Hercule Poirot

Hercule Poirot, the primary fictional detective of Agatha Christie's novels, appears in over 30 books. The character was born in Belgium, and has worked as a Belgian police officer, but moved to England after 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 in England. The books take readers through the whole of his living in England, 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.

Movies

Poirot has been appearing in movies, too, played by Tony Randall (The Alphabet Murders, 1965), Albert Finney (Murder on the Orient Express), and Peter Ustinov (Death on the Nile and other films). However, many think the definitive Hercule Poirot portrayal is by David Suchet, who appeared in several television episodes in the 1990s (which are often rerun on the A&E channel in the U.S.).

Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot

Christie books featuring 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)
Death in the Clouds (1935)
The A.B.C. Murders (1936)
Murder in Mesopotamia (1936)
Cards on the Table (1936)
Death on the Nile (1937)

File:David Suchet is Hercule Poirot.jpg
David Suchet

See also Jane Marple.