Hercule Poirot , the world-renowned Belgian detective with the egg-shaped head and magnificent mustache, has remained a fixture of detective fiction for over a century. Created by Agatha Christie in her 1920 debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles , Poirot’s success was as much about his psychological depth as it was his "little grey cells". The Birth of a Legend
Agatha Christie’s official site notes that the inspiration for Poirot came during World War I when Britain welcomed hundreds of Belgian refugees. Christie, then working in a hospital dispensary surrounded by poisons, decided her first detective should be an outsider—a retired Belgian policeman with a penchant for order and method. Agatha Christie - Logos con carne Agatha Christie: Poirot