Hercule Poirot

With sales of her books topping 4 billion copies worldwide, this much is clear: Agatha Christie (1890-1976) knew how to spin a mystery. Now it turns out she knew how to live one too. In a plot twist fit for one of her delectable tales, Christie secretly stashed a finished short story amid the notebooks and journals in which she sketched out her books. The almost 6,800-word story, never published in her lifetime, features Hercule Poirot, the dapper detective made famous in several of Christie's novels.

Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple - residents of Silver Spring, Md.? British novelist Agatha Christie's classic mysteries, such as "Murder on the Orient Express," now belong to a U.S. company. Acorn Media Group snapped up 64% of Christie's literary estate, making the private company the majority owner of more than 80 novels, 19 plays and nearly 40 television films. The collection had belonged to Chorion Ltd. of London for more than a decade. Christie, who died in 1976, is considered the bestselling novelist of all time, with more than 2 billion books sold.

Five years away from the gumshoe habit, David Suchet reports he had trouble finding the talk and walk of Agatha Christie's detective, Hercule Poirot.

Last summer, while browsing in a used bookstore in San Luis Obispo, I discovered something I thought no longer existed -- an Agatha Christie novel I had not read. Anyone monitoring my vital signs would have thought I had discovered the next Gnostic gospel or a lost play of Shakespeare's. Clutching it tightly as if someone might snatch it from me, I quickly bought it. I promised myself I would take my time, savor the experience and read only a few pages at a time. Instead, I finished it the next day. Now it resides beside its sisters in my Agatha box, a crate at the foot of my bed. I don't own all of the 66 mystery novels and 14 short-story collections that Christie wrote, but I have most of them and I read them over and over again, in rotation, throughout the year.

"Murder in the Mews" by Agatha Christie. Read by Nigel Hawthorne. Listen for Pleasure. A long short story, unabridged, starring Hercule Poirot and his dense pal Inspector Japp, exploring an apparent murder crudely disguised as suicide--or not, as the case may be. Unfortunately Hawthorne makes vocal cartoons of Poirot, Japp and the lesser characters, sounding in sum like a graduation exercise at an acting school. The Christie story, with its twists and surprises, survives. Just. 1/2

I loved Howard Rosenberg's column on "Mystery!" ("The British Have Mystery of Whodunits Solved," Sept. 29). I have been watching it for years, along with "Masterpiece Theatre." I think the "Mystery!" Top 10 should have included the Hercule Poirot series, if for no other reason than its charm. I read where mystery books outsell almost all other types of genre. Why are U.S. studios ignoring this lucrative market? But please, no more "Murder, She Wrote." I want more "Prime Suspect."

Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple - residents of Silver Spring, Md.? British novelist Agatha Christie's classic mysteries, such as "Murder on the Orient Express," now belong to a U.S. company. Acorn Media Group snapped up 64% of Christie's literary estate, making the private company the majority owner of more than 80 novels, 19 plays and nearly 40 television films. The collection had belonged to Chorion Ltd. of London for more than a decade. Christie, who died in 1976, is considered the bestselling novelist of all time, with more than 2 billion books sold.

Hercule Poirot, all greased and arrogant as usual, has come to investigate a murder--his own. And when he learns that it will not be an interesting murder but a simple, mundane and everyday heart attack, he is furious. (We know his ego.) He insists to his Maker that he "wants a proper death worthy of both of us!" "Murder by the Book," an hour drama airing Sunday at 5 p.m. and again at 9 p.m.

With sales of her books topping 4 billion copies worldwide, this much is clear: Agatha Christie (1890-1976) knew how to spin a mystery. Now it turns out she knew how to live one too. In a plot twist fit for one of her delectable tales, Christie secretly stashed a finished short story amid the notebooks and journals in which she sketched out her books. The almost 6,800-word story, never published in her lifetime, features Hercule Poirot, the dapper detective made famous in several of Christie's novels.

Dame Agatha Christie remains the gold standard of mystery writers not only for her productivity -- the woman wrote 80 detective novels -- but also for her permanence. One could argue that Sherlock Holmes is the most universally famous detective, but Arthur Conan Doyle had but one iconic offspring while Christie had two -- Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. (Four if you count the wonderful Tommy and Tuppence; five if you add, and I do, Mr. Satterthwaite of the Harley Quin stories.

A dark and mysterious thing has happened. Agatha Christie's masterful Belgian detective of an earlier time, Hercule Poirot, has disappeared. The wax-sculpted mustache with tips saluting the heavens like tiny cathedral spires? Gone. The "twinkle" in the eye? Gone. The "mincing gait with . . . feet tightly enclosed in . . . patent leather shoes"? Gone. The vain, prissy, fussy, dust-free, dandified, sexually ambivalent, immodest little man who sees "with the eyes of the mind"? Gone.

After a five-year hiatus, David Suchet was thrilled to reprise his popular role as Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie's brilliant and eccentric Belgian detective, in the new A&E movie, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd," premiering Sunday. In fact, the British actor thought it would be a snap to get back into Poirot's shoes, having played the legendary sleuth on TV for more than six years. But that wasn't the case.

Five years away from the gumshoe habit, David Suchet reports he had trouble finding the talk and walk of Agatha Christie's detective, Hercule Poirot.

One of the many ways David Suchet prepares for a theatrical role is by making private lists of the attributes he shares with his character and those he doesn't. Seeing him without the weight and waxed mustache of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, then it's fun to imagine what he might have in common with the brainy, pompous, irritating and charming Belgian detective with whom he has become so identified.

Mon Dieu! Good things don't have to end, but frequently do. So PBS says that this will be the final season for Hercule Poirot on "Mystery!" The first-run finale for Agatha Christie's Belgian brain, played with such persnickety elegance by David Suchet, will come in two stages. New Poirot mysteries arrive Oct. 31 and Nov. 14, then come reruns of older Poirots through Christmas.

Last summer, while browsing in a used bookstore in San Luis Obispo, I discovered something I thought no longer existed -- an Agatha Christie novel I had not read. Anyone monitoring my vital signs would have thought I had discovered the next Gnostic gospel or a lost play of Shakespeare's. Clutching it tightly as if someone might snatch it from me, I quickly bought it. I promised myself I would take my time, savor the experience and read only a few pages at a time. Instead, I finished it the next day. Now it resides beside its sisters in my Agatha box, a crate at the foot of my bed. I don't own all of the 66 mystery novels and 14 short-story collections that Christie wrote, but I have most of them and I read them over and over again, in rotation, throughout the year.

I loved Howard Rosenberg's column on "Mystery!" ("The British Have Mystery of Whodunits Solved," Sept. 29). I have been watching it for years, along with "Masterpiece Theatre." I think the "Mystery!" Top 10 should have included the Hercule Poirot series, if for no other reason than its charm. I read where mystery books outsell almost all other types of genre. Why are U.S. studios ignoring this lucrative market? But please, no more "Murder, She Wrote." I want more "Prime Suspect."

Mon Dieu! Good things don't have to end, but frequently do. So PBS says that this will be the final season for Hercule Poirot on "Mystery!" The first-run finale for Agatha Christie's Belgian brain, played with such persnickety elegance by David Suchet, will come in two stages. New Poirot mysteries arrive Oct. 31 and Nov. 14, then come reruns of older Poirots through Christmas.