Annie Bates

In the short story The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, Annie Bates was a maid at Kings Lacey. She overheard Desmond Lee-Wortley telling his sister that they needed to "do something about Poirot". He asked her where she "put it". She had answered that she had put it in the plum pudding. Annie assumed that they were planning to poison Poirot and placed a cryptic note on his pillow warning him to avoid the plum pudding.

Annie also broke the mould holding the plum pudding intended for the Christmas dinner. As a result, the cook Mrs Ross had to serve up the pudding intended for New year instead.

At the end of the story, Poirot thanked Annie for her good heart and ingenuity and offered her a choice of presents. Annie chose a vanity box.

Her counterpart in the earlier, shorter version of the story, Christmas Adventure was Annie Hicks.

Portrayals
Annie Bates was played by Siobhan Garahy in the film adaptation of the story in Series 3 of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot.