In the novel Death on the Nile, Monsieur Gaston Blondin is the proprietor of a small restaurant, Chez Ma Tante. One of his customers is Hercule Poirot.
M. Blondin does not regularly pay special attention to his clients. Only in the rarest cases does he "with gracious condescension, greet a guest, accompany him to a privileged table, and exchange with him suitable and apposite remarks".
M. Blondin is "positively fulsome in his attentions" when Poirot comes to his restaurant at the beginning of the novel. Although customers had been told for the past half hour that there were no tables available, for Poirot, a table mysteriously appeared at a favourable position, and M. Blondin conducts him to it. This causes Poirot to remember an incident involving a dead body, a waiter, M. Blondin, and a very lovely lady.
Portrayals[]
In the 2022 Kenneth Branagh adaptation of Death on the Nile. He is the captain of the Karnak, Blondin is portrayed by Rick Warden. He is shown welcoming Poirot to the restaurant. He also asks Rosalie Otterbourne why there is no music (she is the manager of Salome Otterbourne who had been engaged to sing). Rosalie tells him they have not been paid whereupon Blondin replies that he only pays at the end of the night, but he yields to Rosalie's demand and pays her there and then. In the last scene, Poirot comes to the restaurant to watch Salome Otterbourne rehearse. Blondin does not recognise Poirot because he has shaved off his moustache and simply tells him that the restaurant is closed.