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
Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None Adventure Company chose the novel "And Then There Were None" as the first game, instead of other Christie novels involving famous detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, for several reasons. Among them was the popularity of the novel, which would help with marketing; and the island nature of the story which would provide a natural barrier, while allowing more freedom of movement for the players within that confined area. One major obstacle in the development of "And Then There Were None" was gaining the approval of aspects of the game from Chorion, the company which owns the rights to Agatha