God and the Little Grey Cells

Book excerpt: Dan W. Clanton, Jr. examines the presence and use of religion and Bible in Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels and stories and their later interpretations. Clanton begins by situating Christie in her literary, historical, and religious contexts by discussing “Golden Age” crime fiction and Christianity in England in the late 19th-early 20th centuries. He then explores the ways in which Bible is used in Christie's Poirot novels as well as how Christie constructs a religious identity for her little Belgian sleuth. Clanton concludes by asking how non-majority religious cultures are treated in the Poirot canon, including a heterodox Christian movement, Spiritualism, Judaism, and Islam. Throughout, Clanton acknowledges that many people do not encounter Poirot in his original literary contexts. That is, far more people have been exposed to Poirot via “mediated” renderings and interpretations of the stories and novels in various other genres, including radio, films, and TV. As such, the book engages the reception of the stories in these various genres, since the process of adapting the original narrative plots involves, at times, meaningful changes. Capitalizing on the immense and enduring popularity of Poirot across multiple genres and the absence of research on the role of religion and Bible in those stories, this book is a necessary contribution to the field of Christie studies and will be welcomed by her fans as well as scholars of religion, popular culture, literature, and media.