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 of the deductions Poirot makes, he never doubts nor discounts them (as, for instance, Japp initially might), no matter how fantastical. "The Man in the Brown Suit" is perhaps the only novel in which the emotional side of Colonel Race's nature has been given consideration. It gives depth to his personality. In the 1978 film of "Death on the Nile" Colonel Race was played by David Niven. In the same book's 2004 TV adaptation for the television series "Agatha Christie's Poirot", he was played by James Fox. As Fox was unavailable for the 2006 adaptation of "Cards on the Table"