Curtain: Poirot's Last Case

Overview

"Curtain: Poirot's Last Case" reunites Hercule Poirot and Captain Arthur Hastings at Styles Court, the scene of Poirot's first triumph. Returning to the old house decades later, Hastings finds his friend diminished by age and ill, yet as sharp of mind as ever. The story is a compact, tense investigation that functions as both a detective puzzle and a quiet meditation on justice, conscience, and the costs of moral action.
Agatha Christie's final Poirot novel is written with deliberate restraint and poignancy. The familiar cozy trappings of a country-house mystery are present, but the tone is darker: the stakes feel existential rather than merely judicial, and the central question becomes not only "Who did it?" but "What should be done about them?"

Plot

Hastings arrives at Styles to aid Poirot, who has chosen the old house as a place to observe a disturbing pattern among its residents and visitors. A series of deaths and near-deaths among seemingly unrelated people prompts Poirot to suspect that a single, remorseless mind is arranging murder by subtle manipulation. As Poirot quietly watches, he reconstructs the murderer's method, motives and a chilling criterion by which victims are chosen.
The investigation is intimate and concentrated, relying on psychological insight and small detail rather than theatrical clues. Poirot is physically limited and often dependent on others, so the drama plays out through conversation, testimony and Hastings's attentive support. The narrative builds to a revelation that forces Poirot to confront not only the identity of the killer but the inadequacy of ordinary legal remedies to stop further harm.

Characters and Resolution

Hastings serves as the narrator and moral center, offering loyalty, straightforwardness and a capacity for astonishment that contrasts with Poirot's cool intellect. Poirot himself is dignified and humane even as he wrestles with an uncompromising ethical decision. Other residents and guests populate the house with believable motives, petty grievances and hidden guilts, making the investigation feel like a study in ordinary human failings.
The novel's resolution is unusually solemn for Christie: Poirot arrives at a conclusion about how best to end the killer's activities and accepts the heavy personal consequences of that choice. Hastings discovers the full truth after Poirot's death in a written account that explains the detective's reasoning and the precise sequence of events. The ending reframes Poirot's career, resolving long-running arcs of pride, compassion and a lifelong devotion to order.

Themes and Legacy

Curtain confronts questions about justice, mercy and the limits of law. Poirot's final case forces readers to consider whether upright individuals can ever be justified in taking extraordinary measures when institutions fail. The book also reflects on friendship and fidelity: Hastings's presence allows Poirot to act with confidence and gives the ending a poignant human warmth.
As a farewell, the novel is both moving and controversial. It closes the life of one of fiction's most exacting moral philosophers with gravity rather than triumph, leaving readers to weigh the ethical complexity of Poirot's last decisions. The book endures as a powerful coda to a long career, blending a tightly plotted mystery with a somber meditation on right, wrong and the burdens of conscience.