The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Post N° 5

          Mrs. Inglethorp's murder has not been solved yet, so Hastings and Poirot continue investigating who could have put strychnine in Mrs. coco the day she was murdered. However, Hasting is still mad about Poirot not telling him his thoughts about who is the possible murderer. At this point of the story, Hastings is becoming more like Poirot and tries to do his own investigation. Now the story is more focused on him since Poirot suddenly decided to go to London.

            Hastings is starting to stop depending too much on Poirot while he interacts with John Cavendish and Cynthia. He also came up with a new suspect, which shows Hastings can continue with the investigation and make his own conclusions. Nonetheless, Hastings is still fearful of discovering Mary Cavendish's participation in the murder. He admits it is a possibility, but his thoughts and actions demonstrate he is in love and does not want Mary to be blamed for participating in Mrs. Inglethorp's murder. Hastings's feelings are true, but he will have to put them aside in order to find Mrs. Inglethorp's murder. Although Poirot is not with Hastings at the moment, Hastings still manages to follow the clues he finds and do a good job as a detective. He is smart and he knows he needs to start doing some research on his own in order to be able to investigate the case as a professional. 

            Additionally, even though Hastings is mad at Poirot, he still appreciates him. They now have a strong friendship and although solving the case is hard, they work well together. The two friends who met each other in Belgium went from being friends to working together in a detective case. They have gone through many experiences while trying to find out who murdered Mrs. Inglethorp and Hastings learned many things from Poirot and the Inglethorp family. Hastings's character developed and became more like a detective. He now knows that he needs to follow his instincts to be able to solve the case with Poirot. 

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https://www.cloverhr.co.uk/investigations-the-role-of-the-investigation-officer/