It's the years preceding the Great War and Poirot is on the Brussels Police Force. A young man eats a box of chocolate and drops dead. "Heart attack," everyone says. "Murder," says Poirot.
In a flashback, Poirot the cop is hired to look into the case during his leave, by the stunning Anna Chancellor. She's one of those people who don't look so hot in still photos but in motion become the epitome of grace and beauty. (Yum.) She is not "THE woman" for Poirot, however, because he is above being impressed by Platonic accidents. I would have been in her thrall. Yet, they are soon calling each other "Hercule" and "Virginie", which meant more then and there than it does here and now.
As a cop, Poirot gets a lot of obstructionism from the authorities because the dead man was a member of the Belgian aristocracy. So time passes and pari passu Poirot is forced by the war to leave Belgium for England.
Years later he returns to Brussels with his friend, Inspector Japp, who is to receive an award for his own police work. Still nettled by the unsolved "suicide", by some loose ends, Poirot narrates the tale.
The most important clue is the mixing up of different colored lids on two boxes of chocolates, a result of arrant stupidity, if you ask me. PS: Poirot solves the case.
In the earlier period, set before the war, the principals are all in what looks like accurate period dress. Nineteen thirteen was certainly different than 1935. In his uniform, Poirot doesn't look much younger than in the other stories but he does appear somewhat leaner, though that may be a mistaken impression.
In a flashback, Poirot the cop is hired to look into the case during his leave, by the stunning Anna Chancellor. She's one of those people who don't look so hot in still photos but in motion become the epitome of grace and beauty. (Yum.) She is not "THE woman" for Poirot, however, because he is above being impressed by Platonic accidents. I would have been in her thrall. Yet, they are soon calling each other "Hercule" and "Virginie", which meant more then and there than it does here and now.
As a cop, Poirot gets a lot of obstructionism from the authorities because the dead man was a member of the Belgian aristocracy. So time passes and pari passu Poirot is forced by the war to leave Belgium for England.
Years later he returns to Brussels with his friend, Inspector Japp, who is to receive an award for his own police work. Still nettled by the unsolved "suicide", by some loose ends, Poirot narrates the tale.
The most important clue is the mixing up of different colored lids on two boxes of chocolates, a result of arrant stupidity, if you ask me. PS: Poirot solves the case.
In the earlier period, set before the war, the principals are all in what looks like accurate period dress. Nineteen thirteen was certainly different than 1935. In his uniform, Poirot doesn't look much younger than in the other stories but he does appear somewhat leaner, though that may be a mistaken impression.