by Mark Place
Hercule Poirot
100 YEARS
1916 – 2016
By
Agatha Christie
Edited By Mark Place
APPLETONS
Copyright © 2016
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. All rights reserved.
Book Contents
1 Foreword
2 Poirot’s Timeline
3 Poirot’s Cases in order of Publication
4 The Chocolate Box (Short Story)
5 The Mysterious Affair At Styles (Full Novel)
6 Poirot Loses A Client (Full Novel)
7 The Wasps Nest (Short Story)
8 The Submarine Plans (Short Story)
9 The Veiled Lady (Short Story)
10 The Adventure Of The Western Star (Short Story)
11 The Mystery Of The Plymouth Express (Short Story)
12 Literary Book & Film Adaptation Commentary
13 Agatha Christie: A Brief History
14 The Market Basing Mystery (Short Story)
15 The Lemesurier Inheritance (Short Story)
16 Problem At Sea (Short Story)
17 The Cornish Mystery (Short Story)
18 The Adventure Of The Egyptian Tomb (Short Story)
19 The Kidnapped Prime Minister (Short Story)
20 Sad Cypress (Full Novel)
21 The Kidnapping Of Johnny Waverley (Short Story)
22 Elephants Can Remember (Full Novel)
23 Halloween Party (Full Novel)
24 The Tragedy At Marsdon Manor (Short Story)
25 Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (Full Novel)
26 The Jewel Robbery At The Grand Metropolitan (Short Story)
27 The Mystery Of Hunters Lodge (Short Story)
28 The Disappearance Of Mr Davenheim (Short Story)
29 The Million Dollar Bond Robbery (Short Story)
30 The Woman And The Kenite (Short Story)
31 The Affair At The Victory Ball (Short Story)
32 The Adventure Of The Italian Nobleman (Short Story)
33 The Adventure Of The Clapham Cook (Short Story)
34 The Third Floor Flat (Short Story)
35 The Adventure Of The King Of Clubs (Short Story)
36 Third Girl (Full Novel)
37 The Double Clue (Short Story)
38 Cat Amongst The Pigeons (Full Novel)
39 One Two Buckle Mys Shoe (Full Novel)
40 The Clocks (Full Novel)
41 Five Little Pigs (Full Novel)
Hercule Poirot Foreword
Hercule Poirot is Agatha Christie's greatest creation, many say. One of the most famous detectives in all fiction, he was created in 1916 (when Agatha Christie penned the first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles). The Belgian detective appeared in 33 novels and 65 short stories and is the only fictional character to be honored with a front page obituary on The New York Times.
Poirot likes things in an orderly manner (ie, books arranged on a shelf according to height) and approves of symmetry everywhere (residence Whitehaven Mansions is picked because of its symmetry). He despises dust and unclean homes and favors the indoors (especially central heating in the winter). Poirot also values method--to him the greatest method or tool in solving crime is using the "gray cells" of the brain. He derides such methods as examing footprints, collecting cigarette ash, searching for clues with a magnifying glass, or taking fingerprints. He says any crime can be solved with simply placing the puzzle pieces correctly. He is an armchair detective-- he has to simply "sit still in an armchair and think".
Of course, Poirot's mustache is as famous as his "little gray cells". He has pride is his luscious, waxed black mustache and is always meticulously dressed down to his patent leather shoes. This book celebrates 100 years of the Belgian detective and contains complete novels, short stories and much more.
Hercule Poirot’s Timeline
1904--Poirot retires from Belgian police force as detective
Has own practice in Europe, meets Inspector James Japp & later Captain Arthur Hastings
1916--Arrives to England as a Belgian refugee from WWI Aided by Mrs. Inglethorpe of Styles Court, meets Hastings again Solves murder at Styles Court with Hastings & Japp
Sets up practice in England, moves to 14 Farraway Street, London, with Hastings
1923--Poirot & Hastings solve murder in France, Hastings marries Dulcie and moves to Argentina
1925--Poirot solves jewel theft, meets the Russian Countess Vera Rossakoff for first time
1926--Poirot unmasks member of the "Big Four" with Hastings, meets with Countess Rossakoff again
Retires and goes to King's Abbot to grow vegetable marrows for a year, solves the murder of Mr. Ackroyd
1928--While in France, Poirot solves a jewel theft & murder of American heiress, hires Georges as valet
1932--Poirot & Hastings (back from Argentina) are vacationing in St. Loo and uncover murder attempts
1934--Poirot moves to 28 Whitehaven Mansions
1935--Poirot travels in airplane to England where a French moneylender is murdered, Japp helps
Poirot solves ABC Murders with Hastings (visits from Argentina) & Japp
1936--Poirot and fellow sleuths Colonel Race, Battle, and Ariadne Oliver solve murder of dinner host
1937--Poirot meets Colonel Race again and solves murder on the Nile River
Hastings helps Poirot solve case about "accident" of old lady
Poirot & Inspector Japp investigate a girl's suicide/murder
1939?--Felicity Lemon is hired by Poirot to be his secretary
1941--Poirot goes to the Jolly Roger Hotel and solves crime there
1946--Poirot unexpectedly sees Countess Rossakoff years later, now as a proprietor of a nightclub
1948--Poirot travels to Warmsley Vale to solve murder of young wife
1952--Poirot, Mrs. Oliver, Spence join to solve old lady's murder and clear an innocent man
1955--Miss Lemon's sister comes to Poirot asking for help at youth hostel
1956--Mrs. Oliver asks Poirot to help in a real murder hunt of a young girl
1963--Colin Lamb asks Poirot for help in murder of an unknown man
1969--Poirot joins forces with Spence (and Mrs. Oliver) in a Halloween Party murder
1972--Poirot helps Mrs. Oliver & Spence solve a decades-old murder/suicide
1975--Georges leaves employ of Poirot, Poirot goes to Styles Court
Poirot & Hastings track down murderer in Poirot's last case at Styles
Hercule Poirot, Belgian detective, dies at Styles Court
Poirot's Cases
Books are in order of publishing date, with the original British titles listed. Alternate titles are below as footnotes. For short story collections, only the stories that feature Poirot are listed. Not included are collections of stories gathered from different volumes. The short stories here are listed under the title they were first published.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
Murder on the Links (1923)
Poirot Investigates (1924)
The Adventure of the 'Western Star'
The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor
The Adventure of the Cheap Flat
The Million Dollar Bond Robbery
The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge
The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb
The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan
>
The Kidnapped Prime Minister
The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim
The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman
The Case of the Missing Will
The Veiled Lady
The Lost Mine
The Chocolate Box
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
The Big Four (1927)
The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
Peril at End House (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)
Dumb Witness (1937)
Death on the Nile (1937)
Murder in the Mews (1937)
The Incredible Theft
Triangle at Rhodes
Dead Man's Mirror
Appointment with Death (1938)
Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1938)
The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (1939)
The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Yellow Iris
The Dream
Problem at Sea
Sad Cypress (1940)
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940)
Evil Under the Sun (1941)
Five Little Pigs (1943)
The Hollow (1946)
The Labors of Hercules (1947)
The Nemean Lion
The Lernean Hydra
The Arcadian Deer
The Erymanthian Boar
The Augean Stables
The Stymphalean Birds
The Cretan Bull
The Horses of Diomedes
The Girdle of Hippolita
The Flock of Geryon
The Apples of the Hesperides
The Capture of Cerberus
Taken at the Flood (1948)
Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories (1948)
The Second Gong
Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (1950)
The Third-Floor Flat
The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly
Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds
The Under Dog and Other Stories (1951)
The Under Dog
The Plymouth Express
The Affair at the Victory Ball
The Market Basing Mystery
The Lemesurier Inheritance
The Cornish Mystery
The King of Clubs
The Submarine Plans
The Adventure of the Clapham Cook
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 and a Selection of Entrees (1960)
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
The Mystery of the Spanish Chest
Double Sin and Other Stories (1961)
Double Sin
Wasps' Nest
The Theft of the Royal Ruby
The Double Clue
The Clocks (1963)
Third Girl (1966)
Hallowe'en Party (1969)
Elephants Can Remember (1972)
Curtain (1975)
Black Coffee (1998, adaptation of play by same name)
The Monogram Murders (2014, written by Sophie Hannah)
The Chocolate Box
by
agatha christie
It was a wild night. Outside, the wind howled malevolently, and the rain beat against the windows in great gusts. Poirot and I sat facing the hearth, our legs stretched out to the cheerful blaze. Between us was a small table. On my side of it stood some carefully brewed hot toddy; on Poirot’s was a cup of thick, rich chocolate which I would not have drunk for a hundred pounds! Poirot sipped the thick brown mess in the pink china cup, and sighed with contentment.
“Quelle belle vie!” he murmured.
“Yes, it’s a good old world,” I agreed. “Here am I with a job, and a good job too! And here are you, famous”
“Oh, mon ami!” protested Poirot.
“But you are. And rightly so! When I think back on your long line of successes, I am positively amazed. I don’t believe you know what failure is!”
“He would be a droll kind of original who could say that!”
“No, but seriously, have you ever failed?”
“Innumerable times, my friend. What would you? La bonne chance, it cannot always be on your side. I have been called in too late. Very often another, working towards the same goal, has arrived there first. Twice have I been stricken down with illness just as I was on the point of success. One must take the downs with the ups, my friend.”
“I didn’t quite mean that,” I said. “I meant, had you ever been completely down and out over a case through your own fault?”
“Ah, I comprehend! You ask if I have ever made the complete prize ass of myself, as you say over here? Once, my friend -” A slow, reflective smile hovered over his face. “Yes, once I made a fool of myself.” He sat up suddenly in his chair.
“See here, my friend, you have, I know, kept a record of my little successes. You shall add one more story to the collection, the story of a failure!”
He leaned forward and placed a log on the fire. Then, after carefully wiping his hands on a little duster that hung on a nail by the fireplace, he leaned back and commenced his story.
“That of which I tell you (said M. Poirot) took place in Belgium many years ago. It was at the time of the terrible struggle in France between church and state. M. Paul Déroulard was a French deputy of note. It was an open secret that the portfolio of a Minister awaited him.”
He was among the bitterest of the anti-Catholic party, and it was certain that on his accession to power, he would have to face violent enmity. He was in many ways a peculiar man. Though he neither drank nor smoked, he was nevertheless not so scrupulous in other ways. You comprehend, Hastings, c’était des femmes-toujours des femmes! He had married some years earlier a young lady from Brussels who had brought him a substantial lot. Undoubtedly the money was useful to him in his career, as his family was not rich, though on the other hand he was entitled to call himself M. le Baron if he chose.
There were no children of the marriage, and his wife died after two years -the result of a fall downstairs. Among the property which she bequeathed to him was a house on the Avenue Louise in Brussels. It was in this house that his sudden death took place, the event coinciding with the resignation of the Minister whose portfolio he was to inherit. All the papers printed long notices of his career. His death, which had taken place quite suddenly in the evening after dinner, was attributed to heart-failure. At that time, mon ami, I was, as you know, a member of the Belgian detective force. The death of M. Paul Déroulard was not particularly interesting to me.
I am, as you also know, bon catholique, and his demise seemed to me fortunate. It was some three days afterwards, when my vacation had just begun, that I received a visitor at my own apartments -a lady, heavily veiled, but evidently quite young; and I perceived at once that she was a jeune fille tout à fait comme il faut. “You are Monsieur Hercule Poirot?” she asked in a low sweet voice. I bowed. “Of the detective service?” Again I bowed. “Be seated, I pray of you, mademoiselle,” I said. She accepted a chair and drew aside her veil. Her face was charming, though marred with tears, and haunted as though with some poignant anxiety.
“Monsieur,” she said, “I understand that you are now taking a vacation. Therefore you will be free to take up a private case. You understand that I do not wish to call in the police.”
I shook my head. “I fear what you ask is impossible, mademoiselle. Even though on vacation, I am still of the police.”
She leaned forward. “Ecoutez, monsieur. All that I ask of you is to investigate. The result of your inv
estigations you are at perfect liberty to report to the police. If what I believe to be true is true, we shall need all the machinery of the law.”
That placed a somewhat different complexion on the matter, and I placed myself at her service without more ado. A slight colour rose in her cheeks.
“I thank you, monsieur. It is the death of M. Paul Déroulard that I ask you to investigate.”
“Comment?” I exclaimed, surprised. “Monsieur, I have nothing to go upon -nothing but my woman’s instinct, but I am convinced, convinced I tell you -that M. Déroulard did not die a natural death!”
“But surely the doctors -”
“Doctors may be mistaken. He was so robust, so strong. Ah, Monsieur Poirot, I beseech of you to help me”
The poor child was almost beside herself.
She would have knelt to me. I soothed her as best I could. “I will help you, mademoiselle. I feel almost sure that your fears are unfounded, but we will see. First, I will ask you to describe to me the inmates of the house.”
“There are the domestics, of course, Jeanette, Félicie, and Denise the cook. She has been there many years; the others are simple country girls. Also there is François, but he too is an old servant. Then there is Monsieur Déroulard’s mother who lived with him, and myself. My name is Virginie Mesnard. I am a poor cousin of the late Madame Déroulard, M. Paul's wife, and I have been a member of their ménage for over three years. I have now described to you the household. There were also two guests staying in the house.”
“And they were?”
“M. de Saint Alard, a neighbour of M. Déroulard’s in France. Also an English friend, Mr John Wilson.”
“Are they still with you?”
“Mr Wilson, yes, but M. de Saint Alard departed yesterday.”
“And what is your plan, Mademoiselle Mesnard?”
“If you will present yourself at the house in half an hour’s time, I will have arranged some story to account for your presence. I had better represent you to be connected with journalism in some way. I shall say you have come from Paris, and that you have brought a card of introduction from M. de Saint Alard. Madame Déroulard is very feeble in health, and will pay little attention to details.”
On mademoiselle’s ingenious pretext I was admitted to the house, and after a brief interview with the dead deputy’s mother, who was a wonderfully imposing and aristocratic figure though obviously in failing health, I was made free of the premises. I wonder, my friend (continued Poirot), whether you can possibly figure to yourself the difficulties of my task? Here was a man whose death had taken place three days previously. If there had been foul play, only one possibility was admittable -poison! And I had had no chance of seeing the body, and there was no possibility of examining, or analyzing, any medium in which the poison could have been administered. There were no clues, false or otherwise, to consider. Had the man been poisoned? Had he died a natural death? I, Hercule Poirot, with nothing to help me, had to decide.