With its many different cultures and traditions, the Indian subcontinent has seen a flourishing of literary innovation. India’s rich cultural heritage has served as a source of inspiration for writers such as Rudyard Kipling, VS Naipaul, EM Forster, and Salman Rushdie to create timeless characters. The diverse range of Indian life is shown in these characters, which range from the wild youngster Mowgli to the sophisticated Saleem Sinai.
Now a post by British historian Nick Booker, who has become popular on social media for his posts about Indian history, has shared a video that has made a lesser-known fact more popular now. The fact is about the famous character Hercule Poirot, who is a fictional Belgian detective created by British writer Agatha Christie.
Nick Booker captioned the post, “Hercule Poirot’s first case was inspired by India. An incredible real-life murder in Mussoorie formed the basis of Agatha Christie’s first novel and gave the world Detective Hercule Poirot.”
“In a future reel, I’ll explain why this hotel is called the Savoy and how the original Savoy in London’s first manager founded an even more famous hotel after being accused of financial irregularities,” Nick further wrote.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles is the first detective novel by Agatha Christie, introducing her fictional detective Hercule Poirot.
According to BBC, published in 1920, the whodunnit centres around the murder of a wealthy woman, Emily Inglethorp. The book introduces one of Christie’s most iconic characters-the eccentric detective, Hercule Poiro. But the novel is also singular in that it is widely thought to be inspired by a real-life murder that took place over a century ago in Mussoorie, a popular hill retreat in northern India.
Indian author Ruskin Bond, who lives in Mussoorie and has written extensively about the tranquil and verdant hill town, drew a connection between this famous murder and Christie’s first book in one of his essays. He says that Christie “used the circumstances of the crime” in her book as the case was “quite a sensation” in its time.