The Mysterious Affair at Styles

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

by

Agatha Christie

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Suspense, Intrigue, and Secrecy Theme Analysis

Themes and Colors
Logic and Deduction Theme Icon
Love and Passion Theme Icon
Suspense, Intrigue, and Secrecy Theme Icon
Wealth, Inheritance, and Power Theme Icon
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Suspense, Intrigue, and Secrecy Theme Icon

As a detective novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles hinges on the suspense and intrigue of a single question: who killed Emily Inglethorp? The answer, of course, is shrouded in a compelling kind of confusion and secrecy, but the cunning detective Hercule Poirot doesn’t shy away from mystery. Rather, Poirot uses suspense and secrecy to his own benefit, believing that the best way to solve a crime is by working in the dark. For this reason, he’s extremely cagey about his thought process as he goes about solving the case, often annoying Hastings by refusing to answer questions about what he thinks has happened. In fact, Hastings even starts to doubt Poirot and his abilities as a detective, since his friend only lets him in on certain parts of his thought process, ultimately leading Hastings to think he’s on the wrong track. But Poirot’s refusal to explain his thinking is actually a calculated move. He knows Hastings is a well-intentioned but rather naïve man who would probably have trouble hiding his knowledge if Poirot were to loop him in. And this, Poirot believes, would put the entire investigation in jeopardy, since it’s quite possible that Hastings would, in his excitement, accidentally reveal his suspicions to the murderer—something Poirot believes would be catastrophic, since there’s no better way to catch criminals than to let them think nobody suspects them. Poirot, for his part, wants to be so subtle with his investigation that the murderer thinks he has no idea who committed the crime. “We must be so intelligent that he does not suspect us of being intelligent at all,” Poirot says to Hastings. By showcasing Poirot’s unwillingness to explain himself, then, the novel not only creates a feeling of suspense that keeps everyone—including its own characters—on their toes, but also suggests that detectives can harness the power of secrecy and use it for their own benefit.

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Suspense, Intrigue, and Secrecy ThemeTracker

The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Suspense, Intrigue, and Secrecy appears in each chapter of The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Suspense, Intrigue, and Secrecy Quotes in The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Below you will find the important quotes in The Mysterious Affair at Styles related to the theme of Suspense, Intrigue, and Secrecy.
Chapter 1: I Go to Styles Quotes

His watchful and attentive manner never varied. From the very first I took a firm and rooted dislike to him, and I flatter myself that my first judgements are usually fairly shrewd.

Related Characters: Captain Arthur Hastings (speaker), Emily Inglethorp, Alfred Inglethorp
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:

“Like a good detective story myself,” remarked Miss Howard. “Lots of nonsense written, though. Criminal discovered in last chapter. Everyone dumbfounded. Real crime—you’d know at once.”

“There have been a great number of undiscovered crimes,” I argued.

“Don’t mean the police, but the people that are right in it. The family. You couldn’t really hoodwink them. They’d know.”

Related Characters: Captain Arthur Hastings (speaker), Evelyn Howard (speaker)
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis:

“Look after her, Mr. Hastings. My poor Emily. They’re a lot of sharks—all of them. Oh, I know what I’m talking about. There isn’t one of them that’s not hard up and trying to get money out of her. I’ve protected her as much as I could. Now I’m out of the way, they’ll impose upon her.”

Related Characters: Evelyn Howard (speaker), Captain Arthur Hastings, Emily Inglethorp
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3: The Night of the Tragedy Quotes

We went slowly down the stairs. I was violently excited. I have a certain talent for deduction, and Dr. Bauerstein’s manner had started a flock of wild surmises in my mind.

Related Characters: Captain Arthur Hastings (speaker), Emily Inglethorp, Dr. Bauerstein
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4: Poirot Investigates Quotes

“The mind is confused? Is it not so? Take time, mon ami. You are agitated; you are excited—it is but natural. Presently, when we are calmer, we will arrange the facts, neatly, each in his proper place. We will examine—and reject. Those of importance we will put on one side; those of no importance, pouf!”—he screwed up his cherublike face, and puffed comically enough—“blow them away!”

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Captain Arthur Hastings (speaker)
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:

“[…] One fact leads to another—so we continue. Does the next fit in with that? A merveille! Good! We can proceed. This next little fact—no! Ah, that is curious! There is something missing—a link in the chain that is not there. We examine. We search. And that little curious fact, that possibly paltry little detail that will not tally, we put it here!” He made an extravagant gesture with his hand. “It is significant! It is tremendous!”

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Captain Arthur Hastings (speaker)
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:

“Beware! Peril to the detective who says: ‘It is so small—it does not matter. It will not agree. I will forget it.’ That way lies confusion! Everything matters.”

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Captain Arthur Hastings (speaker)
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:

I had the utmost difficulty in controlling my excitement. Unknown to herself, Annie had provided us with an important piece of evidence. How she would have gaped if she had realized that her “coarse kitchen salt” was strychnine, one of the most deadly poisons known to mankind. I marvelled at Poirot’s calm. His self-control was astonishing. I awaited his next question with impatience, but it disappointed me.

Related Characters: Captain Arthur Hastings (speaker), Hercule Poirot, Emily Inglethorp, Annie
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5: “It Isn’t Strychnine, Is It?” Quotes

Everyone was assembled in the dining room. Under the circumstances, we were naturally not a cheerful party. The reaction after a shock is always trying, and I think we were suffering from it. Decorum and good breeding naturally enjoined that our demeanour should be much as usual, yet I could not help wondering if this self-control were really a matter of great difficulty. There were no red eyes, no signs of secretly indulged grief. I felt that I was right in my opinion that Dorcas was the person most affected by the personal side of the tragedy.

Related Characters: Captain Arthur Hastings (speaker), Dorcas
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:

“You gave too much rein to your imagination. Imagination is a good servant, and a bad master. The simplest explanation is always the most likely.”

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Captain Arthur Hastings
Page Number: 81
Explanation and Analysis:

“I had forgotten that,” I said thoughtfully. “That is as enigmatical as ever. It seems incredible that a woman like Mrs. Cavendish, proud and reticent to the last degree should interfere so violently in what was certainly not her affair.”

“Precisely. […]”

“It is certainly curious,” I agreed. “Still, it is unimportant, and need not be taken into account.”

A groan burst from Poirot.

“What have I always told you? Everything must be taken into account. If the fact will not fit the theory—let the theory go.”

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Captain Arthur Hastings (speaker), Emily Inglethorp, Mary Cavendish
Page Number: 84-5
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7: Poirot Pays His Debts Quotes

“Yes, yes, too conclusive,” continued Poirot, almost to himself. “Real evidence is usually vague and unsatisfactory. It has to be examined—sifted. But here the whole thing is cut and dried. No, my friend, this evidence has been very cleverly manufactured—so cleverly that it has defeated its own ends.”

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Captain Arthur Hastings
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8: Fresh Suspicions Quotes

“Who put it in the chest, I wonder?”

“Someone with a good deal of intelligence,” remarked Poirot drily. “You realize that he chose the one place in the house to hide it where its presence would not be remarked? Yes, he is intelligent. But we must be more intelligent. We must be so intelligent that he does not suspect us of being intelligent at all.”

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Captain Arthur Hastings (speaker)
Page Number: 127
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10: The Arrest Quotes

“Because she cares for someone else, mon ami.”

“Oh!” What did he mean? In spite of myself, an agreeable warmth spread over me. I am not a vain man where women are concerned, but I remembered certain evidences, too lightly thought of at the time, perhaps, but which certainly seemed to indicate—

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Captain Arthur Hastings (speaker), Mary Cavendish, Dr. Bauerstein
Page Number: 153
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11: The Case for the Prosecution Quotes

“I say, that’s playing it a bit low down,” I protested.

“Not all. We have to deal with a most clever and unscrupulous man, and we must use any means in our power—otherwise he will slip through our fingers. That is why I have been careful to remain in the background. All the discoveries have been made by Japp, and Japp will take all the credit. […]”

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Captain Arthur Hastings (speaker), John Cavendish, Mary Cavendish
Page Number: 169
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12: The Last Link Quotes

“Impossible!” I exclaimed. “She had only made it out that very afternoon!”

“Nevertheless, mon ami, it was Mrs. Inglethorp. Because, in no other way can you account for the fact that, on one of the hottest days of the year, Mrs. Inglethorp ordered a fire to be lighted in her room.”

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Captain Arthur Hastings (speaker), Emily Inglethorp, Mary Cavendish
Related Symbols: The Fire
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 189
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13: Poirot Explains Quotes

“Because, mon ami, it is the law of your country that a man once acquitted can never be tried again for the same offence. Aha! But it was clever—his idea! Assuredly, he is a man of method. See here, he knew that in his position he was bound to be suspected, so he conceived the exceedingly clever idea of preparing a lot of manufactured evidence against himself. He wished to be suspected. He wished to be arrested. He would then produce his irreproachable alibi—and, hey presto, he was safe for life!”

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Captain Arthur Hastings, Alfred Inglethorp
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 200
Explanation and Analysis: