Emily begins her death throes with a frightened Mary still in the room. Unbeknownst to Alfred, Mary, John’s jealous wife, had earlier drugged Emily’s cocoa with a harmless sleeping powder to break into Emily’s room and steal the letter incriminating John. She consumes cocoa, and, unfortunately, her fatal dose of bromide.
Emily receives a late-night coffee but spills it on the floor, leaving behind a false clue. The next day, Alfred leaves the estate, assured that Emily will take her medicine and die. Emily hastily burns the will and spends a restless and well-founded evening fearing for her life. However, while looking for a stamp with which to send the updated will to her lawyer, she comes across a half-finished letter from Alfred to Evelyn, alluding to their dastardly plan. Upset at the false letter’s suggestion that her stepson is having an affair, Emily cuts him out of her will. First, John invites his old friend Arthur Hastings to come stay at Styles Arthur’s curiosity and connections will prove to be a vexing problem for Alfred and Evelyn. Several circumstances complicate the plan. On the night the last swallow is to be taken, Alfred cuts the cord to Emily’s service bell and waits remotely for the murder to happen. In order to redirect suspicion, they concoct a bizarre scheme to throw suspicion onto John Cavendish, falsely linking the purchase of strychnine to the step-son’s handwriting and arranging for him to be in a remote location free of alibis when the deed is done. Together, they plan to introduce strychnine into her usual medicine, knowing that, due to a specific chemical reaction, the poison will not take effect until the last, crystallized drop of strychnine has settled to the bottom of the mixture and is swallowed. He collaborates with one of Emily’s closest associates, Evelyn Howard. Her stepsons, John and Lawrence Cavendish, have traditionally stood to gain the most from her inheritance, but the addition of Alfred Inglethorp has upended their expectations.Īlmost instantly, the perfidious Alfred Inglethorp hatches a plan to murder his wife and take her fortune. Emily Inglethorp is an inconsistent holder of said property, however, prone to often rewriting her will. Her first husband died many years ago, leaving the estate of Styles Court and all of his considerable money to his wife to do with as she wished. In the midst of World War I, the widow Emily Cavendish marries Alfred Inglethorp, the secretary in charge of much of her wartime charitable work. Anyone wishing to experience the mystery and organization of Christie’s original plot should skip ahead to the chapter summaries. Note: This Plot Summary for The Mysterious Affair at Styles will reorder the book from the perspective of the murderer. This summary refers to the Vintage Paperback edition, published in 2020.
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