Inspector Japp

Inspector James Japp (later Chief Inspector Japp) is a fictional character who appears in several of Agatha Christie's novels featuring Hercule Poirot. Creation Inspector Japp was inspired by the fictional police detective Inspector Lestrade from the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Christie even modelled Japp after the "ferret-like" qualities of Lestrade. In the first novel in which Japp appears, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, he is described as a "ferret-faced man", which is similar to the description of Lestrade as a "ferret-like man" in Doyle's 1891 short story "The Boscombe Valley Mystery". Appearances Japp has been depicted in seven novels written by Christie, all featuring Hercule Poirot: The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) The Big Four (1927) Peril at End House (1932) Lord Edgware Dies (1933), also known as Thirteen at Dinner Death in the Clouds (1935), also known as Death in the Air The A.B.C. Murders (1936), also known as The Alphabet Murders One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940), also known as An Overdose of Death and The Patriotic Murders. This is his last appearance in any work by Christie, although he is briefly mentioned in two later works. In most of these appearances, Japp is a minor character with minimal interactions with Poirot or involvement in the plot. However, Japp emerges as a major character and partner to Poirot in Lord Edgware Dies. He returns in this capacity in Death in the Clouds and One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, before being written out of the series. In number of appearances, Japp is comparable to Arthur Hastings who was featured in eight of the Poirot novels.