Is Hercule Poirot autistic?

Many of us -masking or not - are more likely to be ourselves despite the conventions of society. (Hence the historical practice of shutting us away so we do not become an embarrassment, like Rosemary Kennedy, whose father Joe feared her habits would hurt the presidential chances of JFK and RFK.)

As a 10 yr old I related more to a 50 year old Belgian detective in the 1920’s than to any of my peers or the adults around me. I have read nearly all of Agatha's books many times over. I am 100% sure that Poirot was indeed autistic before Agatha had a name for it. I always suspected Agatha was as well. Her attention to detail is phenomenal, her attention to Human Nature even more so. And random autism traits are peppered throughout her characters. (Ariadne Oliver, off the top of my head, but will bookmark autism traits in every audiobook henceforth.) As an aside, I love it when autistic authors use traits they think are “normal” in multiple characters. I noticed recently that Richard Osman does this in *all* of his main characters in The Thursday Murder Club and it tickles me to death! Also David Mitchell’s “Ludwig”, and “Back”. (Seeing the memories of a normal child and an autistic child remembering the same events really hit hard.) If you haven’t seen them, they were the best shows I have seen in a long time. 5 stars. But I digress…

But the reason I am *sure* Agatha was autistic is the story she wrote under the pseudonym (nom de plume?) Mary Westmacott called “Giant’s Bread”. It is not a mystery, nor is it like anything she became famous for. (Except the whole upperclass thing). It is told from the perspective of a child, starting at 3 years of age. There is no way she would think to write of the child’s thought processes, his rich imagination, imaginary friends, echolalia, hatred of noise and being touched, etc… if she didn’t have firsthand knowledge. When he finally has one friend who understands him, I wept, because I remembered how lonely it was being an unDx’d autistic child. 

Has anyone else read this? What are your thoughts?

I was going to see the same thing. Great minds and so on. 

Christie's Muss Marple certsonly wasn't autistic though. 

That's so great you're writing about this. I'm currently finishing a non-fiction book on late diagnosed autism, to be published in my native Nordics, where I (among other topics) go into Poirot's and Christie's neurodivergence. I'm not necessarily convinced she was autistic, even if she hated crowds and the gramophone :) But she would probably have been diagnosed something starting with dys- today, in light of the documentation of her poor hand-writing, peculiar difficulties with spelling and more. Poirot, on the other hand: I agree with JC Bernthal (the writer of the article Martyn linked to, for those who didn't open it) that he can clearly be read as autistic. And as a late diagnosed autistic and veteran Christie fan, I love that! I have collected many more clues of P's autism than what's listed in the (excellent) Bernthal article. "Hastings! I feel the dampness of the feet!". 

Some of Inspector Morse (over the TV series he seems to 'learn' teamwork, and become more endearing to others), parts of Rebus, the Bones lead character, some aspects of Kay Scarpetta, maybe even some of Frost, although this last one is possibly more a consequence of when they were written rather than autistic-type traits.

Well, 

Not directly. But, the character of Poirot was, by Christie's own admission, much influenced by Holmes, she being a great admirer of Doyle's fictional detective. 

And, it is well known that Holmes was based on a real person known to Doyle, Dr. Joseph Bell. He may have been autistic, although we'll probably never know. 

So maybe, the answer could be yes, indirectly?

if you can think of any others that you resonate ad see yourself in...? I love a list, I do.

Could there be a correlation between autistic people being more likely to be LGBT and vice versa? 

I think your question would be best answered by Colombo.  Need I say more.............."oh, just I last thing."

Holmes is widely read as autistic these days. Interestingly, he was loosely based on Conan Doyle's old teacher Dr Joseph Bell, who it's also speculated was autistic. 

Thank you for that. That's really helpful, I'll investigate.

Interesting perspective, even though I know very little about this - perhaps in terms of analytical skills the same could be true of Sherlock Holmes 

Very interesting question and post, even though I know very little about this - on reflection, aside from his being gay, I’ve often wondered if Irish writer Oscar Wilde was autistic as well and perhaps the same could be said about fellow Irish writer James Joyce - in terms of analytical skills, the same could be true of Sherlock Holmes  

From the books, not the shows, I would say the most openly expressed ND person could be the character who is a consultant that Miss Marple uses who shows up every now and then in her books. They have a steel trap memory, flat delivery, restless bad eye contact and other features right out of the DSM. 

I cannot remember this incidental character's name but when I read the books I never forgot him as he was so like myself, So vividly did he reflect me.

I have never, though, felt all that much kinship with Poirot. Can't say why.

Other literary and film characters that resonate:

Jeeves the butler in "Jeeves and Woster"

 Boo Radley in to "kill a mocking bird"

Mister Memory from the stage show scenes in Hitchcock's "the 39 steps"

James Stewart's character in "Rear Window"

the night man in Orwell's "A touch of Evil"

Virginia O'brien in the marx Bro's "The Big Store"

I remember David Suchet's Poirot getting annoyed at being called French; he's Walloon, French-Speaking Belgian.

Also, the eccentricity - and analytical skills - fit the description. Even pattern recognition. I remember an episode of 'One Foot in the Grave' where Victor and Margaret were watching a tape-recorded episode of Poirot; assuming that the killer's name was basil. (the victim held a piece of basil) Though the recording stopped; and went on beyond that to Jockey Wilson playing Darts.

Being a loner, as well.