The Mysterious Affair at Styles Quiz

Answer: Inspector Japp

Christie modeled her main investigative characters in the format set by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the Sherlock Holmes series. Hercule Poirot was the eccentric detective like Holmes whereas Hastings was the smart assistant who was not imaginative enough and often missed crucial clues.

Inspector Japp is the somewhat dimwitted police inspector in charge of the case. Like his Sherlock counterpart, Inspector Lestrade, Japp is often overshadowed by the private detective. Indeed, in "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", Japp is often brushed aside by Poirot who is really the person who solves the case.

Answer: Strychnine

Emily Inglethorpe took a liquid medication that contained a small, nonlethal amount of strychnine as long as she took the proper dosage. However, after taking her medication one night, Mrs. Inglethorpe begins screaming and convulsing in pain. She eventually dies from strychnine poisoning even though the local pharmacist insists there was nothing wrong with her medication.

Answer: Mrs. Inglethorpe was drugged

Mrs. Inglethorpe is the first Christie victim whose time of death was obscured by factors outside the murderer's plot - something she would use time and time again. In this case, the murderer poured a bromide powder into Mrs. Inglethorpe's medication so the strychnine sunk to the bottom.

She drank the strychnine in one fatal dose. However, there was a delay in her death because Mary Cavendish slipped her mother-in-law a sleeping powder. The sleeping draught reacted with the strychnine which prevented the poison from working for hours.

Answer: John Cavendish

Emily Inglethorpe inherited Styles after her husband, John and Lawrence's father, died. However, as stipulated in his will, John will inherit Styles upon Emily's death. Emily cannot will that away to another person. The rest of her estate and her money can be divided up in whatever way she wishes. Emily frequently changes her will, so no one is ever really certain who inherits what at any given time.

Answer: John Cavendish

Dorcas, the housemaid, overheard Emily arguing with someone about an alleged affair and assumed this other person was her husband Alfred. However, Emily was actually arguing with her stepson John over his alleged affair. Christie would use this trick a few times over her many novels and short stories.

Answer: It was very hot that evening

Mrs. Inglethorpe asked for a fire to be built in her room the evening she died, despite that evening being a very hot one in the middle of summer. In fact, it was one of the warmest of the year. To Poirot, this meant that Mrs. Inglethorpe wanted to burn something. In his opinion, the most likely thing she would want to burn would be her newest will.

This clue is unusual for its time because typically, in mystery fiction, it is the unusual actions of the murderer that expose them. Here Christie uses the unusual actions of the victim to further the investigation for the first of many times.

Answer: A torn letter

One of Poirot's more notable characteristics is his love for neatness and order. Early on in the novel, Poirot rearranges the crooked items on the mantlepiece in the Styles living room. Then a few days later, he must rearrange them again. This indicated the items had been tampered with and Poirot finds a written letter from one conspirator to the other laying out exactly what happened.

The letter was torn and hidden amongst the decorative spills in a vase.

Answer: Evelyn Howard dresses up as Alfred Inglethorpe

Evelyn Howard, who is described as having masculine characteristics, dresses up as Alfred Inglethorpe in order to purchase strychnine and sign the poison register. She borrowed a black beard from the costume chest at Styles to create the impression that Alfred openly bought poison in order to incriminate him in the crime.

Answer: Emily Inglethorpe, Alfred Inglethorpe, Hercule Poirot

Christie frequently featured love triangles in her novels and they typically featured two women and one man. In addition, the couple in the triangle that was together first, typically is the true couple or the couple that will be together at the end of the novel. The main love triangle in this novel is the Emily Inglethorpe - Alfred Inglethorpe - Evelyn Howard. Emily and Alfred are married but Alfred is in love with his cousin Evelyn Howard. They plotted for Alfred to marry Emily, kill her and claim the inheritance.

There are other love triangles used as subplots. Captain Hastings is romantically interested in both Mary Cavendish (who is married to his friend John) and Cynthia Murdoch (whom Lawrence Cavendish is in love with). John Cavendish has been having an affair with the local farmer's wife, Mrs. Raikes. At the novel's end, John and Mary's marriage is saved and Lawrence begins courting Cynthia.

Answer: So he can be proven innocent in court and not be tried again

Alfred Inglethorpe and Evelyn Howard plot to incriminate Alfred so he can be arrested, tried and proven innocent. As Poirot noted, it seemed as if Alfred wanted to be arrested. Once acquitted, he could not be retried because of double jeopardy laws. Evelyn incriminated Alfred in a very obvious way which made him the obvious prime suspect such as dressing up as him at the chemist's shop. All of the evidence against him could be easily refuted in trial. Evelyn's intense (though false) hatred of Alfred would, in the eyes of the jury, be seen as bitterness and explain an attempt to incriminate him.