Hercule Poirot available to solve mysteries at an English country house. At the time of Christie's writing, it was considered patriotic to express sympathy towards the Belgians, since the invasion of their country had constituted Britain's "casus belli" for entering World War I, and British wartime propaganda emphasised the "Rape of Belgium". Poirot first appeared in "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" (published in 1920) and exited in "Curtain" (published in 1975). Following the latter, Poirot was the only fictional character to receive an obituary on the front page of "The New York Times". By 1930, Agatha Christie found Poirot "insufferable", and, by
Hercule Poirot On the ITV television series, Poirot died in October 1949 from complications of a heart condition at the end of "Curtain: Poirot's Last Case" {This took place at Styles Court scene of his first English case in 1916}. In Christie's novels, he lived into the late 1960s, perhaps even until 1975 when "Curtain" was published. In both the novel and the television adaptation, he had moved his amyl nitrite pills out of his own reach, possibly because of guilt. He thereby became the murderer in "Curtain", although it was for the benefit of others. Poirot himself noted that he wanted