# Dr. Bauerstein — The Mysterious Affair at Styles character guide

> Dr. Bauerstein in The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Bauerstein, IX Dr. Bauerstein

**First appearance:** 0003-ii-the-16th-and-17th-of-july

## Snapshot

A Polish-born toxicologist whose expertise in poisons and habit of walking the countryside at odd hours make him both indispensable and unnervingly suspect.

## Who they are

Dr. Bauerstein is a foreign specialist staying in the neighborhood, consulted by the family and whispered about by the village for his eccentric hours and his apparent closeness to Mrs. Cavendish. His professional knowledge of strychnine and other poisons is exactly what the case requires, yet his evasions about his own movements keep Hastings bristling and Poirot watchful. He hovers at the edge of the investigation as a man whose science could solve the crime — or conceal it.

## In the story

### [III: The Night of the Tragedy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mysterious_affair_at_styles_se/chapters/iii-the-night-of-the-tragedy)

Arrives unexpectedly; suspects poisoning and insists on a postmortem; locks the rooms.

### [The Arrest](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mysterious_affair_at_styles_se/chapters/x-the-arrest)

Arrested for espionage, not murder; revealed to be a German-born spy; Poirot admires his patriotism.

## Links

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- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mysterious_affair_at_styles_se/characters