History Poirot / PoirotTropesEToM

* EvilDetectingDog:
** One example is Bob, the titular character of ''Dumb Witness'', who sees the motives of the murderer at night and knows what they're up to.
** Lady Ravenscroft's dog in ''Elephants Can Remember,'' which knows ''something'' is wrong with its mistress.

* FakeTwinGambit: Done briefly in [[spoiler: ''Elephants Can Remember'']] in order to fulfil a LastRequest, but with tragic results.

* ItsForABook: Used as a cover by the killer in ''Elephants Can Remember'' - mildly lampshaded in that even the killer is surprised that the victim fell for it.

* EiffelTowerEffect: ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile'', In-universe; walking around temple ruins the young heiress wonders where all the pyramids are, thinking Egypt is full of them.

** Japp does this in ''Literature/EvilUnderTheSun'', identifying [[spoiler:heroin]].

* GenderFlip: Linda Marshall becomes Lionel Marshall in this adaptation of ''Literature/EvilUnderTheSun''.

* ISurrenderSuckers[=/=]SoreLoser: Toward the end of ''Literature/EvilUnderTheSun'', [[spoiler:after Poirot denounces Patrick Redfern as the murderer, Redfern makes a toast to Poirot, and then, just as he approaches as if to congratulate Poirot, he makes a surprise attack by attempting to strangle Poirot. Leave it to Hastings to save the day. In the original novel, he attacked Poirot without any prior pretence at gracefully conceding.]]

* EverybodyDidIt: The former {{Trope Namer|s}} itself, [[spoiler:''Murder On the Orient Express'']].

* EvilIsDeathlyCold: In ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'', the train's generator fails soon after it runs into the snowdrift, so everything gets progressively colder and darker as Poirot comes closer to the truth. In the novel, the victim's compartment was cold because the window was left open.

** Towards the end of ''Murder on the Orient Express'', [[spoiler:after Poirot refuses to show mercy to the Armstrong family and gets into a heated argument with Xavier Bouc, Colonel John Arbuthnot gets up and intends to shoot them both dead while placing the blame on Casetti's "assassin", but Mary Debenham stops Arbuthnot, telling him that if he kills Poirot and Bouc, he would be just like Casetti. Arbuthnot gives in to her advice.]]

** The adaptation of ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'' was filmed in the UK with a series of Wagon-Lits Pullman lounge cars and a British steam locomotive. The Simplon-Orient-Express did periodically have Pullmans, but only west of Italy - and not exclusively. Also partly for ''Literature/TheMysteryOfTheBlueTrain'', which did have Pullmans.

* KarmaHoudini: While it's largely left open to interpretation, it's implied that this happens to the murderers at the end of ''Murder on the Orient Express'', much like in the novel.

** Invoked in ''Murder on the Orient Express'', when Poirot points out that, judging by the angles, some of the stabs on the AssholeVictim were made by right-handed people, and others by left-handed people.

* MenDontCry: Played straight in ''Murder on the Orient Express'': [[spoiler:at the end, Poirot reluctantly and grudgingly lets the family of killers go free, and yet he still struggles with the decision while holding back his tears as he walks off while clutching the rosary in his hand.]]

* EatTheDog: Darkly subverted and played for laughs during ''The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim.'' Poirot is shanghaied into taking care of a parrot for an entire week, one who annoys him sufficiently that he alternatively deigns to train or threaten it depending on his mood. Sufficiently annoyed, he invites Hastings and Japp to a lovely fowl roast dinner, which they proceed to cut up and eat in front of the parrot who spends a great part of their meal shrieking in fearful distress.

** In ''The Veiled Lady'', just when the search for the two suspects is growing cold, Hastings hears a meow from a random cat, who sneaks in to their hiding place and rubs on them, all the while meowing and purring. It doesn't take long for Hastings, Japp and Poirot to figure out where the suspects are.

** At the beginning of ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'', we get a close-up of Poirot's feet, then his hands, and finally his head, albeit in separate shots.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: A character who lives in {{UsefulNotes/Wimbledon}} comments in ''The Veiled Lady'', "It hasn't been the same 'round here since they started the tennis up the road. You get all these riff-raff come to watch!"

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Poirot looks straight to the camera in the final scene of ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'', after ending his VoiceOverLetter with [[spoiler: "They were good days. Yes, they have been good days.", bidding his farewell not only to Hastings, but also to the viewers.]]

* MagicianDetective: Temporarily in ''The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim'': he uses the magic tricks of a StageMagician, which he learned from reading a book called ''The Boy's Book of Conjuring'' (which is out of character, but it works) and from watching a magic show. (According to David Suchet, he apparently did all the magic tricks himself.) Subverted at the end, however, when he tries making a parrot disappear... only to find that the bird is still here.
-->'''Poirot:''' At least it was worth a try.\\
'''Parrot:''' Worth a try, worth a try!

* MundaneSolution: In ''The Veiled Lady'', Captain Hastings heroically runs after a blackmailer to try to find out where he lives. Poirot doesn't bother joining Hastings. He looks the blackmailer's address up in the phone book.

** There is also an evil-detecting mouse in ''Hickory Dickory Dock'' which becomes a plot point later on.

* JustPlaneWrong: ''Death in the Clouds'' sets the action on a DC-3 decorated for the fictional "Empire Airways", rather than an Imperial Airways [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_H.P.42 Handley Page H.P.45]]. Necessitated by the absence of any surviving models of the latter aircraft. Leads to a minor inaccuracy when a character asks a steward to summon her maid in another compartment; the H.P.45 had two passenger compartments, but the DC-3 did not.

* MenCantKeepHouse: Japp in ''Literature/HickoryDickoryDock'', who is forced to live alone for a week after his holiday is cancelled due to the Jarrow marchers. His kitchen turns into a disaster, he burns a shirt he's ironing and he starts looking so dishevelled that Poirot invites him to live with him for the rest of the week.

** In ''The Yellow Iris'', [[spoiler:Pauline Wetherby appears to drink the wine laced with potassium cyanide and fall down dead on the table in the same manner as Iris Russell. It turns out, however, that Pauline is only faking it while staging what happened to Iris two years ago in an attempt to draw attention to the real murderer, her own husband Barton.]]

* ForeignQueasine:
** Done as a joke in an episode where Poirot and Japp alternatively invite each other over for dinner, Poirot serving Japp fancy French cuisine he hates because there's "barely any meat in it" and Japp serving Poirot his greasy home cooking that he turns down just as readily.
** A downplayed example of this is at the end of ''Yellow Iris'': after solving the case and having the guilty party arrested, Poirot laments to Hastings that while the murderer had set up the events to take place in a restaurant, he himself had ironically spent so much time setting up a FakingTheDead scenario and presenting his findings to his suspects that he didn't have the time to eat anything the whole evening and it's so late that every restaurant in the city is already closed. Hastings says he knows a place that's still open, leading him to a food truck selling fish and chips and getting a portion for himself and Poirot. He naturally hesitates at first, having stated that the English don't have a concept called "cuisine" and that their "meat is overcooked, the vegetables, soggy and the cheese, ineditable" at the beginning of the episode, but considering the circumstances, [[NotSoAboveItAll he then starts happily eating his portion, stating that "when it is so cold outside and there is not much else to be had, it is...passable."]] FridgeLogic sets in when you remember that fried fish was invented in Spain and chips/French Fries most likely originated in ''Belgium''!

* MyGreatestSecondChance: In ''The Yellow Iris'', Poirot failed to solve the case of who killed Iris due to his being detained as a spy and deported from Argentina. With the Jardin des Cygnes restaurant open in London and a yellow iris delivered to him, Poirot is determined for a second try, hoping that he will not fail again.

* EmergingFromTheShadows: In ''The Big Four'', [[spoiler:after Albert Whalley tries to get Flossie to rule the world together, Poirot's voice is heard shouting, "I think not, Monsieur!" We then see a shadowy figure appear on the stage, and within a few seconds, Poirot himself emerges from the shadows, alive and well.]]

* EvilLaugh: Becomes [[spoiler:Albert Whalley's]] Running Gag in ''The Big Four''.

* FourIsDeath[=/=]WorldOfSymbolism: Occurs quite a lot in ''The Big Four''. [[spoiler:Justified in that all of these are a figment of Albert Whalley's imagination. Whalley even lampshades this when he says that he, Number Four, is "death incarnate", which is also echoed in his ironic famous last words before he is killed.]]
* FromNobodyToNightmare: In ''Literature/TheBigFour'', [[spoiler:Number Four is just a common actor from a no-name company]], with neither wealth, fame or position of power. His role as the Big Four's mastermind turns him to a global threat.

* GratuitousLatin: In ''The Big Four'', we see a coffin being carried though to the cemetery both at the beginning of the episode and halfway through the end. Unlike most coffins, which only carry names and years of birth and death, this one bears an inscription that reads, "Hercule Poirot. Requiescat in pace."[[note]][[spoiler:Meaning, "May he rest in peace."]][[/note]]

* InNameOnly: ''Literature/TheBigFour'' is a very loose adaptation of the novel, and the villain's motives and actions are completely different from the books. Somewhat justified in that even Agatha Christie hated the book, which consisted of a few short stories strung together with a loose plot to meet a contractual requirement.

* InTheHood: [[spoiler:Throughout ''The Big Four'' we see three creepy people with cloaks and hoods over their heads. We eventually find out that one of them is truly evil.]]
* IntrepidReporter: Tysoe from ''Literature/TheBigFour'' causes a lot of stir by publishing news about the Big Four's activities in spite of Poirot's warning that he be discreet.

* ISurrenderSuckers[=/=]SoreLoser:
** Toward the end of ''Literature/EvilUnderTheSun'', [[spoiler:after Poirot denounces Patrick Redfern as the murderer, Redfern makes a toast to Poirot, and then, just as he approaches as if to congratulate Poirot, he makes a surprise attack by attempting to strangle Poirot. Leave it to Hastings to save the day. In the original novel, he attacked Poirot without any prior pretence at gracefully conceding.]]
** Towards the end of ''The Big Four'', [[spoiler:just when Albert Whalley seems to have been defeated after defusing the TimeBomb, he still refuses to surrender quietly and points the gun at Poirot in an attempt to shoot him, all the while declaring that Whalley is "death incarnate itself". Good thing Tysoe has a trick up his sleeve.]]

* LoveMakesYouCrazy:
** Peter Lord is already exhibiting this trope in the original novel of ''Literature/SadCypress'', but was taken even further in the adaptation: his devotion to Elinor leads him to take actions in her defence that briefly make him seem like ''he's'' the actual murderer.
** In ''Literature/TheBigFour'', [[spoiler:Claude Darrell falls in love with Flossie Monroe, who told him that he's not good or famous enough for her]]. He then forms the Big Four to win her affection.

* HauntedHouse: In ''Literature/TheMurderOfRogerAckroyd'', Poirot and Japp return to Whitehaven Mansions to find that his old apartment has been abandoned and become a house of ghosts since he retired as a detective.

* ImpromptuTracheotomy: This is how Roger Ackroyd dies in ''Literature/TheMurderOfRogerAckroyd''.

* ItsPersonal: ''Literature/TheMurderOfRogerAckroyd'' introduces a long-standing friendship between Poirot and Roger Ackroyd, thus introducing a personal element for Poirot in taking the case and identifying the murderer. In the novel, Poirot and Ackroyd knew each other from when Poirot lived in London but didn't seem to be close friends, and Poirot didn't seem particularly interested in the murder until Flora Ackroyd asked him to investigate.

* KarmaHoudini:
** [[spoiler: Caroline Sheppard]] in ''Literature/TheMurderOfRogerAckroyd''. [[spoiler:She]] hands the murderer a pistol which he uses to attempt to escape Japp and Hercule, but it is implied that [[spoiler:she]] is not arrested for obstruction. [[spoiler:In fact, Poirot explicitly states that James' crimes were kept secret for her sake.]]
** While it's largely left open to interpretation, it's implied that this happens to the murderers at the end of ''Murder on the Orient Express'', much like in the novel.

* LookBothWays:
** In ''Literature/TheMurderOfRogerAckroyd'', [[spoiler:this trope is exaggerated to the point of ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill, as Parker the Butler is run over by Dr. Sheppard's car; then, to make sure he is dead, the car moves backward and forward again, turning Parker into mulch before moving on again. [[{{Squick}} So sickening.]]]]
** In the prologue to ''Literature/TheClocks'', Fiona Hanbury tries to stop Annabel Larkin for espionage, but both end up getting run over by a car. She does leave behind a DyingClue, which can be useful later.

* EtherealChoir: Happens at the beginning and end credits of ''Literature/CatAmongThePigeons'', as the soundtrack has a sort of ''Harry Potter'' feel to it.

* JavelinThrower: In ''Literature/CatAmongThePigeons'', [[spoiler:Ann Shapland]] kills Miss Springer by tossing a sports javelin through her chest. The second time we see the action, Springer spits out blood as she is impaled.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In ''Literature/CatAmongThePigeons'', [[spoiler:it is revealed that Miss Chadwick, thinking that Miss Honoria Bulstrode preferred Miss Eileen Rich as a successor more than her, tried to kill Miss Rich with a sandbag, hoping that Miss Bulstrode would choose Chadwick as successor; but when she knocked Rich out unconscious, she realized the horror of what she had done and let out a terrifying scream. In the original novel, she instead did this to the AdaptedOut character of Mrs Vansittart, with fatal results.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: At the beginning of ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'', we hear Elizabeth Cole play Chopin's "Raindrop Prelude", which both foreshadows and symbolizes [[spoiler:the final confrontation with Norton]]. There's also backshadowing in that episode: [[spoiler:as Poirot is on his deathbed, he tells Hastings that his final case is ended, then asks him if God will ever forgive Poirot for his deeds, to which Hastings answers yes; as soon as Hastings leaves for the last time, Poirot suffers his final bout of angina, then clasps his rosary and asks God to forgive him. All of these trace back to the outcome of his final confrontation and Norton's final attempt to [[BreakThemByTalking break him by talking]] about his doom by Judgment Day.]]

* FreezeFrameBonus: The obituary of [[spoiler:Poirot]] in ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'' on the front page of the London Telegraph is not ''lorem ipsum'', but an actual obit detailing his life.

* HonoraryUncle: Captain Hastings's daughter Judith refers to his Belgian detective friend as "Uncle Hercule" in ''Literature/{{Curtain}}''.

* IncurableCoughOfDeath: [[spoiler:Poirot in ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'' suffers this, a visible indication of his ultimately fatal heart disease. ''Pauvre, pauvre Poirot...'']]

* InsigniaRipOffRitual: In ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'', Poirot's [[spoiler:removal of his (false) moustache prior to committing the murder]] verges on this.

* ItHasBeenAnHonour: Implied in ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'': [[spoiler:during a conversation at dinnertime, one of the guests, Toby Luttrell, tells Poirot that though he is very old [[{{Determinator}} he still never gives up on solving cases like this]]. Poirot answers in front of everyone that he has enjoyed being here with them and that "I do not want to miss every single moment. [[{{Foreshadowing}} But the clock, it ticks. Such is the will of God.]]" (implying that he has a few days left to live) Luttrell's response to Poirot: "Oh, we'll miss you, old chap, but you won't be forgotten."]]

* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: Played for drama twice in ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'': [[spoiler:we hear a LonelyPianoPiece of Chopin's "Raindrop Prelude" in the background as Hastings leaves Poirot's room for the final time and goes downstairs, while Poirot clasps the rosary and prays to God for forgiveness before dying. As Hastings enters the music room, the background music traces to Elizabeth Cole playing the piano, whom he sees before he gets a sense of shock (as of hearing Poirot from upstairs) as she stops playing and asks, "Captain Hastings?"]]

* ManlyTears: In ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'', Hastings, who has maintained a StiffUpperLip on the topic of his wife's recent death, is suddenly reminded of her and begins weeping.

* MockingSingSong: [[spoiler:Norton does this to [[StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred goad Poirot into killing him]] in ''Literature/{{Curtain}}''.]]
-->[[spoiler:"♪♫ Who will be there at the final [[TitleDrop curtain]]?♪♫"]]

* MommasBoy: [[spoiler:Norton]] in this adaptation of [[spoiler:''Literature/{{Curtain}}'']]; there are shades of [[Film/{{Psycho}} Norman Bates]] to the character. Poirot tells him his mother was horrified at what he had become, but he sneers that he does not care.

* ForDoomTheBellTolls:
** There are church bells tolling ominously in some parts of the soundtrack's background music in ''Mrs. [=McGinty's=] Dead''.
** Again in one flashback scene early on in ''The Clocks''.

* GenderBlenderName: Toward the end of ''Mrs. [=McGinty's=] Dead'', [[spoiler:we learn that Evelyn Hope was a name not for one of the three women, but for a man who changed his name to Robin Upward (since in England "Evelyn" could be a man's name as well as a woman's), who murdered both Abigail [=McGinty=] and his foster mother Laura Upward for assuming that the photo of Eva Kane could be Robin's real mother herself.]]

** Flashbacks in ''Hallowe'en Party'' are shown with a slow shutter effect, giving them an erratic and dreamlike look.

* GardenOfEvil: In ''Hallowe'en Party'', Michael Garfield has an innocent-looking garden with [[TheMaze a maze]] of some sort. However, this garden is not as innocent as it may seem...

* GayngstInducedSuicide: In ''Literature/HalloweenParty'', we learn that Beatrice White and Elizabeth Whittaker were lesbian lovers, but once their relationship was found out, [[DrivenToSuicide Beatrice drowned herself]], leaving Mrs. Whittaker heartbroken and alone.

* HalloweenEpisode: ''Literature/HalloweenParty''. [[CaptainObvious What do you expect in an episode based on a Poirot novel?]]

* IronicNurseryTune: In ''Literature/HalloweenParty'', children are chanting the snapdragon poem while playing snapdragon. Their chant of "Snip! Snap!" echoes in the background music throughout the rest of the episode after Joyce Reynolds was murdered, and whenever a murder occurs, all the way to the end.

* ItWasADarkAndStormyNight: In ''Hallowe'en Party'', Poirot begins the tale like this in the {{Denouement}}, lampshading the fact that the beginning of the episode does take place on a dark and stormy night. (Ironically, Poirot dislikes telling horror stories, since he believes that it is a custom in Belgium to light candles in respect for the dead on Halloween, not to "tell stories macabre", but he makes an exception in extreme circumstances, such as a murder.)

** In ''Hallowe'en Party'', [[spoiler:we learn that Rowena's husband, Mr. Drake, was run over by a car, which was driven by none other than Michael Garfield himself.]]

%%* LukeIAmYourFather: Happens near the end of ''The King of Clubs'', ''Appointment with Death'', ''Hallowe'en Party'' and ''Elephants Can Remember''.