Hercule Poirot of Police of Brussels, until "the Great War" (World War I) forced him to leave for England. (In "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" Poirot had retired at age 55 in 1905) I had called in at my friend Poirot's rooms to find him sadly overworked. So much had he become the rage that every rich woman who had mislaid a bracelet or lost a pet kitten rushed to secure the services of the great Hercule Poirot. During World War I, Poirot left Belgium for England as a refugee (although he returned a few times). On 16 July 1916 he again
Poirot Investigates clue. According to Poirot, Miss Marsh proved her superior intelligence by employing Poirot to solve the case. The American edition of the book, published one year later, featured an additional three stories which did not appear in book form in the UK until 1974 with the publication of "Poirot's Early Cases". The review in "The Times Literary Supplement" of 3 April 1924 began with a note of caution but then became more positive: "When in the first of M. Poirot's adventures, we find a famous diamond that has been the eye of a god and a cryptic message that it