History YMMV / HerculePoirot

* {{Adorkable}}: In the Suchet adaptations, Miss Lemon's quest to create the perfect filing system is endearing as she puts together an intricate catalog that only she understands.

** ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'': [[spoiler:Mr. X--Stephen Norton--is a different sort of monster from most murder mystery villains. Deliberately modeling himself on [[Theatre/{{Othello}} Iago]], Mr. X is a social predator who toys with people's fears, nudging them towards committing murder, while technically never breaking the law himself. Over the course of the novel, Mr. X convinces three different people, including Hercule Poirot's [[TheWatson Watson]], Captain Hastings, to commit murder, with Poirot only barely averting each at the last moment. When confronted by Poirot, Mr. X gloats that he will continue on this way forever, and that there is nothing the law can do to touch him, prompting Poirot to [[VigilanteMan commit his only ever vigilante execution]]]].

* CriticalResearchFailure: In ''Death in the Clouds'', it is said that a blowpipe is about a foot long, when in actuality it is six feet long, a mistake that Christie admitted. [[AuthorAvatar Ariadne Oliver]] also makes a reference to the research failure in a novel of hers in ''Mrs. [=McGinty's=] Dead''.

* ValuesDissonance: "The Augean Stables" sees Poirot go to great lengths to bury and discredit accusations of embezzlement by a former Prime Minister... which happen to be true. This obstruction of justice, which involves destroying a man's career, is considered right and proper in order to defend the late Prime Minister's reputation, prevent his party from suffering a great loss of face, and prevent a politician from another party from becoming the new Prime Minister (as he is considered to be most unsuitable for the position). Nowadays Poirot would be the villain in the story.

* ViewersInMourning: Poirot received an obituary in the ''New York Times'' when he died.

* WereStillRelevantDammit: ''Third Girl'' attempts to deal with Swinging London youth culture, to somewhat questionable effect.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: To a point. Metacritic has given the games based on the series mediocre reviews: ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'' was given a score of [[http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/agatha-christie-murder-on-the-orient-express 60 out of 100]] (though the only saving grace is having Creator/DavidSuchet of the ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' TV series voice the titular character in spite of the fact that the protagonist you control is female); ''Literature/EvilUnderTheSun'' was given scores of [[http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/agatha-christie-evil-under-the-sun 66 for the PC version]] and [[http://www.metacritic.com/game/wii/agatha-christie-evil-under-the-sun 46 for the Wii version]]; and ''Literature/TheABCMurders'' was given [[http://www.metacritic.com/game/ds/agatha-christie-the-abc-murders a score of 53]].

** ''Literature/TheLaboursOfHercules''' "The Flock of Geryon": [[spoiler:[[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Dr. Andersen]] is the murderous leader of the [[ScamReligion Flock of the Shepard]]. As the leader of the Flock, Andersen [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates]] rich old women into willing their estates to the cult, and afterward, he infects them with various deadly diseases, leaving them to die painfully miles away while [[InheritanceMurder he collects their inheritance]] without suspicion. [[SerialKiller Having killed at least 4 women]] prior to the events of the story, Andersen attempts to infect Poirot's friend Amy Carnaby with tuberculosis, hoping she would die and he would inherit her money.]]

* ValuesDissonance: "The Augean Stables" sees Poirot go to great lengths to bury and discredit accusations of embezzlement by a former Prime Minister... which happen to be true. This obstruction of justice, which involves destroying a man's career, is considered right and proper in order to defend the late Prime Minister's reputation, prevent his party from suffering a great loss of face, and prevent a politician from another party from becoming the new Prime Minister (as he is considered to be most unsuitable for the position). Nowadays Poirot would be the villain in the story. Although to be fair, Poirot says he would not lift a finger were the politician still alive, and that DontShootTheMessage is the only reason he's getting involved at all. Plus the accusations were being spread by a seedy tabloid newspaper, so it's not as if [[AssholeVictim they were on the up and up either]].

** ''Elephants Can Remember'' ends positively with [[AuthorAvatar Mrs. Oliver]] reflecting on the eponymous phrase and concluding that "mercifully human beings can forget". In 2009, a comparative study carried on the books suggest that the drop in quality of Christie's latest works could have been caused by Alzheimer's disease.

* HarsherInHindsight: The short story "The Kidnapped Prime Minister", set in 1919 and written in 1925, is about Poirot having to find the titular kidnapped Prime Minister before the Versailles negotiations start, because if he is not present then the treaty might be 'too lenient'. Of course in hindsight it's generally thought now that the harshness of the Versailles treaty played a major role in the rise of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. Also possibly a case of ArtisticLicenseHistory; the real driver for a punitive treaty was France, whose northern countryside had been ravaged by four years of trench warfare, and who had earlier been embarrassed by their defeat in the Franco-Prussian War.

** ''Literature/TheABCMurders'': [[spoiler:Franklin Clarke, aka "ABC", wishes to inherit his brother's wealth, but is aware that he would be the obvious suspect. ABC hits upon the fact that his brother has an alliterative name and lives in a town that begins with the same letter. [[SerialKillingsSpecificTarget With that in mind]], ABC proceeds to kill Anna Ascher in Andover, Betty Barnard in Bexhill, and Sir Carmichael Clarke in Churston, creating the illusion that a SerialKiller is on the loose, in an effort to hide his murder-for-profit. ABC also picks out a patsy in epileptic Alexander Bonaparte Cust, and preys on his insecurities, convincing Cust that he has been committing the murders during his blackouts. Committing one last murder in Doncaster, ABC slips the knife into Cust's pocket, and then calls the police, intending that Cust either hang, or end up in a mental ward, while he walks away with the money]].

-->'''Poirot:''' And wears very lovely clothes. That crêpemarocain and the silver fox collar— dernier cri.\\

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: In a reference to Literature/SherlockHolmes' adventure ''The Yellow Face'', a story has Poirot request Hastings to do something similar to what Holmes asks Watson at the end of the story. Hastings ends up pulling out the warning minutes later.

** ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'': [[spoiler:Mr. X--Stephen Norton--is a different sort of monster from most murder mystery villains. Deliberately modeling himself on [[Theatre/{{Othello}} Iago]], Mr. X is a social predator who toys with people's fears, nudging them towards committing murder, while technically never breaking the law himself. Over the course of the novel, Mr. X convinces three different people, including Hercule Poirot's [[TheWatson Watson]], Captain Hastings, to commit murder, with Poirot only barely averting each at the last moment. When confronted by Poirot, Mr. X gloats that he will continue on this way forever, and that there is nothing the law can do to touch him, prompting Poirot to [[VigilanteMan commit his only ever vigilante execution]].

** ''Literature/TheABCMurders'': [[spoiler:Franklin Clarke]], aka "ABC", [[spoiler:wishes to inherit his brother's wealth,]] but is aware that he would be the obvious suspect. He hits upon the fact that [[spoiler:his brother]] has an alliterative name and lives in a town that begins with the same letter. [[SerialKillingsSpecificTarget With that in mind,]] he proceeds to kill Alice Ascher in Andover, Betty Barnard in Bexhill, and Sir Carmichael Clarke in Churston, creating the illusion that a SerialKiller is on the loose, in an effort to hide [[spoiler:the murder-for-profit.]] They also pick out a patsy in epileptic Alexander Bonaparte Cust, and preys on his insecurities, convincing Cust that he has been committing the murders during his blackouts. Committing one last murder in Doncaster, ABC slips the knife into Cust's pocket, and then calls the police, intending that Cust will either hang, or end up in a mental ward, [[spoiler:while Clarke walks away with the money.]]
** ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'': Mr. X (aka [[spoiler:Stephen Norton]]) is a different sort of monster from most murder mystery villains. Deliberately modelling himself on [[Theatre/{{Othello}} Iago]], Mr. X is a social predator who toys with people's fears, nudging them towards committing murder, while technically never breaking the law himself. Over the course of the novel, he convinces three different people, including Literature/HerculePoirot's [[TheWatson Watson]], Captain Hastings, to commit murder, with Poirot only barely averting each at the last moment. When confronted by Poirot, X gloats that he will continue on this way forever, and that there is nothing the law can do to touch him, [[spoiler:prompting Poirot to commit his only ever vigilante execution.]]

** ''Literature/TheABCMurders'': [[spoiler:Franklin Clarke]], aka "ABC", [[spoiler:wishes to inherit his brother's wealth, but is aware that he would be the obvious suspect. He hits upon the fact that [[spoiler:his brother]] has an alliterative name and lives in a town that begins with the same letter. [[SerialKillingsSpecificTarget With that in mind,]] he proceeds to kill Alice Ascher in Andover, Betty Barnard in Bexhill, and Sir Carmichael Clarke in Churston, creating the illusion that a SerialKiller is on the loose, in an effort to hide [[spoiler:the murder-for-profit.]] They also pick out a patsy in epileptic Alexander Bonaparte Cust, and preys on his insecurities, convincing Cust that he has been committing the murders during his blackouts. Committing one last murder in Doncaster, ABC slips the knife into Cust's pocket, and then calls the police, intending that Cust will either hang, or end up in a mental ward, [[spoiler:while Clarke walks away with the money.]]

* HarsherInHindsight: The short story "The Kidnapped Prime Minister", set in 1919 and written in 1925, is about Poirot having to find the titular kidnapped Prime Minister before the Versailles negotiations start, because if he is not present then the treaty might be 'too lenient'. Of course in hindsight it's generally thought now that the harshness of the Versailles treaty played a major role in the rise of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler.
** Also possibly a case of ArtisticLicenseHistory; the real driver for a punitive treaty was France, whose northern countryside had been ravaged by four years of trench warfare, and who had earlier been embarrassed by their defeat in the Franco-Prussian War.

* ValuesDissonance: "The Augean Stables" sees Poirot go to great lengths to bury and discredit accusations of embezzlement by a former Prime Minister... which happen to be true. This obstruction of justice, which involves destroying a man's career, is considered right and proper in order to defend the late Prime Minister's reputation, prevent his party from suffering a great loss of face, and prevent a politician from another party from becoming the new Prime Minister (as he is considered to be most unsuitable for the position). Nowadays Poirot would be the villain in the story. Although to be fair, Poirot says he would not lift a finger were the politician still alive, and that DontShootTheMessage is the only reason he's getting involved at all.
** Plus the accusations were being spread by a seedy tabloid newspaper, so it's not as if [[AssholeVictim they were on the up and up either]].

** ''Literature/TheABCMurders'': [[spoiler:Franklin Clarke]], aka "ABC", [[spoiler:wishes to inherit his brother's wealth, but is aware that he would be the obvious suspect.]] He hits upon the fact that his brother has an alliterative name and lives in a town that begins with the same letter. [[SerialKillingsSpecificTarget With that in mind,]] he proceeds to kill Alice Ascher in Andover, Betty Barnard in Bexhill, and Sir Carmichael Clarke in Churston, creating the illusion that a SerialKiller is on the loose, in an effort to hide the murder-for-profit. They also pick out a patsy in epileptic Alexander Bonaparte Cust, and preys on his insecurities, convincing Cust that he has been committing the murders during his blackouts. Committing one last murder in Doncaster, ABC slips the knife into Cust's pocket, and then calls the police, intending that Cust will either hang, or end up in a mental ward, [[spoiler:while Clarke walks away with the money.]]

* CompleteMonster: [[YMMV/TheABCMurders ABC]] & [[YMMV/{{Curtain}} Mr. X]]. See those pages for details.