Lawrence Cavendish
The younger stepson, a failed doctor and would-be poet, seen with a coffee cup he should not have had.
To protect Cynthia Murdoch, whom he loves without saying so.
The book
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Agatha Christie
At a glance
- Mrs Inglethorp's younger stepson
- Throughout
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeLawrence qualified as a doctor and never practised, published a volume of poems that did not sell, and lives at Styles on his stepmother's money. He is nervous and pale, and on the night of the murder he suggests that his stepmother's death was natural, which nobody believes. Hastings suspects him for a good part of the book.
How Lawrence Cavendish Is Portrayed
- The trainingA medical degree and no practice; the household treats it as a failure.
- The coffee cupSeen carrying one on the fatal evening, and later found to have been in Cynthia's room.
- The suggestionHe proposes at the bedside that the death was natural, which draws Poirot's attention.
- CynthiaHis silences about her are the reason for his silences about everything else.
Lawrence's odd behaviour was all to shield Cynthia, whom he feared the bromide powders would incriminate. He and Cynthia are engaged by the last chapter.
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