Information about Superintendent Battle

Superintendent Battle is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie. He appears as a detective in the following novels:

• The Secret of Chimneys (1925)
• The Seven Dials Mystery (1929 - including some of the same characters, notably Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent)
• Cards on the Table (1936, with Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver)
• Murder is Easy (1939)
• Towards Zero (1944)

Battle is notable for his stolid good sense, and he relies in part on the appearance of being a stupid or unimaginative police officer as a means to investigating his cases. Until Towards Zero the reader knows nothing of his domestic arrangements, but in this novel we learn that he has a wife and five children, the youngest of whom (Sylvia) unwittingly provides a key clue to the mystery.

It is believed that Colin 'Lamb', the hero of The Clocks, is Superintendent Battle's son, using a pseudonym to avoid unwanted attention.

Battle also has a secret professional life that is revealed in the denouement to The Seven Dials Mystery, but this is never referred to again. He is in many respects typical of Christie's police officers, being (like Inspector Japp), more careful and intelligent than the police officers of early detective fiction, who had served only as foils for the brilliance of the amateur sleuth.

•  • [ e] Works by Agatha Christie
Detectives:	Hercule Poirot • Miss Marple • Tommy and Tuppence • Ariadne Oliver • Arthur Hastings • Superintendent Battle • Chief Inspector Japp • Parker Pyne
Novels:	The Mysterious Affair at Styles • The Secret Adversary • The Murder on the Links • The Man in the Brown Suit • The Secret of Chimneys • The Murder of Roger Ackroyd • The Big Four • The Mystery of the Blue Train • The Seven Dials Mystery • The Murder at the Vicarage • The Sittaford Mystery • Peril at End House • Lord Edgware Dies • Murder on the Orient Express • Three Act Tragedy • Why Didn't They Ask Evans? • Death in the Clouds • The A.B.C. Murders • Murder in Mesopotamia • Cards on the Table • Dumb Witness • Death on the Nile • Appointment with Death • Hercule Poirot's Christmas • Murder is Easy • And Then There Were None • Sad Cypress • One, Two, Buckle My Shoe • Evil Under the Sun • N or M? • The Body in the Library • Five Little Pigs • The Moving Finger • Towards Zero • Death Comes as the End • Sparkling Cyanide • The Hollow • Taken at the Flood • Crooked House • A Murder is Announced • They Came to Baghdad • Mrs McGinty's Dead • They Do It with Mirrors • After the Funeral • A Pocket Full of Rye • Destination Unknown • Hickory Dickory Dock • Dead Man's Folly • 4.50 From Paddington • Ordeal by Innocence • Cat Among the Pigeons • The Pale Horse • The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side • The Clocks • A Caribbean Mystery • At Bertram's Hotel • Third Girl • Endless Night • By the Pricking of My Thumbs • Hallowe'en Party • Passenger to Frankfurt • Nemesis • Elephants Can Remember • Postern of Fate • Curtain • Sleeping Murder
As Mary Westmacott:	Giant's Bread • Unfinished Portrait • Absent in the Spring • The Rose and the Yew Tree • A Daughter's a Daughter • The Burden
Short story collections:	Poirot Investigates • Partners in Crime • The Mysterious Mr. Quin • The Thirteen Problems • The Hound of Death • The Listerdale Mystery • Parker Pyne Investigates • Murder in the Mews • The Regatta Mystery • The Labours of Hercules • The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories • Three Blind Mice and Other Stories • The Under Dog and Other Stories • The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding • Double Sin and Other Stories • The Golden Ball and Other Stories • Poirot's Early Cases • Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories • Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories • The Harlequin Tea Set • While the Light Lasts and Other Stories
Plays:	Black Coffee • And Then There Were None • Appointment with Death • Murder on the Nile/Hidden Horizon • The Hollow • The Mousetrap • Witness for the Prosecution • Verdict • Rule of Three • Fiddlers Three • Akhnaton
Radio (and Television) Plays:	Three Blind Mice • Butter In a Lordly Dish
Other Published Works:	The Road of Dreams