u/State_of_Planktopia

I was working on this as part of a reply to someone else and decided the rest of the sub might appreciate this.

Canonically, Poirot was not always a famous detective. In Christie's first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Poirot is virtually unknown in the UK. It is his success in the highly-publicized Styles case that puts him on the map and launches his career as a private eye. Since Poirot's career (very roughly) follows real-time, he was not famous in the UK until Styles, which occurred circa 1917.

We learn in Styles that before the Great War, Poirot has been a well-respected and high-ranking officer in the Belgian police force, eventually becoming its chief. But when the Great War broke out, Poirot joined the resistance. He was injured and escaped to the UK, likely circa 1916. He came to Styles due to the philanthropy of Mrs. Inglethorpe. In a highly insular Britain at the time, regardless of his successes in Belgium, he would've been mostly known as "just another Belgie," if he wasn't being mistaken for a "frog." We don't know exactly how long Poirot was at Styles before Mrs. Inglethorpe is murdered, but we know the events of the novel take place around the height of the war.

One of the only people in the UK who knew of Poirot's success in Belgium and his intellectual prowess was then-Detective Inspector Japp (promoted later to Chief Inspector). In Styles, Japp speaks very highly of Poirot, referencing a case where a wanted criminal had eluded police all over Europe. "But we caught him in Antwerp--thanks to Mr. Poirot here."

Poirot did not become a celebrated private detective until after the resolution of the Styles case, but his fame came extremely quickly. Chronologically, his next mystery is The Murder on the Links, which takes place in France and has (I believe) contains no particular references to his fame, although he is summoned there by a client, so we know he's a private eye and taking cases. But his next set of adventures are told in the Poirot Investigates series of short stories.

In the first of these, The Adventure of the Western Star, Poirot refers to himself as a "fashionable detective" as he is being sought out by a famous American film star. Over the course of the collection, Poirot will investigate mysteries of varying degrees of noteriety. But it's clear that right from the very beginning and as a result of the Styles affair, Poirot has catapulted to becoming one of the UK's most renown private detectives.

Over the course of Poirot Investigates, he solves numerous high-profile crimes such as The Million Dollar Bond Robbery and The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim. He also solves cases that, while not of public noteriety, give him a substantial reputation with Scotland Yard, such as with The Adventure of the Cheap Flat and, in perhaps one of the most significant cases of his entire career, The Kidnapped Prime Minister.

At the beginning of one of these significant cases, The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan, Hastings discusses just how famous and sought-after Poirot has become, stating that Poirot had become an extremely prolific work horse, due in part to his "Flemish thrift," but also because he desired to take on lesser-known cases that simply interested him. This all culminates in Poirot's involvement in The Big Four.

Therefore, based on what we know from publication history, therefore Poirot was an extremely renown and fashionable detective between (approximately) 1917 and 1926. He then famously enters retirement to grow vegetable marrows, but is catapulted back into fame with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. This is the first time, I believe, in which Poirot is described as a "has-been," a "mountebank," or "gaga." Bearing in mind that Poirot was already "elderly" in 1917 (being charitable, he was in his at youngest in his early 50's), he is likely nearly 70 by the events of Peril at End House in 1932.

The majority of Poirot cases that we're familiar with, then, take place during the twilight of his career. If time scaled perfectly with real life, Poirot would be about 100 during the events of Curtain. Christie herself talked about the difficulty of having made her sleuth already elderly at the beginning, and so it's likely that, unlike Tommy and Tuppence who do seem to scale perfectly with real life, Poirot ages a little bit slower.

As a sidenote, if we MUST have new canonical Poirot stories, I would really like to see them set in the early twenties during the pinnacle of his career with Hastings as his sidekick. An author could write nearly anything during that time period and it could potentially make sense, given the amount of work and the scale of the mysteries that Poirot solved in that period.

I hope y'all find that interesting, and feel free to double check me on various things. I did a little bit of research on this but I'm going off my memory for the content of some of the stories.

>! Should not have been allowed to get away with it!!<

As a reminder, it's a Poirot short story in which a young boy is kidnapped from his opulent home. As it turns out, >! The boy's father is responsible for the kidnapping, having colluded with the estate's long-serving butler and an unknown friend to stage the kidnapping. The motive is to get his wife, who holds the purse strings, to pay the ransom. At the end, Poirot gives him another chance because he's a "good father at heart" and because his name is honored, and Poirot warns him "not to jeopardize it again"!<

And I'm sorry, Poirot, but that's rubbish! >! I admit that this man never harmed his son, but he did harm basically everybody else as part of his scheme. He used the event as an excuse to fire all the servants except the butler, which may have been a secondary objective so that be could stop paying them without having to admit financial insecurity, but which nevertheless would've inevitably caused them extreme hardship. Who would want to hire a servant who was suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of a child?!<

Moreover, >!he utterly wasted police resources over the course of numerous days, not only to protect against the initial kidnapping threat but also for the search for the boy afterwards. He also made it look like the police had totally bungled the affair, which was extremely publicized, when in reality he was just using them to avoid suspicion.!<

Finally, and most importantly, >! He lied to his wife, tried to scam her out of her money, and put her through days of fear and anxiety over the safety of her child. He also didn't have any particular reason for doing this, it's not like mobsters were going to break his knees or anything, he just wanted some of her money. She deserved to know that her husband had devised this plot and to be given the chance to decide whether to hush up the affair or to publicly prosecute and divorce him -- Poirot absolutely shouldn't have made that decision unilaterally.!<

Just listened to this story for the umpteenth time and it finally irritated me enough to post here so thanks for reading. I usually agree with Poirot's decisions but this is one where I think he was utterly maladroit.

I've been thinking about trying to curate this list for a while now but was finally inspired to do it after rereading the short story Wasps' Nest. I don't think this list is perfect so please tell me if I've missed some!

By direct intervention

>!Three Act Tragedy – Muriel Wills (by hiding her from the killer)!<

>!Cards on the Table – Rhoda Dawes (by interrupting the killer, as Despard wouldn't have been there to save her were it not for Poirot)!<

>!Dumb Witness – Jacob Tanios (by hiding him from the killer)!<

>!The Hollow –  Henrietta Savernake (by interrupting the killer)!<

>!Taken at the Flood – Lynn Marchmont (by interrupting the killer)!<

>!Hallowe'en Party –  Miranda Butler (by interrupting the killer, he may not have stoped the sacrifice directly but the men he sent did)!<

>!The Adventure of the Cheap Flat – Mrs. Robinson and her husband (by lying in wait for the killer)!<

>!The Cretan Bull – Hugh Chandler (by stopping his suicide)!<

>!The Flock of Geryon – Miss Carnaby (by interrupting the killer)!<

>!The Lemesurier Inheritance – Ronald Lemesurier (by interrupting the killer)!<

>!Wasps’ Nest – John Harrison and Claude Langton (by stopping his suicide and thus foiling the murder plot)!<

By solving the case:

>!The Mysterious Affair at Styles – John Cavendish!<

>!The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Ralph Paton!<

>!The ABC Murders – Alexander Bonaparte Cust!<

>!Lord Edgware Dies – Ronald Marsh!<

>!Taken At the Flood – Rowley Cloade!<

>!Mrs. McGinty's Dead – James Bentley!<

>!Murder in the Mews – Major Eustace!<

>!Triangle at Rhodes – Douglas Gold!<

>!The Underdog – Charles Leverson!<

>!The Cornish Mystery – Mr. Pengelley!<

>!The Lost Mine – Charles Lester!<

>!The Market Basing Mystery – Mr. Parker!<

>!How Does Your Garden Grow? – Katrina Reiger!<

I'd say that in each of these cases, there was at least an 85% chance that the wrongfully-accused individual would've been convicted and hanged were it not for Poirot. In the case of >!Rowley Cloade, had Poirot not stopped him from murdering Lynn, he would've been hanged for that murder even if not for the others.!<

There are arguments to be made for novels like >!Murder on the Orient Express or Curtain!< which I felt are too indirect or nebulous to be included on this list. The same is true for six or seven short stories – I'm trying to contain the list only to cases where, but for Poirot's direct action, someone would've died or been wrongfully hanged. 

So the tally is: 7 murders interrupted  2 suicides prevented 2 victims successfully hidden 13 wrongful executions avoided 26 innocent lives save

Thanks to a great suggestion by u/_prettiestkitty and the quick work of our fine moderator Noel, we now have access to flairs! I am now the LIQUID FILTH I always dreamed of!!

To set your own flair for this community, go to the page's community tab (tap on the r/Columbo above), tap the three dots in the top right hand corner, and pick "Set user flair." There's a couple of preset options or you can make your own!

Thanks for setting it up for us Noel!!

I watched the first 2 episodes of Poker Face and while I liked Charlie's character (which really surprised me) I didn't carry for the story arc where she's being chased across the country. Should I give it another try or meh?

I really liked the Casino episode. Subway guy was meh.

Also for those not in the know, Poker Face is contemporary TV show with an inverted format similar to Columbo.

There has never been a single attempt at an adaptation of Dame Agatha's ancient Egyptian mystery, and for a variety of reasons, I honestly don't think there ever will be. But this is one of my favorite books because I find ancient Egypt to be very interesting and this book is so unique! So I can dream...

But Death Comes As the End is kind of a terrible title. I've seen more than a few people refer to it as "Death Comes At the End" which makes more sense but also doesn't convey the original (kind of obscure) meaning. They certainly can't use this title if they want anyone to actually watch it, and there were no alternative English titles to look up.

So what would be some ideas? The only non-English title I found that doesn't relate to the English title was the German release, which translates to "Avenging Spirits." That's not bad. I had been thinking "The Curse of Nofret," and I imagine a movie poster with a giant, towering, ghostly, sly-looking Nofret with her arms folded and the pyramids visible behind her slightly-transluscent body, and the family standing in a kind of triangle formation below her in the foreground.