Hercule Poirot

Agatha Christie killed Hercule Poirot. His death song was locked in a safe during the blitz to be published if she did not survive. The man she described as "a detestable, bombastic, tiresome, egocentric little creep" would not outlive her. In 1975, with Christie's health and mind failing, "The Curtain" fell ignobly on Poirot. In the novel he takes his own life, after committing murder. The image of the incomparably punctilious detective was forever stained.