The Mysterious Affair at Styles

In The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Captain Arthur Hastings, recovering from injuries sustained during World War I, is invited to the countryside estate of Styles, owned by his old friend, John Cavendish. What begins as a peaceful recuperation quickly turns into a puzzle when the estate's matriarch, Emily Inglethorp, is poisoned. Hastings, though a man of action rather than intellect, becomes an amateur sleuth of sorts, assisting in the investigation. But it is the eccentric and methodical Hercule Poirot, a former Belgian police detective now living in exile, who quickly takes charge of the case, offering sharp insight and careful deduction.