In 2014, Poirot made a comeback with a bang through Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah. Hercule Poirot, with his exquisite moustache, impeccable command over the language and grey cells ticking away, ruled the book shelves from the moment his book hit the stands.
While the Agatha Christie Estate says his resurrection was only a matter of time, Hannah still thinks it’s her wild dream! What is it then that has made this famous Belgian so sought after for a second and possibly many more coming? Deebashree Mohanty delves deep into the lure of Poirot to tell you that, if handled well, he still has the capability to set the bookshelves on fire
A Poirot- Christie Purist
Though this is not the first time that a popular fiction character has been resurrected for ‘greater good’ with the baton of authorial works being passed on to only a handful of writers, Briton Sophie Hannah is happy to join this select club now. “I am a Poirot purist and a Christie purist. I didn’t want to bring him back in the pages just because there is a need to. I wanted to do so because I wanted to,” Hannah said from Cambridge.
Hannah, who is 42 and lives in Cambridge with her husband and two children, was hooked on to Agatha Christie since her childhood, when her father, Marxist political theorist Norman Geras, brought home The Body in the Library (1942).
Hannah was 12 then. She read the book, thought it was amazing and became obsessed with reading everything Christie. Though her father was more interested in cricket books, he indulged in his daughter’s fancy and by the time she was 14, Hannah had read all of Christie. “With this encyclopaedic knowledge about the way Christie wrote and the Poirot she created, I think I can do a satisfactory work with the novel,” she declares all these years later.
Hannah had been toying over the solution to a mystery but could not fit it into any of her modern crime thrillers. Her agent suggested that she should write a Poirot novel and weave the mystery into that. The idea clicked with her. “I knew it was far fetched and something the Estate wouldn’t buy. But I was excited about it nonetheless. The mystery would have to be set in 1929 (between Christie’s 6th and 7th book) to make it plausible,” she recalls. On the other hand, Hilary Strong, Managing Director of Acorn Productions who manages the Agatha Christie Estate, said from London that it was destiny that was getting Poirot back into the case.
In comics and books, death is certainly not the end in publishing, especially where popular characters are concerned. The most popular example being that of Sherlock Holmes. He was killed off and famously brought back to life as writer Arthur Conan Doyle had no option but to give in to public demands.
Even Writers Can Be Resurrected
“In our world, writers, too, can linger after their demise if there are unpublished works to be spruced up for sale. There are five new books by JD Salinger (he died years ago). These books were started by Salinger but were spruced up later by another writer. That’s not new. But it is impossible to make the dead author write an original story from the scratch. So, publishers are happy to let living authors continue the work of a dead one.
“English novelist Sebastian Faulks, tried his hands at both Ian Fleming’s James Bond (Devil May Care, 2008) and PG Wodehouse’s Bertie and Jeeves (Jeeves and The Wedding Bells, 2013). Jeffery Deaver and William Boyd have penned 007 novels, while British novelist Anthony Horowitz published a well-received Sherlock Holmes novel, The House of Silk, in 2011 and has a sequel Moriarty coming soon,” Author S Sudarshan known for his crime thriller Where The Devil Rests (1998), says.
Best stories have a great mystery’
Sophie Hannah, the author who got Agatha Christie's Poirot back on the shelves in 2014, lives in Cambridge with her husband and two children. Hannah tells Deebashree Mohanty that, for her, mystery is the crux of everything. Excerpts from the interview
What do you think of Agatha Christie as an author?
She is amazing. She introduced me to crime fiction and made me fall in love with it. Her plot lines have a startling sense of balance that is exceptionally rare. They're also more imaginatively inventive than anyone else's stories. And her psychological insight is superb, as is her elegant, compelling prose style.
You brought Poirot back after 39 long years. What was the biggest challenge and how did you overcome that?
The biggest challenge was to come up with an ingenious plot. Poirot's main superpower — I think of him as a superhero — is his uncanny intelligence and so I had to come up with a mystery so fiendishly complex and puzzling that only Poirot could solve it. I also wanted it to be high-concept and unpredictable — two traits Agatha Christie's stories are known for.
What’s in Poirot that made you bring him back?
I've loved Agatha Christie's books since I was 12. By the time I was 14, I'd read them all and Poirot was my hero. When her Estate was considering a continuation novel I happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Given a chance, what other legendary characters would you want to revive in your novels and why?
None. I couldn't have written a continuation novel for any other writer but Agatha Christie, because she's such a big influence on me.
Her idea of what the perfect crime novel should consist of imprinted itself on my mind when I was very young, and so writing a continuation novel starring Poirot felt possible for me because ‘the Christie blueprint' was already in my writerly DNA. And now that I've written Poirot, I couldn't write Miss Marple — Poirot might get jealous!
Why do you prefer the crime genre?
I firmly believe that the best stories have a good mystery at their heart. I'm interested in thrillers, especially crime thrillers. For anything to be thrilling, I think there has to be an unfolding mystery that grips readers and makes them desperate to find out the truth.
Crime was out of the picture until the birth of your daughter. Is that true?
When my daughter was born, nearly 12 years ago, I started thinking about how similar the babies looked in hospital and that gave me the idea for a plot which became my first crime thriller, Little Face.
I'd also been told that, in order to write successful crime fiction, one needs to have suffered first! It took me five days to have my daughter — five days of agonising labour pains! So, I decided that was more than enough pain and suffering and amply qualified me to write an emotionally gruelling psychological thriller!
Have you read any Indian writer?
I have read and loved books by Vikram Seth and Arundhati Roy.
Youth Reporters Say They Would Want Chrsitie To Be Resurrected Too
I have read the monogram murders and it got back memories of Poirot. He is the best detective and Christie was my favourite author. I am thankful that someone brought back Poirot and I am secretly wishing that Christie is resurrected too. The world needs a great author.
- Swapnil Das, claxx IX, Somerville School
I think Christie's Poirot has more promise than Harry Potter. I would love it if Christie is brought back but at the same time, I am not sure how the new author will fit into the shoes of 'perfection'. Having said that, we miss a good mystery author and deserve one too. I would also love it, if an author resurrects Miss Maple too
Harshvardhan, class X, Bal Bharti Public School
I am a Christie purist and I don't think anyone can bring her back. No one can replicate her marvellously simple way of writing things. No one can think like her. Hannah's Poirot was good, but not a patch on Christie's. We should move on and accept other authors and their way of writing. Novelty should be encouraged.
Swati Dhingra, DPS International
Would You Want Agatha Christie To Be Resurrected? What Is A Character (From Christie Novels) That You Wish Were Still Alive In Our Books? Let Us Know In The Comments Below