The week of September 12th to 17th is 'Agatha Christie Week'.I’d love to be there now. But what could/would I do/see/read if I were there?
Well ! I just wish i was there, though !
Well ! I just wish i was there, though !
"Ankle deep, he waded through the bluebells. His spirit rose and exalted... as he breathed in the sun-drenched air. The glorious day was in its last decline. Long shadows lay on the sward... and from above the leaves dripped their shimmering drops of gold-green light. Moths and butterflies swarmed in merry hosts... flittering here, glimmering there. But, hush. Could that be a deer?" When we were searching for "Tess of d'Urbervilles" in the library memories rushed in, almost overwhelming me. Memories of school days when I would look at a bookshelf and see different worlds, when Hercule Poirot and Dirk Pitt and Sherlock Holmes loomed larger than life, when the reality of life was less real than those in books, when my sadness and happiness and mood changes did not depend on what happened in the life I was living but in the lives of characters that I was closely following, when even though the only place I had been to, other than Bangalore, that too occasionally...
Comments
1864 Hercule Poirot and his twin bother Achille are born (Two points here: 1) There is some debate as to whether Achille is real or not, I am in favour of him being real; 2) A number of dates have been put forward for the birth of Poirot 1839 - 44, 1849- 54, 1864, 1884. Symons suggested 1864 which I took)
1864 The Holmes Family on their second continental tour visit the Poirots, who may be related through the Vernets (Suggested by the passage in THE LABOURS OF HERCULES where Poirot's friend Dr Burton is wondering how Poirot got his name "Thinking of an imaginary conversation. Your Mother and the Late Mrs Holmes, sitting sewing little garments or knitting: Achille, Hercule, Sherlock, Mycroft." Burton may have based this on a comment from Poirot)
Circa 1893 Poirot Joins either the French or Belgian Secret Service
1901 "Did Sherlock Holmes Meet Hercule-?" Short Story by Julian Symons in ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE Mid Dec 1987 Sherlock Holmes meets Poirot who is posing as the Chef of a French Diplomat.
1904 Hercule Poirot joins the Belgian Police and immediately becomes involved in the Abercrombie Case with Inspector Japp.
1909 "The Chocolate Box" ( in early version of this adventure Poirot makes reference to a younger sister Yvette, Poirot also refers to this case as taking place in 1893)
1914 Poirot has completed his mission in the Belgian police and is "due to retire" when Germany invades neutral Belgium. Poirot joins the resistance and is at one point saved by a French General.
1916 Poirot leaves Belgium and becomes a refugee in England.
July 1916 THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
1918 "The Kidnapped Prime Minister"
"The Lemesurie Inheritance"
1919 "The Affair at the Victory Ball"
1920 "The Disappearance of Mr Davisheim"
"The Plymouth Express"
"The Adventure of the Cheap Flat"
"The Submarine Plans"
"The Adventure of the Chapham Cook"
1921 "The Cornish Mystery"
"The Tragedy at Marsden Manor"
"The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge"
"The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb"
"The Jewelry Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan"
"Double Sin"
1922 "The Market Basing Mystery"
"The King of Clubs"
"The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman"
"The Double Clue" (Poirot meets Countess Vera Rossakoff for the first time.)
"The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly"
"The Case of the Missing Will"
"The Million Dollar Bond"
1923 "The Veiled Lady"
"The Adventure of the Western Star"
MURDER ON THE LINKS
"The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding" (This case was expanded and updated as "The Theft of a Royal Ruby" in the 1950's)
1924 THE BIG FOUR (This adventure is the only appearance of Achille Poirot who dies at the end of this adventure. Countess Rossakoff aids Poirot, Poirot rescues the Countess' son Niki and is going to propose at the end of this adventure which has led to speculation that Poirot is Niki's father)
1925 Poirot is retired for a year
1926 MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
THE MURDER OF THE BLUE TRAIN
1929 "The Third Floor Flat"
"The Underdog"
"Wasp's Nest"
1930 BLACK COFFEE (play by Christie)
"The Second Gong" (Expanded with new ending as "Dead Man's Mirror")
"The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest" (expanded and updated as "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest" in the fifties)
1931 PERIL AT END HOUSE
1932 LORD EDGEWARE DIES
MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
Sept "About Maigret and the Stolen Papers" by Julian Symons in THE GREAT DETECTIVES Maigret meet Poirot
1933 THREE ACT TRAGEDY (Poirot meets Mr Satterthwaite the associate of Harley Quin)
1934 Sept DEATH IN THE CLOUDS
1935 "How Does Your Garden Grow"
A CASE FOR THREE DETECTIVES by Leo Bruce (Poirot, Lord Peter Wimsey and Father Brown are all beaten to the solution of this case by Sgt William Beef.
Jun - Nov THE ABC MURDERS
1936 June DUMB WITNESS
"Problem at Sea"
"Triangle at Rhodes'
"Murder in the Mews"
1937 CARDS ON THE TABLE (Poirot meets Mrs Oliver, Superintendent Battle and Col. Race)
1938 Summer "The Adventure of the Orient Express" by August Derleth (Poirot meet Solar Pons, the Saint and Ashenden)
DEATH ON THE NILE (Col. Race)
APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH
Dec HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS
1939 "Yellow Iris"
"The Dream"
ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE
Jul SAD CYPRESS
Late 1939 - Late 1940 THE LABOURS OF HERCULES
1941 Aug EVIL UNDER THE SUN
"Four and Twenty Black Birds"
1942 FIVE LITTLE PIGS
1943 "Poirot and the Regatta Mystery" (Fellow Christie Investigator Parker Pyne earlier investigated a similar case called "The Regatta Mystery")
1945 Sept THE HOLLOW
1946 TAKEN AT THE FLOOD
1951 October MURDER IN PASTICHE by Marion Mainwaring (Poirot under the name of Atlas Poireau meets Trajan Beare (Nero Wolfe), Spike Bludgeon (Mike Hammer), Mallory King (Ellery Queen), Sir John Nappleby (Sir John Appleby), Jerry Pason (Perry Mason), Lord Simon Quinsey (Lord Peter Wimsey), Miss Fan Sliver (Maud Silver) Broderick Tournier (Roderick Alleyn))
1952 MRS MCGINTY'S DEAD (Mrs Oliver)
1953 AFTER THE FUNERAL
1954 HICKORY, DICKORY DOCK
1955 DEAD MAN'S FOLLY (Mrs Oliver)
1958 CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS
1962 THE CLOCKS (Poirot meets Colin Lamb the son of Superintendent Battle)
1963 THIRD GIRL (Mrs Oliver)
1968 HALLOWE'EN PARTY (Mrs Oliver)
1971 ELEPHANTS CAN REMEMBER (Mrs Oliver)
1972 MAFIA FIX by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy (Poirot works with James Bond and Mr Moto and meets Remo Williams the Destroyer)
1973 THE STRANGE CASE OF THE END OF CIVILISATION AS WE KNOW IT (Poirot attends the Great Detective Conference held Arthur Sherlock Holmes as well as Columbo, Miles Messervy, Steve McGarrett, Sam Spade, Ironside and McCloud. The version seen of this was highly fictionalized as a spoof but it appears the Spade met his demise here and Poirot sustained injuries that caused him to be wheelchair bound for the rest of his life)
1974 CURTAIN (The Death of Poirot)