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
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