The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Emily Inglethorp, the wealthy mistress of Styles Court, dies in convulsions behind a bolted bedroom door, and strychnine is found in her system. Suspicion falls immediately on her much younger new husband, whom the whole household despises, but the case against him is somehow too perfect. Lieutenant Hastings, recuperating at Styles, calls in an old acquaintance: a Belgian refugee lodging in the village, a retired policeman with an egg-shaped head and an obsessive love of order named Hercule Poirot.

This was Agatha Christie's first novel and the world's first sight of Poirot, and the machinery is already running beautifully: the scattered clues (a fragment of burned paper, a smashed coffee cup, a candle-wax stain) the parade of plausible suspects, and the final drawing-room gathering where the little Belgian rearranges everything you thought you knew. A tight, fair-play country-house mystery, ideal for a weekend of listening.

At roughly 60,300 words, The Mysterious Affair at Styles runs about 6½ hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles is in the public domain, so the complete text is free on Project Gutenberg and LoudReader has the entire Project Gutenberg catalog built in. To listen:

1. Download LoudReader for Mac or iPhone (free, no account).
2. Search for “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” in the built-in catalog and add it to your library.
3. Press play. A natural offline voice reads the book while each word highlights on screen, and your place is saved between sessions.

LoudReader reads with natural offline voices, so the whole book works on a plane or underground. It is fully on-device and private, your library never leaves your device. Listening is unlimited on the free tier.