Hercule Poirot met his lifelong friend, Captain Arthur Hastings, and solved the first of his cases to be published, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles". It is clear that Hastings and Poirot are already friends when they meet in Chapter 2 of the novel, as Hastings tells Cynthia that he has not seen him for "some years". Particulars such as the date of 1916 for the case and that Hastings had met Poirot in Belgium, are given in "Curtain: Poirot's Last Case", Chapter 1. After that case, Poirot apparently came to the attention of the British secret service and undertook cases for the
Recurring characters in the Hercule Poirot stories an electric bill. Poirot described her as ""Unbelievably ugly and incredibly efficient. Anything that she mentioned as worth consideration usually was worth consideration."" She is an expert on nearly everything and plans to create the perfect filing system. She once worked for the government agent-turned-philanthropist, Parker Pyne. Whether this was during one of Poirot's numerous retirements or before she entered his employ is unknown. Japp is an Inspector at Scotland Yard and appears in many of the stories, trying to solve the cases Poirot is working on. Japp is an outward-looking, loud and sometimes inconsiderate man, and his relationship with