Editing Inspector Japp (section)

==Appearances==
Japp has been depicted in seven novels written by Christie, all featuring [[Hercule Poirot]]:<ref name="Zemboy">{{Citation
| last =Zemboy
| first =James
| year =2008
| title =The Detective Novels of Agatha Christie: A Reader's Guide
| pages = 101, 107, 167, 177
| publisher =McFarland
| isbn =978-0-7864-3914-0
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=RIBz9x6BPZkC}}</ref>
*''[[The Mysterious Affair at Styles]]'' (1920)
*[[The Big Four (novel)|''The Big Four'']] (1927)
*''[[Peril at End House]]'' (1932)
*''[[Lord Edgware Dies]]'' (1933), also known as ''Thirteen at Dinner''
*''[[Death in the Clouds]]'' (1935), also known as ''Death in the Air''
*''[[The A.B.C. Murders]]'' (1936), also known as ''The Alphabet Murders''
*''[[One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (novel)|One, Two, Buckle My Shoe]]'' (1940), also known as ''An Overdose of Death'' and ''The Patriotic Murders''. This is his last appearance in any work by Christie, although he is briefly mentioned in two later works.

In most of these appearances, Japp is a minor character with minimal interactions with Poirot or involvement in the plot. He also appears in the short story "The Flock of Geryon" (see ''[[The Labours of Hercules]]'').

Japp emerges however as a major character and partner to Poirot in ''Lord Edgware Dies''. He returns in this capacity in ''Death in the Clouds'' and ''One, Two, Buckle My Shoe'', before being written out of the series. In number of appearances, Japp is comparable to [[Arthur Hastings]] who was featured in eight of the Poirot novels.<ref name="Zemboy"/>

Inspector Japp is also briefly mentioned in the [[Tommy and Tuppence]] book ''[[The Secret Adversary]]'' (1922); his card is brought to Julius Hersheimmer at the end of chapter five. In chapter seventeen of ''[[The Murder of Roger Ackroyd]]'' (1926), Japp is mentioned by a police superintendent to Poirot as having asked after him. Japp is mentioned by Poirot in ''[[Death on the Nile]]'' (1937), and by Colonel Weston in ''[[Evil Under the Sun]]'' (1941), the next book in the Poirot series after his final appearance. Japp is also mentioned in the novel ''[[Taken at the Flood]]'' (1948) by Superintendent Spence during a conversation with Hercule Poirot.

Japp's career in the Poirot novels extends into the 1930s but, like Hastings, he disappeared from Christie's writing thereafter. A police officer somewhat similar in character (Superintendent Spence) was introduced as a significant recurring character in the later Poirot novels.

Japp appears in Christie's stage play [[Black Coffee (play)|''Black Coffee'']], written in 1929. He remarks to Poirot that it has been a "long time" since they last met, in connection with "that Welsh case", which is not otherwise identified.<ref name="Black Coffee">{{cite book|last=Christie|first=Agatha|title=Black Coffee: A Mystery Play in Three Acts|year=1934|publisher=Samuel French|location=New York|isbn=978-0-573-61885-7|page=92}}</ref> Japp also appears in [[Black Coffee (novel)|Charles Osborne's novelisation]] of ''Black Coffee''.

Like those of Miss Lemon and [[Arthur Hastings]], the role of Inspector Japp in Poirot's career has been exaggerated by adaptations of Christie's original novels, specifically by the TV series ''[[Agatha Christie's Poirot]]'', where these characters are often introduced into stories that did not originally feature them.