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 or "Labors" in the U.S. edition (with all stories save one first published in The Strand between 1939-1947) 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, over-pampered 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.
I read LABORS OF HERCULES as a teenager and loved the puzzles. Your fine review is tempting me to reread these fun stories!
Posted by: George Kelley | February 26, 2016 at 08:50 PM
It's definitely a very creative concept for a collection of stories - hat off to Agatha for the idea. I may to try and copy it in some fashion.
Posted by: BV Lawson | February 27, 2016 at 10:47 AM
This is a wonderful collection, one I should slip into my short story reading soon.
Posted by: Richard R. | February 27, 2016 at 12:40 PM
And I'll have to read it again, Richard! It's been a while....
Posted by: BV Lawson | February 27, 2016 at 11:41 PM