Superintendent Crossfield

In the novel Three Act Tragedy, Superintendent Crossfield is the officer from the Yorkshire Police responsible for investigating the murder of Sir Bartholomew Strange and later that of Mrs De Rushbridger.

He is described as a "large, solid-looking man, rather slow of speech, but with a fairly keen blue eye". He has "a childish reverence for the glamour of the stage", and so is friendly and loquacious with Sir Charles Cartwright, even though he generally dislikes amateurs coming to him with their ideas about cases.

Superintendent Crossfield and his wife had been to see Sir Charles in Lord Aintree's Dilemma at the Pall Mall Theatre. Sir Charles gives him a card, and tells him to give it to the people at the box office at the Pall Mall the next time they go to the theatre, and they will be given some of the best seats. Crossfield is very grateful for this, and says that his wife will be all worked up when he tells her about it.

Portrayals
In Murder in Three Acts (1986), the closest equivalent character is the senior officer from the Mexican police at Acapulco, Colonel Mateo. Here, like in the novel, he is also a fan of Charles Cartwright except that in this case, it is his Hollywood Films rather than his stage plays. Mateo also knows Poirot. Poirot reminds him that they first met many years before over "The Managua Affair" when the colonel had been a corporal. The part of Colonel Mateo is played by Pedro Armendáriz Jr.

In the film adaptation of Three Act Tragedy in Series 12 of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot drama series, the part of Superintendent Crossfield is played by Tony Maudsley. Like in the original, he is also a fan of Charles Cartwright. At first he is not enthusiastic about Sir Charles and Poirot coming to Yorkshire to make enquiries about the death of Bartholomew Strange. He resents amateurs getting involved in his business. However when Charles Cartwright removes his hat, Crossfield recognises the famous actor and immediately changes his tone. He tells Cartwright that he and his wife are firm fans. When they went to London, his wife had insisted on queueing for hours to get tickets to see one of his plays. From then on, Crossfield welcomes the involvement of Cartwright and Poirot. He is present at the denouement and makes the final arrest.