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
Hercule Poirot childhood in or near the town of Spa, Belgium: "But we did not go into Spa itself. We left the main road and wound into the leafy fastnesses of the hills, till we reached a little hamlet and an isolated white villa high on the hillside." Christie strongly implies that this "quiet retreat in the Ardennes" near Spa is the location of the Poirot family home. An alternative tradition holds that Poirot was born in the village of Ellezelles (province of Hainaut, Belgium). A few memorials dedicated to Hercule Poirot can be seen in the centre of this village. There