His name was derived from two other fictional detectives of the time: Marie Belloc Lowndes ' Hercule Popeau and Frank Howel Evans ' Monsieur Poirot, a retired Belgian police officer living in London.

Christie's Poirot was a francophone Belgian.

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.

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 ".

By 1930, Agatha Christie found Poirot " insufferable ", and by 1960 she felt that he was a " detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep ".

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.

: " By the step leading up into the sleeping-car stood a young Belgian lieutenant, resplendent in uniform, conversing with a small man ( Hercule Poirot ) muffled up to the ears of whom nothing was visible but a pink-tipped nose and the two points of an upward-curled moustache.

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

In The Double Clue Poirot mentions that he was Chief of Police of Brussels, until " the Great War " ( WWI ) forced him to leave for England.

It was chosen by Poirot for its symmetry.

( This building was in fact built in 1936, decades later than Poirot fictionally moved in.

) 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 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 thus was forced to kill the man himself as otherwise he would have continued his actions and never been officially convicted.

Whether this was during one of Poirot ’ s numerous retirements or before she entered his employment is unknown.

In The Agatha Christie Hour, she was portrayed by British actress Angela Easterling, while in Agatha Christie's Poirot, she was portrayed by Pauline Moran.

In Agatha Christie's Poirot, Japp was portrayed by Philip Jackson.

In the film, Thirteen at Dinner ( 1985 ), adapted from Lord Edgware Dies, the role of Japp was taken by the actor David Suchet, who would later star as Poirot in the ITV adaptations.

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.

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 ".

Poirot had been forcibly retired from the Belgian police force prior to the time he met Hastings in 1916 as a refugee on the case retold in The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

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

There is certainly a case for saying that Crooked House ( 1949 ) and Ordeal by Innocence ( 1957 ), which are not Poirot novels at all but so easily could have been, represent a logical endpoint of the general diminution of Poirot himself within the Poirot sequence.

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

The Poirot books take readers through the whole of his life 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 visits Styles once again before his death.

He appeared again as Poirot in three made-for-television movies: Thirteen at Dinner ( 1985 ), Dead Man's Folly ( 1986 ), and Murder in Three Acts ( 1986 ).

A 1945 radio series of at least 13 original half-hour episodes ( none of which apparently adapt any Christie stories ) transferred Poirot from London to New York and starred character actor Harold Huber, perhaps better known for his appearances as a police officer in various Charlie Chan films.

The other Rutherford films ( all directed by George Pollock ) were Murder at the Gallop ( 1963 ), based on the 1953 Hercule Poirot novel After the Funeral ( In this film, she is identified as Miss JTV Marple, though there was no indication as to what the extra initials might stand for ); Murder Most Foul ( 1964 ), based on the 1952 Poirot novel Mrs McGinty's Dead ; and Murder Ahoy!

* Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles ( 1920 ) introduces Hercule Poirot.

Suchet appeared as Inspector Japp in the 1985 film adaptation of Lord Edgware Dies, screen-name Thirteen at Dinner, with Peter Ustinov portraying Poirot.

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

* Agatha Christie — The Mysterious Affair at Styles ( first Hercule Poirot mystery )

Upon arrival at Shaitana's house on the appointed day, Poirot is joined by three other guests: mystery novelist Ariadne Oliver, Scotland Yard's Superintendent Battle, and Colonel Race of His Majesty's Secret Service.

Poirot gathers Oliver, Battle, Despard, Rhoda, and Roberts at his home, where he makes a surprising announcement: the true murderer of both Shaitana and Mrs. Lorrimer is not Anne, but Dr. Roberts.

Styles was Christie's first published novel, introducing Hercule Poirot, Inspector ( later, Chief Inspector ) Japp, and Lieutenant Hastings ( later, Captain ).

Lieutenant Hastings, a houseguest, enlists the help of his friend Hercule Poirot, who is staying in the nearby village, Styles St. Mary.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles was adapted as a 103-minute drama and transmitted on ITV in the UK on Sunday September 16, 1990 as a special episode in their series Agatha Christie's Poirot to celebrate the centenary of the author's birth.

* Italian: Poirot a Styles Court ( Poirot in Styles Court ), Poirot e il mistero di Styles Court ( Poirot and the Styles Court Mystery )

In " The Big Four " ( 1927 ) Poirot feigned his death and subsequent funeral in order to launch a surprise attack on the Big Four.

This adds to the tensions in the group, who try to carry on as Dr. Leidner arranges for his wife's funeral and the local police begin their work, along with Poirot.

The mystery can be solved at an old English country house called Kings Lacey where it will be arranged for Poirot to join a family there for their Christmas celebrations, supposedly to experience a typical English Christmas.

Poirot invites Ascanio for a talk and forces him to admit that he did know Foscatini who was a blackmailer and Ascanio's morning appointment was to pay him the money he demanded off a personage in Italy, the transaction being arranged through the embassy at which Ascanio worked.

Poirot is intrigued as to why a rendezvous has been arranged in such an isolated place.