The Mysterious Affair at Styles
By Agatha Christie
After tea, Mrs. Inglethorp went to lie down to rest before her evening efforts, and I challenged Mary Cavendish to a single at tennis.
About a quarter to seven, Mrs Inglethorp called us to say we should be late as supper was early that night. We had to scramble to get ready in time, and before the meal was over, the motor was waiting at the door.
The entertainment was a great success, and Mrs. Inglethorp’s recitation received tremendous applause. Cynthia also participated in some tableaux. She did not return with us, having been asked to a supper party and to remain the night with some friends who had been acting with her in the tableaux.
The following morning, Mrs Inglethorp stayed in bed to breakfast, as she was rather overtired, but she appeared in her briskest mood about 12.30 and swept Lawrence and myself off to a luncheon party.
“Such a charming invitation from Mrs. Rolleston. Lady Tadminster’s sister, you know. The Rolleston came over with the Conqueror—one of our oldest families.”
Mary had excused herself on the plea of an engagement with Dr. Bauerstein.
We had a pleasant luncheon, and as we drove away, Lawrence suggested that we return by Tadminster, which was barely a mile out of our way, and pay a visit to Cynthia in her dispensary. Mrs. Inglethorp replied that this was an excellent idea, but as she had several letters to write, she would drop us there, and we could come back with Cynthia in the pony-trap.
The hospital porter detained us under suspicion until Cynthia appeared to vouch for us. She looked very cool and sweet in her long white overalls. She took us up to her sanctum and introduced us to her fellow dispenser, a rather awe-inspiring individual whom Cynthia cheerily addressed as “Nibs.”
“What a lot of bottles!” I exclaimed as my eyes travelled around the small room. Do you know what’s in them all?”
Genre: Fiction And Literature | Mystery/Detective
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Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.
Biography.
She also wrote the world’s longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End since 1952. A writer during the “Golden Age of Detective Fiction”, Christie has been called the “Queen of Crime”. She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold over two billion copies.
Christie was born into a wealthy upper-middle-class family in Torquay, Devon, and was primarily home-schooled. She was initially an unsuccessful writer with six consecutive rejections, but this changed in 1920 when The Mysterious Affair at Styles, featuring detective Hercule Poirot, was published. Her first husband was Archibald Christie; they married in 1914 and had one child before divorcing in 1928. Following the breakdown of her marriage and the death of her mother in 1926, she made international headlines by going missing for eleven days. During the World Wars, she served in hospital dispensaries, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the poisons featured in many of her novels, short stories, and plays. Following her marriage to archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930, she spent several months each year on digs in the Middle East and used her first-hand knowledge of this profession in her fiction.
According to UNESCO’s Index Translationum, she remains the most-translated individual author. Her novel And Then There Were None is one of the top-selling books ever, with approximately 100 million copies sold. Christie’s stage play The Mousetrap holds the world record for the longest initial run. It opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End on 25 November 1952, and by 2018, there had been more than 27,500 performances. The play was temporarily closed in 2020 because of COVID-19 lockdowns in London before it reopened in 2021.
In 1955, Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award. Later that year, Witness for the Prosecution received an Edgar Award for best play. In 2013, she was voted the best crime writer and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd the best crime novel ever by 600 professional novelists of the Crime Writers’ Association. In 2015, And Then There Were None was named the “World’s Favourite Christie” in a vote sponsored by the author’s estate. Many of Christie’s books and short stories have been adapted for television, radio, video games, and graphic novels. More than 30 feature films are based on her work.
Agatha Christie
