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
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