History Literature / TheMysteriousAffairAtStyles

* AmoralAttorney: Sir Ernest (defence attorney), for all his shrewdness, is infamous for his tendency to intimidate witnesses into giving the testimonies he wanted to hear. When he is hired to defend John Cavendish, he practically bullies Lawrence Cavendish into implicating himself (though to be fair, the younger Cavendish ''had'' been acting rather unfortunately).

The novel has entered the public domain, and can be read at [[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/451 Project Gutenberg]]

One of only two of her books that have entered the PublicDomain; they can be read at [[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/451 Project Gutenberg]]

** Hastings is still serving in the British military during this novel, and is transferred to the War Ministry in London between the chapters taking place in July and those taking place in September. He is a retired officer in all other stories. He is also still single, while he meets his future wife in ''Literature/TheMurderOnTheLinks'' and subseqent Christie novels depict him as a husband and a father. (However, the short stories in ''Literature/PoirotInvestigates'' are set before thst, since he's sharing a flat with Poirot and hasn't moved to Argentina.)

Detective novel by Creator/AgathaChristie. It was the first novel she wrote and the one where [[Literature/HerculePoirot that Belgian detective of hers]] was introduced. [[MistakenNationality Or was he French?]] You know the one- that [[FunnyForeigner funny little man]] with the egg-shaped head and the [[BerserkButton ridiculous moustache]]. Written (and set) during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI but first published in 1920.

** Hastings is still serving in the British military during this novel, and is transferred to the War Ministry in London between the chapters taking place in July and those taking place in September. He is a retired officer in all other stories. He is also still single, while he meets his future wife in ''Literature/TheMurderOnTheLinks'' and subseqent Christie novels depict him as a husband and a father. (However, the short stories in ''Literatur/PoirotInvestigates'' are set before thst, since he's sharing a flat with Poirot and hasn't moved to Argentina.)

** Hastings is still serving in the British military during this novel, and is transferred to the War Ministry in London between the chapters taking place in July and those taking place in September. He is a retired officer in all other stories. He is also still single, while he meets his future wife in ''Literature/TheMurderOnTheLinks'' and subseqent Christie novels depict him as a husband and a father. (However, the short stories in ''Poirot Investigates'' are set before thst, since he's sharing a flat with Poirot and hasn't moved to Argentina.)

** Hastings is still serving in the British military during this novel, and is transferred to the War Ministry in London between the chapters taking place in July and those taking place in September. He is a retired officer in all other stories. He is also still single, while later Christie novels depict him as a husband and a father.

[[quoteright:164:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Mysterious_Affair_At_Styles_1stEd_2943.jpg]]

* MedicationTampering:The victim's medication, which contained strychnine, is tampered with using [[spoiler:bromide, a chemical that precipitates the strychnine to the bottom, ensuring that the victim would ingests all the strychnine from the bottle in one go when she takes the last dose]].

* IdleRich: The two Cavendish brothers are in their forties, and have never worked for a living. They rely on the family fortune, which is controlled by their stepmother. John used to be a barrister and Lawrence was a doctor, but they both chose to give up their professions early in their lives. John acts as a "country squire" without actually working in their estate, and Lawrence has spend his money in self-publishing his poetry.

One of only two of her books that have fallen into the PublicDomain; they can be read at [[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/451 Project Gutenberg]]

* SummationGathering: Near the end of the novel, Poirot gathers together most of the suspects and witnesses to reveal his findings.

** Poirot is a recently retired police officer, and has not started his career as a private detective yet. He is well-known in certain circles, but he is not yet a celebrity to the public at-large. He is a dandy, but lacks the large personal fortune he would acquire in later works, and seems to depend financially on the Cavendish household. (In fact, he is a war refugee in a refugee center for Belgians.)

* DoubleMeaningTitle: The "affair" of the title refers both to the murder mystery in general and to an adulterous relationship: [[spoiler:not John Cavendish's casual dalliance with Mrs. Raikes, but the secret liaison between Alfred Inglethorp and Evelyn Howard, which is, per the title, made extra mysterious by the fact that the two outwardly pretend to hate each other.]]

* BigBrotherInstinct: When John Cavendish is arrested and put on trial for the murder of his stepmother, he's not happy to hear that his defence attorney shift the blame towards Lawrence instead. When he is later called to give his evidence, he publicly rejects Sir Ernest's insinuations and declares his younger brother's innocence.

* RevisedEnding: The original ending had Poirot giving his summary, and the solution, in open court after he is called as a witness. Christie's publisher objected to this for being nonsense--a witness in a murder trial would not be allowed to expound at length on how the crime was committed. So Christie wrote a different ending where Poirot sums up what happened and exposes the murderer in a summation delivered to all the characters. This ending, brought about by [[invoked]]ExecutiveMeddling, may be the trope maker.

* BrutalHonesty: Evie Howard would not hesitate to speak her mind about anything. Before the crime took place, she got into a row with Mrs Inglethorp for expressing what everyone else was thinking: Alfred is an unscrupulous GoldDigger who would likely murder his wife to gain her inheritance.

** Poirot is a recently retired police officer, and has not started his career as a private detective yet. He is well-known in certain circles, but he is not yet a celebrity to the public at-large. He is a dandy, but lacks the large personal fortune he would acquire in later works, and seems to depend financially on the Cavendish household.

* TerseTalker: Evie Howard.
--> ''Her conversation, I soon found, was couched in the telegraphic style.''

* ShownTheirWork: Christie worked in a dispensary during World War I, and here she shows off her knowledge of poisons.

* GambitPileup: [[spoiler: Mary Cavendish drugs Emily Inglethorpe with a narcotic to make her sleep, so that Mary can look for papers that might incriminate John. Coincidentally, Emily is also poisoned with strychnine that same evening. Strychnine normally acts quickly after ingestion, but in Emily's case, the narcotic delays the effects by several hours, an initially unknown complication that greatly frustrates attempts to determine the time of the poisoning.]]