Arthur Hastings

In 1917, Hastings is recovering from a war wound at Styles, invited by his friend John Cavendish. When the lady of the house, Emily Inglethorp, is poisoned, he turns to Poirot, who's living in the village with other Belgian refugees.

Hastings is sure who did it and more than once gets annoyed with the detective, who seems to be protecting the prime suspect. In the end he sees that Poirot was a step ahead the whole time.

In the 1930s, Hastings is always around in London. He drives, asks questions, chases suspects and falls for young women in trouble. Poirot laughs at his friend's lack of method but uses his wrong ideas to reach the right ones.

The friendship runs on small squabbles: Hastings grumbles about Poirot's vanity, and Poirot grumbles about Hastings's taste in clothes and hobbies. Still, when the danger is real, Hastings is the first one through the door, and Poirot knows he can count on his courage and loyalty in any case.

Hastings returns from a stint in South America just in time for the A.B.C. letters. He follows Poirot from town to town, Andover to Doncaster, after a killer who seems to pick victims by the alphabet.

As usual, Hastings buys the most obvious lead. It's Poirot who shows the whole series was cover for a single murder.

In Murder on the Links, Hastings goes with Poirot to the French coast, where a millionaire who'd asked for help is found dead on a golf course. Mid-investigation he falls for a young variety performer and starts protecting her, even when it gets in his friend's way.

In 1949, now a widower, Hastings answers Poirot's call and returns to Styles, where his daughter Judith works as a scientist's assistant. The ailing Poirot tells him someone there is behind several murders.

Worried about his daughter, Hastings comes close to committing a crime himself, and only stops because Poirot drugs him to sleep. After his friend's death, a letter shows Hastings what really happened at Styles.

In the books, Hastings narrates several cases, from the first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, through Curtain. On ITV, Hugh Fraser played him from 1989 to 2002 and came back in 2013 for The Big Four and Curtain.