The Mysterious Affair at Styles: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

When Captain Arthur Hastings arrives to Styles during an ongoing war and after staying in a convalescent home, he meets with his old friend John Cavendish. John invites Arthur to stay at his house which is owned by his stepmother Emily Inglethorp, who shares the house with her second husband Alfred Inglethorp, her two stepsons from her first marriage John and Lawrence Cavendish, John Cavendish’s wife Mary Cavendish, Emily´s companion Evelyn Howard, an orphan named Cynthia Murdoch and Emily’s maids Dorcas and Annie. Not everyone got along in the house since most of them, specially John Cavendish and Evelyn Howard, were suspicious about Alfred Inglethorp’s real intention when marrying Mrs. Inglethorp. He was twenty years younger than her, so the other members of the family thought that his only reason to marry Mrs. Inglethorp was her money. Everything seemed to be fine despite the conflict and Arthur Hastings was also getting along quite well with everyone in the family. However, that changed when Mrs. Inglethorp suddenly died of strychnine poisoning.

Arthur Hastings is a polite and serious man. He had been invalided from the Front during the war. After arriving at Styles Court, Arthur Hastings praises his deductive skills and reveals his secret hobby is being a detective. Probably his perception about himself changed after asking his old friend Belgian Detective Hercule Poirot for help to solve the murder of Emily Inglethorp. Mr. Hastings occasionally disagrees with Mr. Poirot during the process of their investigation, but Mr. Poirot is more experienced and teaches Hastings in which aspects he needs to pay more attention to, although Poirot later clarifies that every detail is important. Mr. Hastings becomes confused yet still accompanies Mr. Poirot while analyzing the steps he follows in order to solve the murder.

Mr. Hastings is not as good as a detective as is Hercule Poirot, but he still is helpful to report the events that happened the night of Mrs. Inglethorp's death and also solve the case. Hastings narrates the story, hence it is easier to know what he thinks about what is happening around him. Even though he does not mention it, his experience assisting Poirot was different from what he expected. Poirot does things differently from what Hasting would have imagined and focuses on details Hastings would not focus on. Thanks to Poirot's participation essential clues about the case were found and that made Hastings understand that Poirot knew what he was doing. Besides Poirot's complex thoughts and instructions, Hastings is determined to help him solve the case to find out who is the murderer of Emily Inglethorp.