Elémentaire Docteur Watson II.....

In my last post, I had a trivia question and one of my friends did get it right. W. G. Grace, the father of modern cricket was a victim of Sir Arthur's bowling. Unfortunately, there are no prizes for guessing the answer :), but Nitin you do get a mention in my blog. I don't regret this (prize part of it) because I heard that this friend of mine did win a bet as he thought I was smart enough to figure this out (thanks for his trust on my abilities) when some of them didn't agree with him and I was smart enough!! (how modest). This friend of mine smartly put the words "With God's Grace" as he didn't want to spoil the fun by giving up the name. Don't mystery novelists use some of these techniques to baffle their readers? The 2 most common techniques employed by these writers are 1) Hide as much information as possible about the truth. 2) Put the reader on the wrong track by pointing clues at the wrong suspect.

Whatever is said about these authors, I have always been fascinated by detective fiction. Hercule Poirot is my all-time favorite detective. I have read and watched a few Sherlock Holmes adventures but it fails to impress me as much as Monsieur Poirot's exploits. Agatha Christie has done well in blending intelligence, child-like humor and meticulousness into this short and rotund character with a bow-like moustache. The methods of Hercule Poirot are more of a mental exercise involving scene reconstruction and psychology in contrast with those of Sherlock Holmes. That makes him a classic. From the limited reading I have done on Sherlock Holmes, he seems to portray the image of the modern day detective and forensic expert with a magnifying glass looking for traces, fingerprints and what-not to solve the crime. Both of them have a lesser charismatic friend (Captain Hastings for Poirot and Dr. Watson for Holmes) to assist them in most of their adventures. These characters form the medium through which the detective disseminates his findings to the reader. The author sometimes uses these characters to contrast the thinking styles of geniuses and ordinary people.

Hercule Poirot, "the detective most unique" as he addresses himself is no symbol of modesty though he pretends to be one. But his gray matter is commendable. I was particularly impressed with some of his adventures like "The Murder on the Orient Express", "The A. B. C. murders" and "Evil under the Sun". His humor is very innocent. Being a Belgian who speaks French, he snubs at people who call him French and insists being called a Belgian. His accent and use of French words and phrases lightens up his adventures. His waxed moustache is his most priced possession and tends to it very often. His dressing sense is immaculate. These small eccentricities of his make him a very interesting character. Here is a link to a small article that talks about his character

Though Agatha Christie has come up with such a great character, credit should go to David Suchet who has lived it on stage. David Suchet acts as Poirot in the Poirot series that comes on television and he is absolutely brilliant. He has brought life into the character and immortalized Poirot. I have seen other actors act as Poirot, but none of them run close. I would highly recommend viewing the Poirot series where David acts as Poirot to get a feel for the real Hercule Poirot I adore.

Au Revoir!!!

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