The Mysterious Affair at Styles

by

Agatha Christie

A straightforward, blunt woman who likes to speak her mind, Evelyn Howard is Emily Inglethorp’s closest friend. She lives at Styles Court and helps out around the house, essentially becoming a member of the family. Despite how close she is with Emily, though, it’s clear that their relational dynamic is uneven, as Emily clearly holds most of the power in their friendship. When Emily marries Alfred Inglethorp (who claims to be Evelyn’s distant cousin), Evelyn makes it clear that she doesn’t approve. Two days before Emily’s death by poisoning, Evelyn tells her friend how she feels about her new husband, insisting that Alfred only married her for her fortune and alleging that he’s having an affair with their neighbor, Mrs. Raikes. The two friends have such a terrible fight that Evelyn leaves that very evening. In the days after Emily’s poisoning, Evelyn returns to Styles and immediately makes it known that she believes Alfred is to blame. She makes this allegation whenever she has the chance, wanting to ensure that Hercule Poirot pursues Alfred and gets him arrested. However, Poirot later finds a letter from Alfred to Evelyn that changes the way he understands their relationship. They don’t hate each other, he realizes—they’re secret lovers. The letter reveals that they worked together to poison Emily and planned to escape the country with her fortune after framing John Cavendish for the murder. And if it weren’t for Poirot, this might have actually happened. As it stands, though, Poirot reveals what they’ve done, and they’re both arrested.

Evelyn Howard Quotes in The Mysterious Affair at Styles

The The Mysterious Affair at Styles quotes below are all either spoken by Evelyn Howard or refer to Evelyn Howard. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Logic and Deduction Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1: I Go to Styles Quotes

“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:
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Evelyn Howard Quotes in The Mysterious Affair at Styles

The The Mysterious Affair at Styles quotes below are all either spoken by Evelyn Howard or refer to Evelyn Howard. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Logic and Deduction Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1: I Go to Styles Quotes

“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: