Agatha Christie’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was the result of a dare from her sister Madge who challenged her to write a story. The story begins when Hastings is sent back to England from the First World War due to injury and is invited to spend his sick leave at the beautiful Styles Court by his old friend John Cavendish. Here, Hastings meets John’s stepmother, Mrs. Inglethorp, and her new husband, Alfred. Despite the tranquil surroundings Hastings begins to realize that all is not right. When Mrs. Inglethorp is found poisoned, suspicion falls on the family, and another old friend, Hercule Poirot, is invited to investigate. Agatha Christie’s first-ever murder mystery. With impeccable timing, Hercule Poirot, the renowned Belgian detective, makes his dramatic entrance onto the English crime stage. Recently, there had been some strange goings-on at Styles St Mary. Evelyn, the constant companion to old Mrs. Inglethorp, had stormed out of the house muttering something about ‘a lot of sharks’. And with her, something indefinable had gone from the atmosphere. Her presence had spelt security; now the air seemed rife with suspicion and impending evil. A shattered coffee cup, a splash of candle grease, a bed of begonias... all Poirot required to display his now legendary powers of detection.