younger man* Alfred Inglethorp. Emily's two stepsons* John and Lawrence Cavendish* as well as John's wife Mary and several other people* also live at Styles. John Cavendish is the
vested
remainderman
of Styles; that is* the property will pass to him automatically upon his stepmother's decease* as per his late father's will. The income left to Mrs Inglethorp by her late husband would be distributed as per Mrs. Inglethorp's own will.
Late one night* the residents of Styles wake to find Emily Inglethorp dying of what proves to be
strychnine poisoning
. Lieutenant Hastings* a houseguest* enlists the help of his friend Hercule Poirot* who is staying in the nearby village* Styles St. Mary. Poirot pieces together events surrounding the murder. On the day she was killed* Emily Inglethorp was overheard arguing with someone* most likely her husband* Alfred* or her stepson* John. Afterwards* she seemed quite distressed and* apparently* made a new will — which no one can find. She ate little at dinner and retired early to her room with her document case. The case was later forced open by someone and a document removed. Alfred Inglethorp left Styles earlier in the evening and stayed overnight in the nearby village* so was not present when the poisoning occurred. Nobody can explain how or when the strychnine was administered to Mrs. Inglethorp.
At first* Alfred is the prime suspect. He has the most to gain financially from his wife's death* and* since he is so much younger than Emily was* the Cavendishes already suspect him as a fortune hunter. Evelyn Howard* Emily's companion* seems to hate him most of all. His behaviour* too* is suspicious; he openly purchased strychnine in the village before Emily was poisoned* and although he denies it* he refuses to provide an
alibi
. The police are keen to arrest him* but Poirot intervenes by proving he could not have purchased the poison.
Scotland Yard
police later arrest Emily Inglethorp’s oldest stepson* John Cavendish. He inherits under the terms of her will* and there is evidence to suggest he also had obtained poison.
Poirot clears Cavendish by proving it was* after all* Alfred Inglethorp who committed the crime* assisted by Evelyn Howard* who turns out to be his
kissing cousin
*not his enemy. The guilty pair poisoned Emily by adding a precipitating agent*
bromide
(obtained from Mrs Inglethorp's sleeping powder)* to her regular evening medicine* causing its normally innocuous
strychnine
constituents to sink to the bottom of the bottle where they were finally consumed in a single* lethal dose. Their plan had been for Alfred Inglethorp to incriminate himself with false evidence* which could then be refuted at his trial. Once acquitted* due to
double jeopardy
* he could not be tried for the crime a second time should any genuine evidence against him be subsequently discovered* hence prompting Poirot to keep him out of prison when he realised that Alfred
wanted
to be arrested.
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