Which author created the detective Hercule Poirot?

Agatha Christie created the detective Hercule Poirot. Poirot is a fictional Belgian investigator whose precise logic, attention to detail, and famous “little grey cells” made him one of crime fiction’s most recognizable detectives.

Poirot first appeared in Christie’s 1920 novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles. He is introduced as a former Belgian police officer living in England after fleeing the First World War. His unusual appearance, formal manners, carefully groomed moustache, and insistence on orderly reasoning distinguish him from many other fictional detectives.

Christie placed Poirot in more than thirty novels and numerous short stories. Notable cases include Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, The ABC Murders, and Curtain, the final Poirot novel published during Christie’s lifetime. His investigations often rely on interviews, psychology, contradictions, and reconstructing the crime from clues rather than dramatic action.

A common mix-up is assuming Poirot was created by a Belgian writer because of his nationality. The character was created by Agatha Christie, an English novelist. Christie also created Miss Marple, but Miss Marple is a separate detective with a very different investigative style.