Holtorf ’ s description of the archaeologist as a detective is very similar to Christie ’ s Poirot who is hugely observant and is very careful to look at the small details as they often impart the most information.

Hercule Poirot (; ) is a fictional Belgian detective, created by Agatha Christie.

Along with Miss Marple, Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, appearing in 33 novels, one play, and more than 50 short stories published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era.

A more obvious influence on the early Poirot stories is that of Arthur Conan Doyle.

On publication of the latter, Poirot was the only fictional character to be given an obituary in the New York Times ; 6 August 1975 " Hercule Poirot is Dead ; Famed Belgian Detective ".

Here is how Captain Arthur Hastings first describes Poirot:

This is how Agatha Christie describes Poirot in The Murder on the Orient Express in the initial pages:

Poirot has dark hair, which he dyes later in life ( though many of his screen incarnations are portrayed as bald or balding ), and green eyes that are repeatedly described as shining " like a cat's " when he is struck by a clever idea.

Poirot is extremely punctual and carries a turnip pocket watch almost to the end of his career.

Poirot, as mentioned in Curtain and The Clocks, is extremely fond of classical music, particularly Mozart and Bach.

In The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Poirot operates as a fairly conventional, clue-based detective, depending on logic, which is represented in his vocabulary by two common phrases: his use of " the little grey cells " and " order and method ".

Irritating to Hastings is the fact that Poirot will sometimes conceal from him important details of his plans, as in The Big Four where Hastings is kept in the dark throughout the climax.

This aspect of Poirot is less evident in the later novels, partly because there is rarely a narrator so there is no one for Poirot to mislead.

In the later novels Christie often uses the word mountebank when Poirot is being assessed by other characters, showing that he has successfully passed himself off as a charlatan or fraud.

Poirot also bears a striking resemblance to A. E. W. Mason's fictional detective — Inspector Hanaud of the French Sûreté — who, first appearing in the 1910 novel At the Villa Rose, predates the writing of the first Poirot novel by six years.

It was also in this period that Poirot shot a man who was firing from a roof onto the public below.

While Poirot is usually paid handsomely by clients who request his help, he is known to also take on cases that may not pay well simply because the mystery interests him.

It has been said that twelve cases related in The Labours of Hercules ( 1947 ) must refer to a different retirement, but the fact that Poirot specifically says that he intends to grow marrows indicates that these stories also take place before Roger Ackroyd, and presumably Poirot closed his agency once he had completed them.

Notably, during this time his physical characteristics also change dramatically, and by the time Arthur Hastings meets Poirot again in Curtain, he looks very different from his previous appearances, having become thin with age and with obviously dyed hair.

They also meet in England where Poirot often helps Japp solve a case and lets him take credit in return for special favours.

There have been a number of radio adaptations of the Poirot stories, most recently twenty seven of them on BBC Radio 4 ( and regularly repeated on BBC 7 ), starring John Moffatt ( Maurice Denham and Peter Sallis have also played Poirot on BBC Radio 4, Mr. Denham in The Mystery of the Blue Train and Mr. Sallis in Hercule Poirot's Christmas ).

Miss Marple also appears in Greenshaw's Folly, a short story traditionally included as part of the Poirot collection The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding ( 1960 ).

Rutherford also appeared briefly as Miss Marple in the spoof Hercule Poirot adventure The Alphabet Murders ( 1965 ).

Burgh Island is closely linked to Agatha Christie, as it served as the inspirational setting for both And Then There Were None as well as the Hercule Poirot mystery Evil Under the Sun. The hotel and its eloquent Art Deco styling was also a bolt hole in the 1930s for the likes of London's rich and famous, including Noël Coward.

These episodes also saw Poirot gain a valet, George.

It is also revealed that the " window cleaner " was actually an actor in Poirot's employ, though Poirot brags that he did " witness " Roberts kill Mrs. Lorrimer in his mind's eye.

Further, it is also mentioned ( in jest of course ) that this was one of the favourite cases of Hercule Poirot, while his friend Capt.

The screenplay followed the book closely with some minor changes and some characters omitted: in the adaptation there was only one archeologist, there was no doctor, Jane was a stewardess and in the end Poirot does not match Jane with young archeologist as mentioned in the novel and some other minor changes ( such as in the TV adaptation, Poirot takes Japp to Paris, whereas in the book he takes the French Surete detective and also in the book most of the characters have come from Le Pinet where they have been enjoying some time at the casino, whereas in the adaptation the characters have been at a tennis match in Paris.

Poirot is also aided by his friends Hastings and Japp, while an Inspector Crome and a Dr. Thompson are also roped in.

This was also another reason ABC sent the letters to him, Hercule Poirot.

Poirot offers him some financial advice and also hints that the headaches are actually due to the wrong power of his spectacles.

The characterisation of Chandrasekhar in the movie is essayed by Indian Movie veteran Mohanlal is also inspired from Hercule Poirot, the protagonist of the novel.

Hastings is also chivalrous, possessing a pronounced weakness for pretty women with auburn hair ( a fact that gets him and Poirot into trouble more than once ).

Hercule Poirot thinks Janet White's murder is the most probable candidate for the murder Joyce witnessed, because strangulation might not appear at first sight to be murder.

The arrests of the culprits is not referenced in the novel, the end of which focuses on the despair of Amy Folliat, who does not appear to be facing legal charges, although that is never quite spelled out, in her allocution to Poirot.

Poirot is not interested in investigating some of the cases which appear in the newspapers and which Hastings tries to bring to his attention.

Having also seen signs of Harrison's hatred for Langton, Poirot guessed that he was planning to commit suicide and make it appear that Langton had killed him, thus ensuring that his rival would be hanged for murder.

Just a case or two, just one case more – the Prima Donna ’ s farewell performance won ’ t be in it with yours, Poirot.

Poirot is confused by this confession, and fears that there may be more trouble to come.

De Grandin was a French physician and expert on the occult and a former member of the French Sûreté who resembled a more physically dynamic blond, blue-eyed Hercule Poirot.

Aware that she would write no more novels, Christie authorized the publication of Curtain in 1975 to send off Poirot.

She is more usually used for comic relief or to provide a deus ex machina through her intuitive or sudden insights, a function that is especially apparent in Third Girl, in which she furnishes Poirot with virtually every important clue, or in The Pale Horse, where she inadvertently helps the investigators to determine the type of poison used to kill the murder victims, saving the life of another character.

The Scotsman of 17 March 1927 said, " The activities of Poirot himself cannot be taken seriously, as one takes, for example, Sherlock Holmes, The book, indeed, reads more like an exaggerated parody of popular detective fiction than a serious essay in the type.

Maurice Richardson in a short review in the 8 June 1941 issue of The Observer said, " Best Agatha Christie since Ten Little Indians – and one can't say much more than that – Evil Under the Sun has luxury summer hotel, closed-circle setting, Poirot in white trousers.

The tales in the Pontine canon ( as the collected works are known ) can be broadly divided into two classes, the straight and the humorous, the straight being more or less straightforward tales of detection in the classic Holmesian mode, while the others — a minority — have some gentle fun, most notably by involving fictional characters from outside either canon ( most notably Dr. Fu Manchu, who recurs ); perhaps the most outstanding example is " The Adventure of the Orient Express ", in which we encounter, among others, very thinly disguised versions of Ashenden, Hercule Poirot, and The Saint.

The New York Times Book Review of August 12, 1928 said, " Nominally Poirot has retired, but retirement means no more to him than it does to a prima donna.

Poirot is more suspicious than ever of Lily Margrave's jumpy demeanour and investigates the two local hotels to see if anyone was staying that night who left the hotel near midnight.

Poirot ’ s attention is directed to Amy Folliat, who seems to know more than she is saying.

M. Poirot reconstructs it from here and the reader would probably have got more enjoyment out of it if he had not had a hint of the position already.

" He observed that Poirot, " shows all of his usual acumen ; Captain Hastings – happily once more at Poirot's side – more than all his usual stupidity, and there is nothing left for the critic but to offer his usual tribute of praise to another of Mrs. Christie's successes.

* In chapter 18 of the novel, Poirot gives a list of murderers from previous cases of his, more precisely The Murder of Roger Ackroyd ( 1926 ), Death in the Clouds ( 1935 ), The Mystery of the Blue Train ( 1928 ) and The Mysterious Affair at Styles ( 1920 ).

In The New York Times Book Review for February 12, 1939 Isaac Anderson concluded, " Poirot has solved some puzzling mysteries in his time, but never has his mighty brain functioned more brilliantly than in Murder for Christmas ".

An unnamed reviewer in the Toronto Daily Star of April 10, 1948 said, " Hercule Poirot, whose eggshaped cranium is crammed with lively gray cells, proves himself a bit of a mug before he sorts out all the details of Arden's death and other even more baffling mysteries.

In an attempt to flush out the murderer, Poirot claims to know more than he does and is nearly pushed under an oncoming train.

Maurice Richardson of The Observer of March 23, 1952 thought that Poirot was, " slightly subdued " and summed up " Not one of A. C's best-constructed jobs, yet far more readable than most other people's.

The novel is notable for being the first in many years in which Poirot is more or less present from beginning to end.

Youthful in two Christie books written in the 1920s, middle-aged in a World-War II spy novel, Tommy and Tuppence were unusual in that they aged according to real time, unlike Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple, whose age remained more or less the same from their first novels in the 1920s, to their last novels in the 1970s.