Arthur Hastings, a Beautiful Lady, and the Battle of the Somme

Agatha Christie's second Hercule Poirot novel, The Murder on the Links, starts with Captain Arthur Hastings riding on a train in France. In his carriage, his sole companion is a young lady who goes against all his classic ideas of what a woman should be. She swears, says the most outrageous things, and wears too much makeup. Yet, despite all this, he finds himself strangely attracted to her. 

As they talk, Hastings opens up to her, and tells her that the landscape they are traveling through reminds him of his experiences during World War I. Like many of his friends, he fought in the great war, and saw many people of his generation die. The scenery especially reminds him of the Battle of the Somme, which was waged between July and November 1916. After receiving serious injuries, he was invalided out of France. He was sent to a manor house that had been converted into an Army hospital, where he recovered from his wounds. Thereafter, he never returned to active service on the battlefield. Instead, during the remainder of WWI, he served the British Army in lesser capacities. 

The Battle of the Somme was one of the bloodiest battles of World War I. In all, roughly one million people were killed or wounded. Hastings, who recovered fully from his injuries, is one of the lucky ones. Despite his breezy, unaffected manner, it's easy to understand how deeply such an experience would scar him for life.

Recently, Hastings has been working for a British M.P. (or Member of Parliament), and on this occasion his duties took him to France. But he doesn't seem heavily involved in his government work. Aside from the occasional trip abroad,he may sit idle for days or weeks. So as he travels with the girl toward Calais, he tells her about his friend Hercule Poirot, the famous detective, and how he sometimes helps him investigate his cases. In particular, he references the poisoning of Mrs. Emily Ingelthorp at Styles Court, which Agatha Christie covered in the first Hercule Poirot novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. When the train reaches the station, Hastings reluctantly disembarks and parts company with her. 

As the train steams off to its next destination, this beautiful young woman seems to walk out of his life. Although he looks for her, he doesn't see her when he boards the ferry that will take him across the English Channel.

As I mentioned previously in my post, The Mysterious Battle of Ypres, in the TV version of The Mysterious Affair at Styles, we found Captain Arthur Hastings recovering from his injuries in a converted English manor house. Unlike today, he has no continuously broadcasting TV channels such as the BBC or CNN to watch. Nor can he read reports posted on a continuously throughout the day on his laptop or cell phone. The only source of news he gets comes via newspapers and newsreels. When we first see him, he sits in a darkened room, and the film projector shows him footage from the recent Third Battle of Ypres. This battle, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, was waged in Belgium, and the resultant destruction spurred a mass exodus of refugees to other countries. Shortly after that, at the invitation of his friend John Cavendish, he visits Styles Court. There, he meets up with Hercule Poirot, one of many Belgians who has fled the fighting to resettle, at least temporarily, in England.

The Third Battle of Ypres occurred between July and November of 1917, a year after the Battle of the Somme. I wonder why the TV adaptation of The Mysterious Affair at Styles was set later than Agatha Christie wrote the novel, in 1917. Why would the production team ignore Captain Hastings conversation with this young lady on the train in The Murder on the Links, which clearly dates the Styles affair in 1916? I understand why the people behind the series chose to set all the Poirot stories between WWI and WWII, as opposed to letting the later novels appear as Agatha Christie wrote them, such as the 1960s and 1970s. Still, given that decision, it seems odd to set productions of Agatha Christie's first two Poirot novels later than she did. 

Anyone else find this as strange as I do?

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The Mysterious Battle of Ypres