References To Actual History, Geography and Current Science
The book has some parallels to incidents and settings of a round-the-world work trip taken by Christie with her first husband Archie Christie and headed by his old teacher from Clifton College, Major E. A. Belcher, to promote the forthcoming 1924 British Empire Exhibition. The tour lasted from January 20 to December 1, 1922 (It was on the tour that Christie wrote the short stories which would form all of Poirot Investigates (1924) and most of the contents of Poirot's Early Cases (published in 1974).) Dining with Belcher before the trip, he had suggested setting a mystery novel in his home, the Mill House at Dorney, naming the book The Mystery of the Mill House and insisted on being in it as well. He is the inspiration for the central character Sir Eustace Pedler, having been given a title at Archie's suggestion, and the Mill House also makes an appearance, albeit transposed to Marlow.
Christie found Belcher "childish, mean and somehow addictive as a personality: ‘Never, to this day, have I been able to rid myself of a sneaking fondness for Sir Eustace,’ wrote Agatha of the fictionalised Belcher, whom she put into The Man in the Brown Suit. ‘I dare say it's reprehensible, but there it is.’"
Read more about this topic: The Man In The Brown Suit
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