The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Set in 1916, we meet Captain Hastings as he is invalided out of the Great War and goes to convalesce at Styles Court, the family home of his great friend, John Cavendish. By an extraordinary coincidence, billeted in the village is a brilliant little retired detective with an egg-shaped head, who made a considerable impression on the Captain when he was in Belgium. Styles is not a happy household and in the blistering summer heat, tensions mount. Even so, the tragic murder which occurs is not expected. The entire family is drawn into the case but with their reluctant permission, Hastings calls upon the services of the diminutive Belgian. Thus begins one of the great partnerships and friendships in the history of crime. John Moffatt stars as Hercule Poirot, Simon Williams as Captain Hastings and Philip Jackson as Detective Inspector Japp, who already has reason to be indebted to the distinguished and unique hero of so many mysteries.

Agatha Christie (1890–1976) is the bestselling novelist in history; only the Bible and the works of Shakespeare are more frequently purchased than her mysteries, which have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in 100 foreign languages. Her play, The Mousetrap, opened in London in 1952 and has run continuously ever since.