Christie Vs Doyle ~ Who has the last laugh?

Diehard fans of Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle would probably agree to this observation of mine – Poirot and Holmes aren’t the two ends of a stick nor are Hastings and Watson different. Neither can they be compared nor be said to be on the same plane. Here is an amateur detective’s opinion on them:

Hercule Poirot: He isn’t your usual police detective. From his first novel appearance to his last, he is an old man, someone who retired from the Belgian police. Oy! I know what you would be thinking about, of what use is an old detective to the readers. Sadly, your observation goes down the drain. He is simply “fantastic” in every mystery he solves. Having clients ranging from the nobility to a charwoman, he is a strutting peacock. But, rest assured, you get to see almost whole of the world in his some 40 novels or so. My personal favourite is Murder on the Orient Express.

Sherlock Holmes: Though he comparatively solves more complex cases, he has beensounding out of fashion for the past few years, due to the lack of connection between the two time periods. But, don’t get misled by this observation. His intellect is decidedly higher than of Poirot and he does have more qualitative clients. His special characteristic is to know the unknown, even at the end of the novel; you are left scratching your head to where this info did come from. But, this adds a tinge of superiority to his cases.

Hastings and Watson: I think these two are mirror replicas of each other. Patronising their friends respectively, they act as the sidekick. The only fact I could find was Hastings being bolder than Watson. Watson, whatever his feelings were, has never been seen rebuking Holmes whereas Hastings doesn’t leave a chance to prick Poirot’s pride.

But, seriously, does it matter? All what matters, atleast, to me is that there is a mystery novel lying in front of me and I am going to read it; trying to solve its mystery. The detective hardly matters; there ain’t a huge difference between Poirot and Holmes.

If you are wondering why I wrote this, I am testing out my skills at a literary analysis... However, I can't trash Holmes and Poirot, whatever the case may be.

And to why I used the above picture for this article, that’s me jumping in exultation while reading a mystery novel!