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.

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.

At an exhibition of snuff boxes, Hercule Poirot meets Mr. Shaitana, a mysterious foreign man who is consistently described as devil-like in appearance and manner.

Later, when Poirot meets and interrogates Cust, he finds that Cust was in Bexhill when Betty was murdered, but he has an alibi, making it impossible for him to kill her.

Hastings meets Poirot in Belgium several years before their meeting on 16 July 1916, at Styles Court, Essex, which is their first encounter in literature.

Poirot visits a sunken garden built for Mrs. Llewellyn-Smythe in an abandoned quarry, where he meets Michael Garfield, the handsome and talented young man who designed the garden.

Mrs. Drake meets Poirot at his guest house to tell him that Leopold Reynolds, Joyce's younger brother, has been drowned.

After several calls of investigation, Poirot meets Lorrimer and accuses him of murder.

Poirot goes to the house and meets the doctor, a police inspector, the dead man's second wife, his daughter from his first marriage, Joanna and Hugo Cornworthy in whose office Poirot had had his meeting with Farley.

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

Poirot also meets Norma ’ s paternal great-uncle, Sir Roderick Horsfield, who is elderly and has poor eyesight.

Poirot meets Ridgeway at the Cheshire Cheese who gives him the facts of the case: He was entrusted by his uncle and the other general manager, Mr Shaw, of taking a million dollars of Liberty Bonds to New York to extend the bank ’ s credit line there.

Poirot meets back with Ridgeway and his fiancé and explains the case to them.

Poirot meets Hoggin who tells him the dog was taken a week ago but returned for a ransom of two hundred pounds.

Poirot meets Sir Joseph and offers two alternatives: prosecute the criminal ( who he doesn't name ) in which case he will lose his money, or just take the money and call the case closed.

Poirot travels to Market Loughborough and meets Jean.

Poirot travels with Diana to the family seat of Lyde Manor where he meets the people involved.

Poirot manages to get himself invited to a party at Mrs Larkin's where he meets Pamela Grant, Sheila's sister.

The day before the next divine service, Miss Carnaby meets Poirot in a local teashop.

Later, Thora, Carmichael's assistant, is fired by a delusional Lady Clarke, who tells Poirot that she saw Thora talking to a shabbily dressed stranger on the day Carmichael was murdered.

In 2004, the novel was broadcast as a television movie featuring David Suchet as Poirot, Sarah Miles as Lady Angkatell and Megan Dodds as Henrietta Savernake, as part of the series Agatha Christie's Poirot.

Poirot labels the five alternative suspects “ the five little pigs ”: they comprise Phillip Blake (" went to the market "); Philip's brother, Meredith Blake (" stayed at home "); Elsa Greer ( now Lady Dittisham, " had roast beef "); Cecilia Williams, the governess (" had none "); and Angela Warren, Caroline ’ s younger half-sister (" went ' Wee!

When Poirot approaches Meredith Blake he introduces himself as a friend of Lady Mary Lytton-Gore, a character known from Three Act Tragedy.

Arriving at Mon Repos Poirot speaks with the daunting and domineering Lady Astwell who tells him that Sir Reuben's brother and business partner, Victor, is also a guest in the house.

Poirot persuades Lady Astwell to partake in hypnosis to recall events of the night of the murder.

Both Poirot and Hastings remember society gossip from three years back that linked Rolf and Lady Yardly.

After Mary has gone Poirot goes out and Hastings receives a visit from Lady Yardly ( she was advised to visit Poirot by her friend Mary Cavendish, who appears in The Mysterious Affair at Styles ).

When Poirot finds this out he arranges to visit Yardly Chase and is there when the lights go out and Lady Yardly is attacked by a Chinese man and her jewel stolen.

Poirot is consulted by Lady Willard, the widow of the famous Egyptologist, Sir John Willard.

Poirot tells them their activities must stop and that the money must be returned to Lady Hoggin although he is sure that he will be able to persuade her husband not to involve the police.

Poirot visits Mertonshire where an old friend, Lady Carmichael, gives him details of the Grant family.

Lady Carmichael is thrilled to think that Poirot has visited to investigate some special crime but the detective tells her he is simply there to tame four wild horses.

Some time later, back at Lady Carmichael's, Poirot tells Sheila that her photograph has been recognised.

Four of his guests had the opportunity to take the items – Mr Johnston, a South African millionaire only just arrived in London ; Countess Vera Rossakoff, a refugee from the Russian revolution ; Bernard Parker, a young and effeminate agent for Mr Hardman, and Lady Runcorn, a middle-aged society lady whose aunt is a kleptomaniac. Poirot examines the scene of the crime and finds a man's glove and a cigarette case with the initials " BP ".

At this juncture, Lady Weardale reappears and asks Poirot if the matter could be dropped if the plans were returned.

Lavington calls on Poirot at his invitation but laughs at his request to return the letter, saying that he will reduce his demand to eighteen thousand pounds and Lady Millicent has until Tuesday when he returns from Paris to find the sum.

Poirot points out that a woman of Lady Millicent's class might dress shoddily but would never wear such low-quality shoes.

Poirot Investigates ( 1924 )-The Chocolate Box, The Veiled Lady, The Lost Mine ( US version only ).

In the 1986 TV play, Murder by the Book, Christie herself ( Dame Peggy Ashcroft ) murdered one of her fictional-turned-real characters, Poirot.

Unlike the models mentioned above, Christie's Poirot was clearly the result of her early development of the detective in her first book, written in 1916 but not published until 1920.

Yet the public loved him, and Christie refused to kill him off, claiming that it was her duty to produce what the public liked, and what the public liked was Poirot.

Christie wrote that Poirot is a Roman Catholic, and gave her character a strong sense of Catholic morality later in works.

Even Poirot acknowledges that Rossakoff has told several wildly varying accounts of her early life.

Poirot later became smitten with the woman and allowed her to escape justice.

In The Nemean Lion, he sided with the criminal, Miss Amy Carnaby, and saved her from having to face justice by blackmailing his client Sir Joseph Hoggins, who himself was plotting murder and was unwise enough to let Poirot discover this.

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

Poirot described her as being " Unbelievably ugly and incredibly efficient.

Many of the most popular books of the Golden Age were written by Agatha Christie, who produced a long series of books featuring her detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, amongst others, and usually including a complex puzzle for the reader to try to unravel.

Agatha Christie's numerous mystery novels often referenced Scotland Yard, most notably in her Hercule Poirot series.

Christie's works, particularly featuring detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple, have given her the title the ' Queen of Crime ' and made her one of the most important and innovative writers in the development of the genre.

* Agatha Christie publishes her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introducing the long-running character detective, Hercule Poirot.

The book features the recurring characters of Hercule Poirot, Colonel Race, Superintendent Battle and the bumbling crime writer Ariadne Oliver, making her first appearance in a Poirot novel ( she previously had a role in the Parker Pyne short story The Case of the Discontented Soldier ).

After Anne makes her gift suggestions and leaves, Poirot discovers that two pairs of the stockings are missing, confirming his suspicion that Anne is a thief, and seemingly giving weight to his suspicion that she stole from Mrs. Benson and killed her when she feared she had been discovered.

Poirot objects that Lorrimer's explanation of Shaitana's killing does not match her unflappable personality.

She begs Poirot to let her take the blame for the crime: she will die soon anyway, and Anne will be free to live her young life.

Poirot and Battle see Anne suddenly push her friend into the water.

* In chapter 2, Anne Meredith tells Poirot that she knows Ariadne Oliver from her book The Body in the Library, which was the title of a book later written by Agatha Christie and published in 1942.

On page 509 of her autobiography Christie refers to the last Poirot and Miss Marple novels that she penned during the Second World War by saying she had written an extra two books during the first years of the war in anticipation of being killed in the raids, as she was working in London.