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
Parker Pyne Investigates comprises twelve of her fourteen stories featuring detective James Parker Pyne; the two remaining stories, "Problem at Pollensa Bay" and "The Regatta Mystery" were later collected in "The Regatta Mystery" in 1939 in the US and in "Problem at Pollensa Bay" in the UK in 1991 although these were originally stories featuring Hercule Poirot when they were first published in the "Strand Magazine" in 1935 and 1936 respectively. The book also features the first appearance of the characters of Ariadne Oliver, and Miss Felicity Lemon, both of whom would go on to have working relationships with Hercule Poirot in later