I think the friends are all completely wonderful in their own way. I find it impossible to say. Hastings is extremely amusing, and he gives such us such insights into the social customs of the times because he always comments on these.
I guess that Ariadne Oliver, for me, is the most problematic to incorporate into a plot because, due to decency, Poirot is restrained from speaking to her with such frankness as he would man to man, and restricted in terms of going about with her, with the frequency he could with Hastings. In Mrs Mc Ginty's Dead, Dead Man's Folly and Third Girl, AO and HP seem to go about separately and have gaps when one is up in town or sleuthing solo, but in novels such as Peril At End House, Poirot and Hastings can even share a room so there is a lot of insights into what Poirot is thinking almost hour by hour.
I don't know too much about Lemon, Japp and Oliver, as i have only read Hastings in two novels and was wondering if they are like the characters in itv series. I know that they added them into stories they weren't in the books
Hi @Luke I would put Hastings at number 1. He and Poirot meet soon after Poirot first came to England and remained friends until Poirots death.I would follow Hastings with Japp, Ariadne and then Miss Lemon.
I don't agree with most of you - I like Miss Oliver best. She is a good foil for Poirot, being so different, and the way she digs up information by chatting up with people and assuming various social roles (e.g. in "Cards on the table" and "Elephants can remember) brings colour to the books.
I don't agree with most of you - I like Miss Oliver best. She is a good foil for Poirot, being so different, and the way she digs up information by chatting up with people and assuming various social roles (e.g. in "Cards on the table" and "Elephants can remember) brings colour to the books.
Mrs Oliver is a very interesting character and one of the things that makes her interesting is that she is based upon the writer Agatha Christie herself. It's fun getting a peek into what she thought about the detective genre thru the lips of Mrs. Oliver, including some insights into Christie 's personality (for example, Ariadne had a dislike of crowds and so did A.C.). And like you said, she definitely brings color to the books.
I think the good bit is elderly Mrs Foliat talking about her family and Hatty. Poirot knows she knows something, and knows that she wants to keep the squire of the manor tradition alive. This is well-done. What is the problem is what goes before. There are too many pages devoted to the detection by the police. Often AC moves the plot forward via a series of police interviews with different suspects - each throws more light on motive. This device can be cumbersome, and not as satisfying as watching the character act out who they are, and watching events reveal evidence. The number of time that characters said the girl guide was nosey, and full of herself - it gets repetitive. Better to have seen more of the girl doing all of these things. This novel needed a re-draft, more build up to Hattie's cousin and his involvement - not so 'suddenly he's there'. It needed a lot more of the girl guide's grandfather, and actual scenes where he is seeing and thinking he suspects something, but isn't sure. There is too much hearsay, and too much juicy stuff revealed just too late in the novel, IMO.
Further to my last post, Tommy, and Tali, I did like Dead Man's Folly a lot more on several re-reads, but I think the problem might be that AC had a fantastic premise for a plot, really fantastic, and belonging to its time - with the big houses being sold off, etc and the war letting people disappear - but she had a need to throw us off the scent, so effectively did this a short-hand way by using the police interviews to introduce the reader to a series of red herrings and make other characters look dodgy. It is better if the main plot and the red herrings can be better integrated, as they are in Murder On The Orient Express, ABC Murders or,actually, Murder At The Vicarage.
Comments
Hastings
Miss Lemon
Japp
Ariadne in that order but I weould put Battle before Hastings and Spence between Miss Lemon and Japp.