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 Poirot focuses on getting people to talk. In the early novels, he casts himself in the role of "Papa Poirot", a benign confessor, especially to young women. In later works, Christie made a point of having Poirot supply false or misleading information about himself or his background to assist him in obtaining information. In "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd", Poirot speaks of a non-existent mentally disabled nephew to uncover information about homes for the mentally unfit. In "Dumb Witness", Poirot invents an elderly invalid mother as a pretence to investigate local nurses. In "The Big Four", Poirot pretends to have