I just finished my first book for the R.I.P. V Challenge. I read Agatha Christie's book The Mysterious Affair at Styles on my iPod Touch. I have to say that I am so glad I gave Agatha Christie another chance. I tried reading her book Death on the Nile and just got confused with all the characters and bored of the plot. However, I just loved this one.
The plot:
Lietenant Hastings is on holiday visiting some friends at their estate Styles. His friend John Cavendish lives at the estate with his elder step mother, his beautiful wife, his brother, and a bunch of other servants. The mother, Emily has also recently remarried and the whole household is against the new husband, Alfred Inglethorp. One night, the house is awakened by the mother who is dying. It turns out she was poisoned. Hastings calls on a friend to help: Hercule Poirot, Inspector.
This was such a fun little mystery. It is only thirteen chapters and has so many twists and turns that it kept me on my feet. Every time I thought it was someone it would turn out wrong and I would think the villain was someone else.
While writing this post, I found out that this book was Agatha Christie's first published novel, written in 1916 and published in 1920. So if you've never read an Agatha Christie novel or one involving Hercule Poirot, you might want to start here with this little gem.
If you want to read this free online, check out Bartleby.com
This has been a selection for the R.I.P. V Challenge
Also Reviewed By:
BooksPlease
Lost in a Good Story
GirleBooks (where you can download and read for free)
Yay! Agatha Christie is on my personal list for "can't believe I haven't read her yet...!" :) Good to hear that this one was a good choice!
ReplyDeleteI have never read anything by Christie before. I owned a couple at one point so I could try it, but I never got a chance to!
ReplyDeleteI haven't "read" any Agatha Christie books but I have listened to a few on audio. This is one book that I've seen performed on one of the Poirot tv movies that PBS often plays. David Suchet is great as Poirot and my wife and I just love watching the films. If you haven't caught them, they are well worth checking out.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed this one.
I don't remember this one too well, but I agree with you about Death on the Nile! I read and reviewed it a couple of years ago, and it just wasn't what I wanted out of Agatha Christie. My favorites remain Murder on the Orient Express (another Poirot) and And Then There Were None. Happy reading to you!
ReplyDeletemmmmmm Agatha Christie!
ReplyDeleteChristie is amazing. Her books are very uneven in quality, but she's so ingenious, and I love her detectives. If you want some more, I would recommend Hallowe'en Party where Poirot teams up with his novel-writing friend Ariadne Oliver (a gentle satire on Christie herself), or Sleeping Murder which may be my favorite of the Miss Marple mysteries. Kate's favorites are unimpeachable!
I'm excited to see that you enjoyed this one as I just checked it out from the library for this challenge. I can't wait to read it now!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure I've read all the Poirot books, and most of the Miss Marple ones. I'm not sure I could pick a favorite. (Although my very favorite detective is Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe.)
ReplyDeleteOh I love Agatha Christie, but haven't read this one. I love the cover too.
ReplyDeleteI would recommend And Then There Were None and Halloween Party - they are my two favourites.