Agatha Christie her service in September 1918. After the war, Agatha and Archie Christie settled in a flat at 5 Northwick Terrace in St. John's Wood, northwest London. Christie had long been a fan of detective novels, having enjoyed Wilkie Collins's "The Woman in White" and "The Moonstone", as well as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's early Sherlock Holmes stories. She wrote her own detective novel, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", featuring Hercule Poirot, a former Belgian police officer noted for his twirly large "magnificent moustaches" and egg-shaped head. Poirot had taken refuge in Britain after Germany invaded Belgium. Christie's inspiration for the
Inspector Japp Inspector Japp Detective Chief Inspector James Japp (later Assistant Commissioner Japp) is a fictional character who appears in several of Agatha Christie's novels featuring Hercule Poirot. Japp has been depicted in seven novels written by Christie, all featuring Hercule Poirot: In most of these appearances, Japp is a minor character with minimal interactions with Poirot or involvement in the plot. However, Japp emerges as a major character and partner to Poirot in "Lord Edgware Dies". He returns in this capacity in "Death in the Clouds" and "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe", before being written out of the series. In number