Hercule Poirot in literature

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This page details the books featuring the fictional character Hercule Poirot, created by Agatha Christie.

Contents

Hercule Poirot and fictional canon

Only works written by Christie (including short stories, the novels and her play Black Coffee ) are considered canon by most fans and biographers.

The Poirot books are still under copyright in the United Kingdom. The Mysterious Affair at Styles , The Murder on the Links and Poirot Investigates are now public domain in the US but will not become public domain in the UK until 2046 (70 years after Christie's death). Christie's grandson, Mathew Prichard, now owns the copyright to his grandmother's works.

In 2013, the Christie estate authorised author Sophie Hannah to write a new Poirot book, [1] The Monogram Murders (2014). She later also wrote Closed Casket (2016), The Mystery of Three Quarters (2018), The Killings at Kingfisher Hill (2020) and Hercule Poirot's Silent Night (2023). [2]

Hercule Poirot Series in publication order

Short story collections listed as "ss"

  1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
  2. The Murder on the Links (1923)
  3. Poirot Investigates (1924, ss)
  4. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
  5. The Big Four (1927)
  6. The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
  7. Black Coffee (1930 play) (A novelization by Charles Osborne was published in 1998.)
  8. Peril at End House (1932)
  9. Lord Edgware Dies (1933) also published as Thirteen at Dinner
  10. Murder on the Orient Express (1934) also published as Murder in the Calais Coach
  11. Three Act Tragedy (1935) also published as Murder in Three Acts
  12. Death in the Clouds (1935) also published as Death in the Air
  13. The A.B.C. Murders (1936) also published as The Alphabet Murders
  14. Murder in Mesopotamia (1936)
  15. Cards on the Table (1936)
  16. Murder in the Mews (1937, ss) also published as Dead Man's Mirror
  17. Dumb Witness (1937) also published as Poirot Loses a Client
  18. Death on the Nile (1937) also published as Murder on the Nile and as Hidden Horizon
  19. Appointment with Death (1938)
  20. Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1938) also published as Murder for Christmas and as A Holiday for Murder
  21. The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (1939, ss)
  22. Sad Cypress (1940)
  23. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940) also published as An Overdose of Death and as The Patriotic Murders
  24. Evil Under the Sun (1941)
  25. Five Little Pigs (1942) also published as Murder in Retrospect
  26. The Hollow (1946) also published as Murder after Hours
  27. The Labours of Hercules (1947, ss)
  28. The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories (1948, ss)
  29. Taken at the Flood (1948) also published as There Is a Tide
  30. Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (1950, ss)
  31. The Under Dog and Other Stories (1951, ss)
  32. Mrs McGinty's Dead (1952) also published as Blood Will Tell
  33. After the Funeral (1953) also published as Funerals are Fatal
  34. Hickory Dickory Dock (1955) also published as Hickory Dickory Death
  35. Dead Man's Folly (1956)
  36. Cat Among the Pigeons (1959)
  37. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960, ss)
  38. Double Sin and Other Stories (1961, ss)
  39. The Clocks (1963)
  40. Third Girl (1966)
  41. Hallowe'en Party (1969)
  42. Elephants Can Remember (1972)
  43. Poirot's Early Cases (1974, ss)
  44. Curtain (written about 1940, published 1975) also published as Curtain: Poirot's Last Case
  45. Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories (1991, ss)
  46. The Harlequin Tea Set (1997, ss)
  47. While the Light Lasts and Other Stories (1997, ss)

Continuations not by Christie

Books and short stories in chronological order

Poirot's police years

Career as a private detective and retirement

Shortly after Poirot flees to England (1916–1919)

The Twenties (1920–1929)

Poirot settles down in London and opens a private detective agency. These are the short story years (26 short stories and only 4 novels).

The Thirties (1930–1939) and World War II

Christie increased her novel production during this time (16 novels, 24 total short stories and 1 theatre play). Twelve short stories form The Labours of Hercules. The other short stories listed here take place in this period but were published before and after the publication of Hercules. The theatre play is named Black Coffee and was written by Agatha Christie, who stated a frustration with other stage adaptations of her Poirot mysteries. In 1998, author Charles Osborne adapted the play into a novel.

Post World War II

In chronological order, only the following are set following World War II

Expanded/Adapted stories

Some Poirot adventures were later expanded into other stories or re-written. They are:

Drama

Other stories were adapted by Christie into plays, sometimes removing Poirot:

In addition, the 1930 play Black Coffee was novelized by Charles Osborne in 1998.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hercule Poirot</span> Fictional detective character created by Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective created by British writer Agatha Christie. Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-running characters, appearing in 33 novels, two plays, and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975.

Miss Jane Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Miss Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of Christie's best-known characters and has been portrayed numerous times on screen. Her first appearance was in a short story published in The Royal Magazine in December 1927, "The Tuesday Night Club", which later became the first chapter of The Thirteen Problems (1932). Her first appearance in a full-length novel was in The Murder at the Vicarage in 1930, and her last appearance was in Sleeping Murder in 1976.

<i>Agatha Christies Poirot</i> British television detective series (1989–2013)

Agatha Christie's Poirot, or simply Poirot, is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2013. The ITV show is based on many of Agatha Christie's famous crime fiction series, which revolves around the fictional private investigator, Hercule Poirot. David Suchet starred as the fictional detective. Initially produced by LWT, the series was later produced by ITV Studios. The series also aired on VisionTV in Canada and on PBS and A&E in the US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inspector Japp</span> Fictional character

Inspector James Japp is a fictional character who appears in several of Agatha Christie's novels featuring Hercule Poirot.

Ariadne Oliver is a fictional character in the novels of Agatha Christie. She is a crime fiction novelist, the creator of the fictional Finnish detective Sven Hjerson, and a friend of Hercule Poirot.

<i>The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding</i> 1960 short story collection by Agatha Christie

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and a Selection of Entrées is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 24 October 1960. It is the only Christie first edition published in the UK that contains stories with both Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, the writer's two most famous detectives. It retailed in the UK for twelve shillings and sixpence (12/6) and comprises six cases. It was not published in the US although the stories it contains were published in other volumes there.

<i>Hickory Dickory Dock</i> (novel) 1955 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

Hickory Dickory Dock is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 31 October 1955 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in November of the same year under the title of Hickory Dickory Death. The UK edition retailed at ten shillings and sixpence (10/6) and the US edition at $3.00. It features her Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The novel is notable for featuring Poirot's efficient secretary, Miss Felicity Lemon, who had previously appeared only in the Poirot short stories.

<i>Poirots Early Cases</i> Short story collection

Poirot's Early Cases is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by Collins Crime Club in September 1974. The book retailed at £2.25. Although the stories contained within the volume had all appeared in previous US collections, the book also appeared there later in 1974 under the slightly different title of Hercule Poirot's Early Cases in an edition retailing at $6.95.

<i>Murder in the Mews</i> 1937 story collection by Agatha Christie

Murder in the Mews and Other Stories is a short story collection by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by Collins Crime Club on 15 March 1937. In the US, the book was published by Dodd, Mead and Company under the title Dead Man's Mirror in June 1937 with one story missing ; the 1987 Berkeley Books edition of the same title has all four stories. All of the tales feature Hercule Poirot. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the first US edition at $2.00.

<i>The Regatta Mystery</i> Agatha Christie short story

The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1939. The first edition retailed at $2.00.

<i>Three Blind Mice and Other Stories</i> Collection of short stories written by Agatha Christie

Three Blind Mice and Other Stories is a collection of short stories written by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1950. The first edition retailed at $2.50.

<i>The Under Dog and Other Stories</i> Short story collection by Agatha Christie

The Under Dog and Other Stories is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the United States in 1951, Dodd Mead and Company. The title story was published in booklet form along with Blackman's Wood in the United Kingdom in 1929 by The Reader's Library. The first US edition retailed at $2.50.

<i>Double Sin and Other Stories</i> 1961 collection by Agatha Christie

Double Sin and Other Stories is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1961 and retailed for $3.50. The collection contains eight short stories and was not published in the UK; however all of the stories were published in other UK collections.

This page details the other fictional characters created by Agatha Christie in her stories about the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot.

<i>Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories</i> Agatha Christie collection

Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories is a short story collection by Agatha Christie published in the UK only in November 1991 by HarperCollins. It was not published in the US but all the stories contained within it had previously been published in American volumes. It retailed at £13.99. It contains two stories with Hercule Poirot, two with Parker Pyne, two with Harley Quin and two gothic tales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agatha Christie bibliography</span>

Agatha Christie (1890–1976) was an English crime novelist, short-story writer and playwright. Her reputation rests on 66 detective novels and 15 short-story collections that have sold over two billion copies, an amount surpassed only by the Bible and the works of William Shakespeare. She is also the most translated individual author in the world with her books having been translated into more than 100 languages. Her works contain several regular characters with whom the public became familiar, including Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, Parker Pyne and Harley Quin. Christie wrote more Poirot stories than any of the others, even though she thought the character to be "rather insufferable". Following the publication of the 1975 novel Curtain, Poirot's obituary appeared on the front page of The New York Times.

In Agatha Christie's mystery novels, several characters cross over different sagas, creating a fictional universe in which most of her stories are set. This article has one table to summarize the novels with characters who occur in other Christie novels; the table is titled Crossovers by Christie. There is brief mention of characters crossing over in adaptations of the novels. Her publications, both novels and short stories, are then listed by main detective, in order of publication. Some stories or novels authorised by the estate of Agatha Christie, using the characters she created, and written long after Agatha Christie died, are included in the lists.

Lists of adaptations of the works of Agatha Christie:

Hercule Poirot is a series of full cast BBC Radio drama adaptations of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels and short stories adapted by Michael Bakewell, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1985 and 2007. With the exception of the first two adaptations, the series stars John Moffatt as Poirot.

References

  1. Brown, Mark (4 September 2013). "Hercule Poirot gets new lease of life, 38 years after being killed off". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  2. Neve Gordon-Farleigh; Chris Mann. "Cambridge author writes new Hercule Poirot novel". BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  3. Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly on Amazon