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A character in The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Mary Cavendish

John's wife, beautiful and unhappy, who was in the passage on the night of the murder and will not say why.

What they want

To know what was in the letter her mother-in-law hid, and to be free of a marriage she thinks is over.

The book

The Mysterious Affair at StylesAgatha Christie, 1920

Agatha Christie's first novel, written on a bet in a wartime dispensary, and the first appearance of Hercule Poirot.

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At a glance

In the book
John Cavendish's wife
Where she appears
Throughout

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Mary Cavendish is the woman Hastings admires from the first afternoon. She is cool with her husband, friendly with Dr Bauerstein, and evasive about the night of the murder. A fragment of green cloth on a bolt matches her land-girl armlet, and Poirot keeps the fact to himself for most of the book.

How Mary Cavendish Is Portrayed

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • The armletA green land-girl's armlet, torn; the fragment on the bolt of Cynthia's door came from it.
  • The passageSeen there in the night, in a dressing gown, and unwilling to explain.
  • BauersteinWalks with the London doctor and is talked about for it.
  • The reconciliationAt the trial she stands by John, which Poirot says was his purpose.
Their ending, and the commentary — spoilers aheadHow the book leaves them, what happened after, and what the record says. Open when you're ready.

Mary had gone through Cynthia's room to reach her mother-in-law's in search of a letter she believed was about her, and tore her armlet on the bolt. She had nothing to do with the murder.

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