The One of the most celebrated detectives in all mystery fiction, Ercul Poirot has entertained fans since his first appearance nearly a century ago.

The short eccentric Belgian detective is one of the most famous

characters created by Agatha Christie, the Queen of Mystery Fiction, and his

adventures have been adapted for the big and small screens and in the 1940s on radio.

Porro first appeared in The Mysterious Affair at Stiles, the 1920 novel that also launched the literary career of

Agatha Christie.

Porot was Belgian, and at the time Christie introduced the character, it was patriotic for the British to be sympathetic

to the Belgians.

Germany's invasion of Belgium had helped to spur British intervention into the First

World War. In fact, in that first novel,

Poro is staying at an English countryside village due to his displacement from

his home as a result of the

result of the fighting. He was short, just barely five feet four inches tall, and he was neat, so much so that Christie wrote,

A speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound.

A Belgian police chief until the outbreak of World War I,

Poro embarked on a career as a celebrated private detective.

Poro relied on deduction and logic to solve his cases, employing his brain, what he called the little gray cells, and his off their guard. Though he spoke fluent English, Poirot would occasionally play up his status as a foreigner, which would lead criminals to underestimate him and his abilities.

Poirot would appear in 33 novels, one play, and over 50 short stories written by Agatha

Christie.

Christie for her part eventually grew weary of Pero. She derided him as a detestable,

embalbastic, tiresome, egocentric little creep. Yet unlike Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,

Christie refused to kill off her character.

...