The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie

In a moment of nostalgia, I picked this one up for free on amazon.  I've seen lots of versions of Christie's stories on TV, but this isn't the first story of hers I've read.  Many years ago, I read And Then There Were None - awesome story - highly recommended.

This is the first book published by Christie and introduces her wonderful character, Poirot, the Belgian detective.

There's been murder at Styles, and Hastings is on hand when it happens.  A woman has been poisoned, and the clues are vague.  They point first to one person, then another. Hastings comes across his old friend, Poirot, and gets him on the case.  While the man's "little ways" are something of a mystery to Hastings, Poirot knows what he's doing.  It's just a matter of when he'll share it with everyone else.

You're reading this from Hasting's point of view, so you're on the ride with him.  You get to watch Poirot's strange ways first-hand and try to figure out what he sees.  I kinda felt bad for Hastings in general, it seemed like Poirot pointed out his shortcomings as a detective pretty often.

I really liked this book.  While it was published in 1920, it was easy to read and understand what was going on.  Even at the end, when the complicated murder plot was being revealed, it was done in a way that explained everything well.

The only issue I saw was this version seems to be missing some illustrations.  I'd be reading and see "looked like this" except there was nothing there.  They may have been helpful, but their absence didn't disrupt the story for me.  Good Book!