I have read a few mysteries in the past but no other author has been able to catch my attention in a story as Agatha Christie does in The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Her simple layout and the interesting clues she spreads throughout the story make the reader feel like a detective trying to solve a case. The way Christie writes, provides a wide array of possibilities for the reader to enjoy until the mystery is solved.
Immediately in the beginning of the book, Christie starts to introduce the characters in a way that the reader immediately thinks if they are the criminals. For example when she introduces Lawrence she writes, "Lawrence, the younger, had been a delicate youth. He had qualified as a doctor but early relinquished the profession of medicine, and lived at home while pursuing literary ambitions; though his verses never had any marked success."(Christie 2) The end of that quote shows that he does not have success in life and that makes him a possible suspect. Another example of this is when she introduces Alfred Inglethorp, "He turned up from nowhere, on the pretext of being a second cousin or something of Evie's, though she didn't seem particularly keen to acknowledge the relationship. The fellow is an absolute outsider, anyone can see that. He's got a great black beard, and wears patent leather boots in all weathers! But the mater cottoned to him at once, took him on as secretary--you know how she's always running a hundred societies?"(Christie 3) The way Agatha Christie writes in this novel keeps it exciting until the end because she makes sure that everyone is a possible suspect.
Another thing that Christie does in this novel is that she gives clues that could be there for the actual mystery and others that are there just to throw the reader off. For example when Mrs. Cavendish and Mr. Hastings are talking about murderers, Christie writes "Then, I said, much amused, you think that if you were mixed up in a crime, say a murder, you'd be able to spot the murderer right off? Of course I should.
