The intense interest aroused
the public by what was known
the time as "The Styles Case" has now somewhat subsided. Nevertheless,
view of the world-wide notoriety which attended it, I have been asked, both
my friend Poirot and the family themselves, to write an account
the whole story. This, we trust, will effectually silence the sensational rumours which still persist. I will therefore briefly set down the circumstances which led
my being connected
the affair. I had been invalided home from the Front; and, after spending some months
a rather depressing Convalescent Home, was given a month's sick leave. Having no near relations or friends, I was trying to make
my mind what to do, when I ran
John Cavendish. I had seen very little
him for some years. Indeed, I had never known him particularly well. He was a good fifteen years my senior, for one thing, though he hardly looked his forty-five years. As a boy, though, I had often stayed
Styles, his mother's place in Essex.
An excerpt from "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" by Agatha Christie
