Patti Abbott has chosen Agatha Christie as the feature of today's Friday's "Forgotten Books" feature. (Previous special features have included George Simenon, John D. MacDonald and Donald Westlake.)
The prolific Agatha Christie is best known for her 66 detective novels, but she also penned romance novels, plays, and some 157 short stories. Of the latter category, 22 collections were published with stories culled from fiction magazines, over half of which first appeared in the 1920s. The collections were themed around her various detective heroes, Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, Parker Pyne and Ariadne Oliver, Mr. Harley Quin, as well as several standalones. At least five featured Christie's most popular fictional creation, Hercule Poirot.
The 1947 collection The Labours of Hercules (with all stories save one first published in The Strand between 1939 and 1947) uses an unusual literary device: Poirot is at the end of his career and ready to retire, but before he does, he decides to solve 12 more cases that correspond to the mythological Twelve Labours of Hercules. As Poirot himself states in the "Foreword," as he looks as his reflection in a mirror:
Here, then, was a modern Hercules – very distinct from that unpleasant sketch of a naked figure with bulging muscles, brandishing a club. Instead a small compact figure attired in correct urban wear with a moustache – such a moustache as Hercules never dreamed of cultivating – a moustache magnificent yet sophisticated.
Yet there was between this Hercule Poirot and the Hercules of Classical lore one point of resemblance. Both of them, undoubtedly, had been instrumental in ridding the world of certain pests … Each of them could be described as a benefactor to the Society he lived in.
The 12 stories feature appearances by Poirot's occasional sidekicks including his secretary, Miss Lemon, his valet, Georges, Chief Inspector Japp, and even the love of Poirot's life, Countess Rossakoff. The "labours" start off with "The Nemean Lion," in which Miss Lemon finds a letter from businessman, Sir Joseph Hoggin, whose wife's Pekingese dog has been kidnapped. Poirot is reluctant to take on the case, calling such dogs "bulging-eyed, overpampered pets of a rich woman," but when he digs deeper, he uncovers and prevents a much worse crime.
Other stories place Poirot in uncharacteristic situations involving travel and even the dreaded physical activity, as in "Erymanthian Boar," where the sleuth sets out to capture an infamous gang leader and violent murderer in the Swiss Alps. In "The Horses of Diomedes"—based on the eighth labour of Hercules in which the hero has to capture the wild horses that were fed on human flesh—Poirot has to tame the "wild horses" who are actually human beasts supplying cocaine to impressionable young people.
If you're not a fan of Poirot in general, these little bite-sized morsels may be more palatable and enjoyable, with half the fun seeing how Christie (and Poirot) manage to tie in a case to the Hercules task on which it's based. The Sunday Express was called the collection "Twelve little masterpieces of detection. Poirot and Agatha Christie at their inimitable best."
Plus, you can even buy the Labours of Hercules tea towel.
Really enjoyed the review, thanks very much, it's been too long since I read any fo the short stories - and as for that tea towel ...
Posted by: Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) | October 12, 2012 at 09:50 AM
Awww, Sergio - you don't like the tea towel? Christmas season will soon be upon us after all. :-)
Posted by: BV Lawson | October 12, 2012 at 11:11 AM
When I was a teenager, I went on an Agatha Christie binge. I must have read 20-30 of her books in a row. I remember reading that very DELL edition of THE LABORS OF HERCULES pictured above! Loved it!
Posted by: George Kelley | October 12, 2012 at 01:11 PM
Although I enjoy the David Suchet characterization of Poirot on TV, I've always thought the literary Poirot is best taken in small doses. Thus, these short stories are a terrific way to get a quick Poirot fix, and the mythology conceit was fun.
Posted by: BV Lawson | October 12, 2012 at 01:19 PM
Yes, I agree this is a wonderful collection. Well worth the reader's time, either one at a time or in large gulps (as I did it).
Posted by: Richard R. | October 13, 2012 at 02:56 PM
A terrific collection. Your post reminds me I haven't re-read this in a long, long time. A lot of my Christie books (which were in paperbacks of their time) simply have crumbled and fallen apart over the years.
Posted by: Yvette | October 14, 2012 at 12:07 PM
I just learned, Yvette, that the "Labours of Hercules" is going to be included somehow in the final season of the "Poirot" series on the BBC/PBS featuring David Suchet. It will be interesting to see how they wrap up all 12 of the labors into one 90-minute show...
Posted by: BV Lawson | October 14, 2012 at 09:41 PM