Karen's Reviews > Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories

So, who is Hercule Poirot?

Agatha Christie fans will appreciate her imaginative powers of creation in this particular character – a refugee from the German invasion of Belgium that brought Britain into WWI. She gave him such a rich history. He became a ranking policeman in the city of Brussels, before coming to London to become a private investigator solving crimes and sharing a flat with an ex-officer of that same war, Captain Hastings.

In many respects, we could also see Captain Hastings as his Dr. Watson, the man who would carry the revolver in emergencies and who was the sounding board for his theories.

Christie made Poirot in his first case, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, a foolish-type figure. She was very particular in her description of him as a short, portly man, with an egg-shaped head.

And… Let us not forget his little mannerisms, and his attention to his mustache. Always attention to his most famous mustache.

Or…His immaculate clothes of a bygone era.

Still…She also gave him an incisive brain similar to that of Sherlock Holmes. A sharp mind that could cut through any lies or secrets and find the murderer when not even Scotland Yard’s greatest detectives could.

David Suchet, portrayed Poirot to perfection in the PBS series. Albert Finney did so on ‘Murder on the Orient Express.’

But… Suchet is the one I see when I visualized Poirot and read these 51 grand short stories this past month in-between all the other books I was reading and reviewing.

Still… Even as I allowed myself to be carried away in these stories that I have read before (because they still felt as fresh as if I had never read them or seen them performed)…

Who was Poirot really?

Poirot is a bit of a mystery himself. Christie doesn’t divulge a lot about him.

Like…how old was he really? Why did he choose not to marry? What was his connection to Captain Hastings? How did Poirot earn a statue in his Belgian town? How did he earn the money to live so well?

Like Christie…Poirot has secrets.

Can we as readers find out just a little bit more of Poirot through these pages? Besides what Poirot solves in each of these cases?

What I can say is that anyone who is an Agatha Christie fan of Poirot, this will be a joyful read.

For those unfamiliar, this is a chance to learn about a “new” crime professional.

Any one of these stories will be an opportunity to breeze through times past and experience a different way of solving crimes. Using one’s keen observations. Letting his gray cells be awakened and our reading pleasures be ignited.

Either way, we all get something from the experience.