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50 free Hercule Poirot trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Hercule Poirot appeared in 33 novels and dozens of short stories over 55 years, and when Agatha Christie finally killed him off he became the only fictional character to get a front-page obituary in The New York Times. This quiz covers the whole of that career: his refugee arrival at Styles, the famous cases on the Orient Express and the Nile, his obsessive habits and egg-shaped head, the friends and foils around him, and the long line of actors from Charles Laughton to David Suchet and Kenneth Branagh who have worn the moustache. It is built for Christie readers and Poirot binge-watchers alike. The opening questions are the ones any fan can get; the later ones reach into Poirot's shadowy police career in Brussels, his preferred bank balance and the plays and films most people have never heard of. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the character, the major novels and the ITV series, and each question carries the sentence that supports it. If you enjoy this, our Agatha Christie quiz covers the author herself.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What nationality is Hercule Poirot?
Belgian
People constantly mistake him for a Frenchman, a slight he corrects with weary regularity.
Q 02What phrase does Poirot use for the brainpower he relies on to solve cases?
The little grey cells
The phrase appears from his very first novel, alongside his other motto, "order and method".
Q 03In which novel did Poirot make his first appearance?
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Christie wrote it in 1916, mostly on Dartmoor, and it was published in the United States in 1920.
Q 04How many novels does Poirot appear in?
33
Add two plays and 51 short stories and you have the whole canon, published between 1920 and 1975.
Q 05What is the title of the novel in which Poirot dies?
Curtain
Christie wrote it during the Blitz and locked it in a bank vault; it was published a few months before her death in 1976.
Q 06Which American newspaper ran a front-page obituary for Poirot when his final case was published in 1975?
The New York Times
He remains the only fictional character to have received that honour.
Q 07Which actor played Poirot in the ITV series that ran from 1989 to 2013?
David Suchet
He eventually filmed every major Poirot work Christie wrote, ending with Curtain in November 2013.
Q 08Which director cast himself as Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (2017)?
Kenneth Branagh
His third outing, A Haunting in Venice, was based on the novel Hallowe'en Party.
Q 09What is the name of Poirot's loyal friend and frequent narrator, a former British Army officer?
Captain Arthur Hastings
He is Poirot's Watson, though he appears in only eight of the novels and vanishes from the series between 1937 and 1975.
Q 10Which Scotland Yard inspector keeps turning up in Poirot's investigations?
Japp
The TV series greatly expanded his role; in the books he disappears entirely for the last 28 years of Poirot's career.
Q 11What is the name of Poirot's fearsomely efficient secretary?
Miss Lemon
Poirot called her "unbelievably ugly and incredibly efficient"; she dreams of creating the perfect filing system.
Q 12Which crime novelist, a self-caricature of Christie herself, is a recurring Poirot ally?
Ariadne Oliver
She hates alcohol and public appearances, adores apples, and is not fond of her own Finnish detective, Sven Hjerson.
Q 13What shape does Hastings famously compare Poirot's head to?
An egg
The first description also notes he stood barely five feet four inches and carried himself with great dignity.
Q 21Which short story reveals what Poirot considers his only true failure?
The Chocolate Box
The 1893 Belgian case is the one he blames on his own fault; other unsolved cases he puts down to arriving too late.
Q 22To which South American country do Hastings and his wife Dulcie emigrate?
Argentina
Hastings met Dulcie Duveen, a music hall performer half his age, while investigating The Murder on the Links.
Q 23Which glamorous jewel thief, supposedly a Russian aristocrat, did a smitten Poirot let escape?
Countess Vera Rossakoff
Even Poirot admitted she gave wildly varying accounts of her early life.
Q 14What is Poirot's most treasured item of facial hair?
A stiff, waxed moustache
Austin Trevor, the first screen Poirot in 1931, played the part without one.
Q 15What footwear is a frequent source of misery for the fastidious Poirot when it gets damaged?
Patent leather shoes
His whole appearance, fashionable early on, later falls hopelessly out of date.
Q 16What exact bank balance does the finance-conscious Poirot prefer to keep?
£444, 4 shillings and 4 pence
David Suchet said of the character, "there's no question he's obsessive-compulsive".
Q 17What is the address of Poirot's London flat, chosen for its strict geometry?
Whitehaven Mansions
Flat 203 at number 56B was, Hastings tells us, "the newest type of service flat".
Q 18Which two composers is Poirot said to be especially fond of?
Mozart and Bach
The detail comes from Curtain and The Clocks; his taste, like his tailoring, is classical.
Q 19In The Big Four, Poirot pretends to have an identical twin brother. What is the twin's name?
Achille
It is one of several fictions he spins to gain information, along with an invalid mother and a non-existent nephew.
Q 20By what year was Poirot active in the Brussels police force?
1893
He later claimed to have been Chief of Police of Brussels until the Great War forced him to England.
Q 24According to Poirot, why is speaking broken English an "enormous asset"?
It leads people to underestimate him
He admits he can speak idiomatic English perfectly and also boasts on purpose, all to put people off their guard.
Q 25What were Poirot's last recorded words, spoken to Hastings?
"Cher ami!"
He was buried at Styles, the house where he had lived when he first arrived in England.
Q 26In his final case, Poirot fakes his need for what, to seem more infirm than he is?
A wheelchair
He also confesses to Hastings that he has taken to wearing a wig and a false moustache.
Q 27In which 1927 novel does Poirot fake his own death and funeral to ambush a criminal gang?
The Big Four
So Hastings attended his best friend's funeral twice: once staged, once for real in Curtain.
Q 28How many people did Poirot conclude had each stabbed the victim on the Orient Express?
Twelve
He saw poetic justice in the number matching a jury, and produced an alternative story about an unknown passenger for the police.
Q 29Under what title did Christie's Orient Express novel first appear in the United States?
Murder in the Calais Coach
The change avoided confusion with Graham Greene's Stamboul Train, sold in America as Orient Express.
Q 30What stops the Orient Express in the novel, trapping the murderer on board?
Heavy snowfall
The train is stuck between Vinkovci and Brod, in what is now northeastern Croatia.