Let's go back to the very beginning for this one. The Mysterious Affair at Styles is the first Hercule Poirot novel. When this novel opens, he's already a retired detective, with no idea he's about to become an enduring character in a long, beloved mystery series.  It's not actually necessary to read The Mysterious Affair at Styles first, though, because each mystery is a complete story, and because even this first one begins with Poirot's detective career and his friendship with Captain Hastings already established off-stage. Hastings is the narrator of this one, so we can see Poirot's eccentricities described with affection, and we can see his brilliant deductive skills confusing poor Hastings.

The pace of The Mysterious Affair at Styles can feel pretty slow, especially...

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