Arthur Hastings of the short stories featuring Poirot, but appears in only eight of the novels, seven of which were written before 1940: Hastings is also the narrator of all stories in "Poirot Investigates" (1924), a collection of short stories. Hastings is also present in Christie's play "Black Coffee" (1930) and its novelisation alongside Poirot. Arthur Hastings Captain Arthur J. M. Hastings, OBE, is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie as the companion-chronicler and best friend of the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. He is first introduced in Christie's 1920 novel "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" and appears as a character in
The Adventure of the Clapham Cook (short story) The Adventure of the Clapham Cook (short story) "The Adventure of the Clapham Cook" is a short story by crime fiction writer Agatha Christie. It features the writer's famous detective Hercule Poirot and his companion Captain Arthur Hastings. The story was first published in 1924 in the British weekly journal, "The Sketch", as part of the series, "The Grey Cells of M. Poirot II". It also was featured in a collection of short stories entitled "The Second Omnibus of Crime" by author Dorothy L. Sayers first published in 1932. It first appeared in book form in the U.S. in 1951