Hastings where No Hastings apppeared

Tommy_A_Jones

Which Poirot books which DON'T have Hastings could or should have had Hastings? I would say Murder In Mesopotamia and The Hollow should have and After The Funeral could have had him.

HerculeAndAchille

I think Death in the Clouds would have been very interesting with Hastings in it. It would make Norman and Jane secondary Watsons, in a way, but I would certainly enjoy Hastings's chivalry towards the orphan Miss Grey and possible friendship with Gale. I would have also enjoyed if Mrs Oliver was included in the plot, perhaps as a client of the hairdressing business that employed Miss Grey (which fits in with Mrs Oliver's love for 'experimenting' with hairstyles).

Of course, both can't be incorporated into the plot (Hastings, perhaps, is the better choice).

Tommy_A_Jones

I \Think Both Hastings and Ariadne Oliver could have been incorporated in the |Plot as well as Norman and The Hair-Dresser, Picture this: Poirot befriends Norman and The Hair-Dresser on after The Flight as in the Book but he also goes to see Hastings who is in London on Business and he goes to see Ariadne and whie using Norman and The Hair-Dresser as 'Watson's he asks Hastings and Ariadne to do a bit of Sleuhing, Ariadne could do it the same way Miss Lemon does it in The TV Adaptation of Evil Under The Sun, or you could leave out Ariadne and have Miss Lemon instead.

GKCfan

***SPOILERS***

It would have spoiled the book, but I just got a silly vision in my head of Hastings appearing in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, fighting with Dr. Sheppard over who got to narrate, and Hastings getting jealous of Dr. Sheppard's friendship with Poirot and narrating duties.

Tommy_A_Jones

I think it would have been great if Hastings had been in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, I think they would have got on and It would have been funny that Hastings would have to re-think things when he realises someone he thought Pukka Sahib was a Villain

HerculeAndAchille

Excellent ideas, @Tommy_A_Jones and @GKCfan, but part of the beauty of the novel is SPOILER the reveal in the end, which is gradual and still surprising, when Sheppard (apparently the loyal friend and honest chronicler) is shown to be a killer. So if Hastings appeared in that one, it would have to be the only Hastings where he wasn't the narrator.

Tommy_A_Jones

They could both write Journals like Pedlar and Ann in The Man In The Brown Suit, they could do it as a Competition whereby they both decide to Write it and Poirot has to Judge whose Journal is best or maybe not.