Hercule Poirot

Hercule Poirot (pronounced Er-quele Powr-roe) the primary fictional detective of Agatha Christie's novels, appears in over 30 books. He was born in Belgium and has worked as a Belgian police officer, but moved to England after the World War I and started a second career as a private detective.

He meets what turns out to be a life-long partner, Arthur Hastings, almost immediately after arriving to England. The books take us through the whole of his England living, from the first book (The Mysterious Affair at Styles), where he is a refugee staying at Styles, to the last Poirot book (Curtain), where he stays at Styles once again.

He is also in many books accompanied by the detective novelist Ariadne Oliver - she is obviously Agatha Christie's amusing self-caricature.

Christie books with Hercule Poirot:

• The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
• Murder on the Links (1923)
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
• The Big Four (1927)
• The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
• Peril at End House (1932)
• Sad Cypress (1933)
• Lord Edgware dies (1933)
• Murder on the Orient Express (1934)
• Three Act Tragedy (1935)
• The ABC Murders (1936)
• Murder in Mesopotamia (1936)
• Cards on the Table (1936)
• Death on the Nile (1937)
• Dumb Witness (1937)
• Appointment with Death (1938)
• Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1939)
• Evil under the Sun (1941)
• One, Two, Buckle my Shoe (1941)
• Five little Pigs (1942)
• The Hollow (1946)
• The Labours of Hercules (1947)
• There is a Tide (1948)
• Mrs McGinty's dead (1952)
• After the Funeral (1953)
• Death in the Clouds (1953)
• Hickory Dickory Dock (1955)
• Dead Man's Folly (1956)
• Cat among the Pigeons (1959)
• The Clocks (1963)
• Third Girl (1966)
• Halloween Party (1969)
• Elephants can remember (1972)
• Curtain (1975)

Movies

Poirot have been appearing at movies, too, played by Peter Ustinov (Death on the Nile). Many think the definitive Hercule Poirot portrayal is by David Suchet, who appeared in several television episodes in the 1990's. (Which are often rerun on A&E channel in the U.S.)