This page details the books featuring the fictional character Hercule Poirot , created by Agatha Christie .
Hercule Poirot and fictional canon
Only works written by Christie (including short stories, the novels and her play Black Coffee ) are considered canon by most fans and biographers.
The Poirot books are still under copyright in the United Kingdom. The Mysterious Affair at Styles , The Murder on the Links and Poirot Investigates are now public domain in the US but will not become public domain in the UK until 2046 (70 years after Christie's death). Christie's grandson, Mathew Prichard , now owns the copyright to his grandmother's works.
In 2013, the Christie estate authorised author Sophie Hannah to write a new Poirot book,[ 1] The Monogram Murders (2014). She later also wrote Closed Casket (2016), The Mystery of Three Quarters (2018), The Killings at Kingfisher Hill (2020) and Hercule Poirot's Silent Night (2023).[ 2]
Hercule Poirot Series in publication order
Short story collections listed as "ss"
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
The Murder on the Links (1923)
Poirot Investigates (1924, ss)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
The Big Four (1927)
The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
Black Coffee (1930 play) (A novelization by Charles Osborne was published in 1998 .)
Peril at End House (1932)
Lord Edgware Dies (1933) also published as Thirteen at Dinner
Murder on the Orient Express (1934) also published as Murder in the Calais Coach
Three Act Tragedy (1935) also published as Murder in Three Acts
Death in the Clouds (1935) also published as Death in the Air
The A.B.C. Murders (1936) also published as The Alphabet Murders
Murder in Mesopotamia (1936)
Cards on the Table (1936)
Murder in the Mews (1937, ss) also published as Dead Man's Mirror
Dumb Witness (1937) also published as Poirot Loses a Client
Death on the Nile (1937) also published as Murder on the Nile and as Hidden Horizon
Appointment with Death (1938)
Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1938) also published as Murder for Christmas and as A Holiday for Murder
Sad Cypress (1940)
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940) also published as An Overdose of Death and as The Patriotic Murders
Evil Under the Sun (1941)
Five Little Pigs (1942) also published as Murder in Retrospect
The Hollow (1946) also published as Murder after Hours
The Labours of Hercules (1947, ss)
Taken at the Flood (1948) also published as There Is a Tide
The Under Dog and Other Stories (1951, ss)
Mrs McGinty's Dead (1952) also published as Blood Will Tell
After the Funeral (1953) also published as Funerals are Fatal
Hickory Dickory Dock (1955) also published as Hickory Dickory Death
Dead Man's Folly (1956)
Cat Among the Pigeons (1959)
The Clocks (1963)
Third Girl (1966)
Hallowe'en Party (1969)
Elephants Can Remember (1972)
Poirot's Early Cases (1974, ss)
Curtain (written about 1940, published 1975) also published as Curtain: Poirot's Last Case
Stories featuring Hercule Poirot also appear in the collections The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (1939), The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories (1948), Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (1950), The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960), Double Sin and Other Stories (1961), Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories (1991), The Harlequin Tea Set (1997) and While the Light Lasts and Other Stories (1997).
Continuations not by Christie
Books and short stories in chronological order
Poirot's police years
Career as a private detective and retirement
Shortly after Poirot flees to England (1916–1919)
The Twenties (1920–1929)
Poirot settles down in London and opens a private detective agency. These are the short story years (26 short stories and only 4 novels).
The Thirties (1930–1939) and World War II
Christie increased her novel production during this time (16 novels, 24 total short stories and 1 theatre play). Twelve short stories form The Labours of Hercules . The other short stories listed here take place in this period but were published before and after the publication of Hercules . The theatre play is named Black Coffee and was written by Agatha Christie, who stated a frustration with other stage adaptations of her Poirot mysteries. In 1998, author Charles Osborne adapted the play into a novel.
Post World War II
In chronological order, only the following are set following World War II
Expanded/Adapted stories
Some Poirot adventures were later expanded into other stories or re-written. They are:
Drama
Other stories were adapted by Christie into plays, sometimes removing Poirot :
In addition, the 1930 play Black Coffee was novelized by Charles Osborne in 1998.
Other stories set in Poirot's universe
References
Characters Books
Novels Short stories Continuations
Films
Austin Trevor Peter Ustinov Kenneth Branagh Other
Television Plays Video games Other adaptations See also