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, 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.

Poirot is also willing to appear more foreign or vain than he really is in an effort to make people underestimate him.

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.

A former British Army officer in World War I, he is extremely brave and often used by Poirot for physical duties such as catching and subduing a criminal.

The morning after the raid, Japp phones Poirot to tell him they found jewels in the pocket of Professor Liskeard but he has been set up.

She happily confesses to Poirot that she put the jewels in the professor's pocket as she had found them in her own bag when the raid started, and so she had to get rid of them as quickly as she could.

Poirot tells him that he traded the cyanide Harrison had in his pocket for the soda when he visited earlier on.

Despard suggests that one of the gathered party murder Poirot, and then watch his ghost come back to solve the crime.

The murder and the solution of it are ingenious, but then, with Miss Christie, they always are, and it is pleasant to watch M. Hercule Poirot at work again.

Hastings, a former British Army officer, first meets Poirot during Poirot's years as a police officer in Belgium and almost immediately after they both arrive in England.

The story starts with Hastings meeting Poirot after almost a year.

At the time that Curtain was written this was almost certainly intended to be a reference to Death on the Nile, but if Hastings has seen Poirot a year before his death, then we must suppose that Poirot made a second trip there in about 1974.

In The Observers issue of July 18, 1937, " Torquemada " ( Edward Powys Mathers ) said, " usually after reading a Poirot story the reviewer begins to scheme for space in which to deal with it adequately ; but Dumb Witness, the least of all the Poirot books, does not have this effect on me, though my sincere admiration for Agatha Christie is almost notorious.

In the second place, it is all very well for Hastings not to see the significance of the brooch in the mirror, but for Poirot to miss it for so long is almost an affront to the would-be worshipper.

They call at Elizabeth Penn's shop and Poirot almost immediately accuses the elderly lady of being Mr Wood's visitor of the previous day in disguise and meaningfully tells the two women their scam must cease.

Poirot even sent Miss Carnaby two hundred pounds as a final payoff before her dog kidnapping campaign came to an end.

Poirot is less active during the cases that take place at the end of his career.

Poirot dies from complications of a heart condition at the end of Curtain: Poirot's Last Case.

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.

Here is no Hercule's vein: indeed Poirot would find little worthy of his great gift of detection in these situations, where one knows from the start that everything will come delightfully right in the end.

Curtain was written at the same time and similarly locked away but publication of this latter book would not be possible until the end of her writing career as it recounts the death of Poirot.

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.

Away from the dig at Dr Reilly's home, Nurse Leatheran tells Poirot the story of Mrs. Leidner's earlier life, her first marriage, its end, and the young brother in law she has not seen in 15 years.

Bella Tanios does not die in the end, and Emily Arundell actually meets Poirot before she is murdered.

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

Towards the end of the First World War, Hastings calls on Poirot in his rooms to discuss the sensational news of the day-no less than the attempted assassination of the Prime Minister, David MacAdam.

Poirot has seemingly reached the end of his quest, but something troubles him and he moves on to Switzerland where he finds Samoushenka in poor health.

Poirot sees that Reedburn was killed at this end of the room and his body dragged to the recess facing the garden.

) His first case was " The Affair at the Victory Ball ", which saw Poirot enter the high society and begin his career as a private detective.

In the earlier phase of his career, Hastings is valued for his imaginative approach to cases, inevitably giving rise to fanciful hypotheses that Poirot can gently mock.

Like those of Miss Lemon and Arthur Hastings, the role of Inspector Japp in Poirot's career has been exaggerated by adaptations of Christie's original novels ; specifically by the TV series Agatha Christie's Poirot, where these characters are often introduced into stories that did not originally feature them.

Japp's career in the Poirot novels extends into the 1930s but, like Hastings, he disappeared from Christie's writing thereafter.

Best known for her comedy roles, she has also done some straight acting roles in her career, including that of Jenny Thorne in the ITV drama serial The One Game, and the character of Mrs. Upjohn in Agatha Christie's Poirot, episode Cat Among the Pigeons.

Her acting career started with the juvenile lead in a television series ( an adaptation of Anne Fine's Goggle Eyes, 1993, alongside Perdita ); since then she has appeared in many programmes, including the children's series The Wild House and the long-running series Midsomer Murders and Poirot.

* In Act 3 Chapter 5 Poirot says that once he had a failure in his professional career that happened in Belgium, hinting at the story The Chocolate Box.

It features Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and gives an account of twelve cases with which he intends to close his career as a private detective.

In their flat one night, the conversation between Poirot and Hastings turns to the latter's belief that Poirot has never known failure in his professional career.