Stories Featuring Hercule Poirot

 

Hercule Poirot - Agatha Christie's favourite detective

There are more than  45 books containing stories featuring Hercule Poirot. Some of the books are collections of short stories so he actually appears in many more detective cases.

The Poirot stories were written over a long period with the first appearing in 1920's and the last being written in the 1960's although not published until  in the mid 1970's. In that time his character's back story was developed somewhat and there was a collection of short stories relating to his time in the Belgian police.

Fans of the detective have long argued over the exact time setting of each story but most tend to take the publication date as the period unless otherwise specified. naturally with such a long running series there are some inconsistencies and some have suggested that given the evidence from the earlier stories he must have been over 125 when he met his end.

Hercule Poirot - Born in Torquay?

Poirot was introduced to the World in 1920 with the publication of Christie's first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The book was written during World War I and Poirot is a Belgian war refugee who has settled in Britain.

It is believed that he is based upon a real refugee that Agatha encountered while working as a pharmacist in Torquay during the war and so in a real sense Poirot was also born in Torquay. 

 

Books in which Hercule Poirot appears

The list below is broadly speaking the order in which Poirot stories should be read. The list below includes publication date and includes short stories as well as novels.

• The Mysterious Affair at Styles 1920
• Murder on the Links 1923
• Christmas Adventure (short story) 1923
• Poirot Investigates (short stories) 1924
• Poirot's Early Cases (short stories) 1974
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 1926
• The Big Four 1927
• The Mystery of the Blue Train 1928
• Black Coffee (play novelisation by Charles Osborne) 1997
• Peril at End House 1932
• The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest (short story) 1932
• Second Gong (short story) 1932
• Lord Edgware Dies 1933
• Murder on the Orient Express 1934
• Three Act Tragedy 1935
• Death in the Clouds 1935
• The ABC Murders 1936
• Murder in Mesopotamia 1936
• Cards on the Table 1936
• Yellow Iris (short story) 1937
• Murder in the Mews (four novellas) 1937
• Dumb Witness 1937
• Death on the Nile 1937
• Appointment with Death 1938
• Hercule Poirot's Christmas 1938
• Sad Cypress 1940
• One, Two Buckle my Shoe 1940
• Evil Under the Sun 1941
• Five Little Pigs 1943
• The Hollow 1946
• The Labours of Hercules (short stories) 1947
• Taken at the Flood 1948
• Mrs McGinty's Dead 1952
• After the Funeral 1953
• Hickory Dickory Dock 1955
• Dead Man's Folly 1956
• Cat Among the Pigeons 1959
• The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (short stories) 1960 not published in the USA
• The Clocks 1963
• Third Girl 1966
• Hallowe'en Party 1969
• Elephants Can Remember 1972
• Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case 1975

 

 

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You can follow in the foot steps of Poirot's creator, Agatha Chrisite, with a break in Torquay. Use the panels on this page to select from our featured accommodaton or you can click the button below to see all our accommodation and check rates and availability and to book.

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