Arthur Hastings 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 eight other Poirot novels and plays, in addition to being the narrator of several others. Hastings is today strongly associated with Poirot, due more to the changes in the television adaptations compared to the novels. Many of the early TV episodes of "Agatha Christie's Poirot" were adaptations of short stories, in most of
Hercule Poirot in literature with the time Agatha Christie was writing even though it created minor discrepancies). Many people believe, from her later works, that Poirot retired from police work at around 50, but this is untrue, because as shown in the short story "The Chocolate Box", he retired at around 30. By accepting the date given in "The Chocolate Box" over later novels, which never gave precise ages anyway, it can be explained why Poirot is around for so long. Also the debate over Poirot’s family is fuelled mainly by the fact that he mentions a sister in the original publication of "The