Hercule Poirot: Difference between revisions

* [[The Corrupter]]: {{spoiler|Stephen Norton in ''Curtain''}}

* [[Creator Backlash]]: as the quote at the top of this article suggests, Agatha Christie much preferred her other character, [[Miss Marple]].

* [[Death in The Clouds]]: Christie's 1935 novel of that title is the [[Trope Namer]].

* [[Detective Patsy]]: Poirot is far too clever to fall for this, but occasionally he despairs of Hastings.

* [[Fridge Horror]]: At the end of ''Three Act Tragedy'', Mr Satterthwaite and Poirot both realise that either of them could have died- and given that they're the sleuths, the murderer may well have got away with it. It gets worse- if Poirot had died, the murderer may or may not have managed to get away with it, but think of how many other criminals would have escaped if Poirot hadn't been there to figure out their crimes...

* [[Funny Foreigner]]: a deliberate front, as pointed out in ''Three-Act Tragedy''.

* [[Insistent Terminology]]: Poirot is '''Belgian''', not '''French'''.

* [[Insufferable Genius]]: Sometimes comes off as this.

* [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]]: Poirot often comes off as an arrogant, vain egotist, but he's got a good, kind heart underneath it all.

* [[The Lestrade]]: Inspector Japp. Giraud from ''Murder on the Links'' is a parody of this type.

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Poirot frequently plays the dotty old man to disarm suspects, making them more vulnerable to his questioning. He also uses his accent to this purpose, as he explains in ''Three-Act Tragedy'':

{{quote| ''"It is true that I can speak the exact, the idiomatic English. But, my friend, to speak the broken English is an enormous asset. It leads people to despise you. They say - a foreigner - he can't even speak English properly. It is not my policy to terrify people - instead, I invite their gentle ridicule. Also I boast! An Englishman he says often, 'A fellow who thinks as much of himself as that cannot be worth much.' That is the English point of view. It is not at all true. And so, you see, I put people off their guard."''}}

* [[Poirot Speak]]: ''Naturellement''. Although it's usually justified as being part of an [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] [[Funny Foreigner]] act; Poirot actually speaks very good English, but people tend to let their guard down around someone who doesn't even seem to speak the language clearly.

* [[Pretty Little Headshots]]: Someone is killed by this method in Poirot's last case, ''Curtain''. {{spoiler|It turns out to be a major [[Chekhov's Gun]]}}

* [[Sarcastic Devotee]]: Captain Hastings, at times. Hastings relates a story where (in a shout out to [[Sherlock Holmes]]) Poirot failed to solve a mystery involving a box of chocolates. After that affair, Poirot tells Hastings that if he ever acts too conceited, he should use the words "chocolate box" to bring him down a peg. Poirot isn't amused when Hastings uses the code words a minute and a quarter later.

* [[Starbucks Skin Scale]]: In "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding", there is a young man from an unnamed Eastern country who has a "coffee-coloured face".

* [[Super OCD]]: Some books hinted at this, but of course, that's what makes him a good detective.

[[Category:Mystery Literature]]

[[Category:Hercule Poirot]]