in a bank vault for over thirty years. The final Poirot novel that Christie wrote, Elephants Can Remember, was published in 1972, followed by Christie's last novel, Postern of Fate. Christie authorised Curtains removal from the vault and subsequent publication. It was the last of her books to be published during her lifetime. Due to its early date of composition, Curtain makes no mention of Poirot's later cases, in novels published after World War II. Details are only very occasionally anachronistic (such as the mentions of hanging, which had been abolished in Great Britain in 1965). Christie could not know how long she would live nor how popular Poirot would remain. See Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple for further discussion of her views of Poirot. The fifth paragraph in Curtain ("Wounded in the war that for me would always be the war—the war that was wiped out now by a second and more desperate war" says Hastings) marks the passing of time for Hastings, and the long friendship of the two men, as well as making a link to the first Poirot novel. Though publication was in 1975, and the novel was written over 30 years earlier, the exact time period of the story is unknown, beyond it being summertime. The age of Hastings' daughter puts the story after the Second World War, as does the complete absence of wartime conditions and restrictions (e.g., no mention of rationing or bombing in London), but nothing sets a specific post-war year. The bit of arithmetic to show the story is set post-war starts from the marriage of Arthur Hastings and Dulcie (Cinderella) Duveen at the end of The Murder on the Links (published in 1923), and some years needed for the births of their four children, of whom Judith, age 21, appears to be the youngest. The story was not rewritten to add more specific markers of the years post Second World War, such as car models, clothing styles, or world events. The story clearly ends Poirot's career, as he dies in the novel, using his death for a resolution he had never before considered for a murderer: to become one himself. Poirot's death was announced in The New York Times, a rare honour for a fictional character. Adaptation for television The novel was adapted in 2013 starring David Suchet as Poirot. It was the final episode of the final series of