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 allowed the murderer to escape justice through suicide and then withheld the truth to spare the feelings of the murderer's relatives. In "The Augean Stables", he helped the government to cover up vast corruption. In "Murder on the Orient Express", Poirot allowed the murderers to go free after discovering that twelve different people participated in the murder. The victim had been responsible for a disgusting crime which had led to the deaths of no fewer than five people. There was no question of his guilt, but he had been acquitted in America in a miscarriage of justice. Considering it poetic