In the short story The Erymanthian Boar, Mr Schwartz is an American tourist from "Fountain Springs". In the story he was making his first trip to Europe and joined Hercule Poirot in travelling to the Swiss mountaintop resort of Rochers Neiges. Poirot found him garrulous and somewhat overly friendly. "A bit of a bore" Poirot thought, as Schwartz tried repeatedly but unsuccessfully to befriend and open conversations with all the other guests at the hotel. Nonetheless he performed a valuable service by holding up three members of Marrascaud's gang who were about to attack Poirot with razor blades.
Advertisement