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
Hercule Poirot in literature and Hercule Poirot mysteries become rare. In 36 years Agatha Christie wrote only 13 novels and one short story. Some Poirot adventures were later expanded into other stories or re-written. They are: 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. Hercule Poirot in literature This page details the books featuring the fictional character Hercule Poirot. The sets of rules involving "official" details of the "lives" and "works" of fictional characters vary from one fictional universe to the next according to the canon established