The big four

Captain Hastings likes a quiet life. He does not like strangers who send his friend Hercule Poirot on round-the-world trips to defeat criminal masterminds with exotic code names. But their enquiries take a tragic turn when Hastings finds himself confronted by Poirot's twin brother, who announces that Hercule Poirot is dead!

The Big Four was published in 1927 and was one of Agatha Christie's most ambitious books. Putting Poirot into the centre of an international spy thriller, she created a story ideally suited to a graphic adaptation, now finally achieved 80 years later by Alain Paillou.