Dustjacket illustration of the UK first edition (the book was first published in the U.S.)
The Labours of Hercules is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1947 probably around June[1] and in the UK by Collins Crime Club in September of the same year. The U.S. edition retailed at $2.50 and the UK edition at eight shillings and sixpence (8/6).
It features Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and gives an account of twelve cases with which he intends to close his career as a private detective. His regular sidekicks (his secretary, Miss Lemon, and valet, George/Georges) make cameo appearances, as does Chief Inspector Japp. Except for the last story and the foreword in the book version, all the others were first published in periodicals between 1939 and 1947.
Poirot is planning to retire and decides that for his swansong he will carefully choose twelve cases in order to conform to the mythological sequence of the Twelve Labours of Hercules. In some cases (such as The Nemean Lion) the connection is a highly tenuous one, while in others the choice of case is more or less forced upon Poirot by circumstances. The last story, The Capture of Cerberus, has events that correspond with the twelfth labour with almost self-satirical convenience.
Contents[]
Foreword[]
This foreword only appeared in the book version. Hercule Poirot is enjoying a social visit by Dr Burton, a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford who recites sonorously some lines from Homer's Iliad (XXIII, 316 f) and turns the conversation round to the subject of Poirot's unusual Christian name and how some of the pagan names parents give to their children do not suit their recipients. Poirot claims ignorance of the legend of Hercules. The talk turns to Poirot's intention to retire after completing a few cases of interest and personal appeal and Burton laughingly refers to the twelve labours of Hercules. This comment gives Poirot pause for thought and after his visitor has gone, Poirot instructs Miss Lemon to gather reading materials on Hercules. Having researched the mythological subject, Poirt decides that his final cases will mimic Hercules' Twelve Labours. However his cases would be different. He considered Hercules to be just "a large muscular creature of low intelligence and criminal tendencies!" Hercules reminded Poirot of a more recent criminal Adolfe Durand. But at least, Poirot reflects, the labours of Hercules had the effect of ridding society of a number of "pests". Poirot would be then be thought of as a benefactor of society. This convinces him to pattern his last cases after the labours of Hercules.
Poirot meets Countess Vera Rossakoff again. She tells him he can find her "in Hell". Where is that?
Literary significance and reception[]
No review of this book appeared in the Times Literary Supplement.
Maurice Richardson, in the 5 October 1947 issue of The Observer wrote briefly, "the Queen of Crime tries the difficult, unrewarding sprint form. The Labours of Hercules consists of twelve Poirot cases, neatly constructed but inevitably lacking the criss-cross of red-herring trails that make our arteries pulse over the full distance. But will Agatha Christie allow the little egg-headed egomaniac to carry out his frightful threat of retirement?"
An unnamed reviewer in the Toronto Daily Star of 6 December 1947 said, "Hercule Poirot...here emulates his Olympian namesake, Hercules ... As the old-timer tackled the 12 classical labors ... so Mrs. Christie turns her dapper sleuth loose on 12 modern counterparts in the detection-mystery line. A tricky task, neatly done."
Robert Barnard: "Probably the best single short-story collection, because more varied in its problems and lighter in its touch than usual. Lots of tricks from her novels, and other people's used very skilfully. But the mention of the goblet made by Cellini for Alexander VI (before the age of three?) is a good example of Christie slapdash, almost amounting to philistinism or contempt for her audience."
Adaptation[]
A television film with David Suchet as Poirot was produced as episode 4 of Series 13 of the ITV series Agatha Christie's Poirot, first broadcast on 6 November 2013. The themes from several stories in the collection such as "The Arcadian Deer," "The Erymanthian Boar," "The Stymphalean Birds," and "The Capture of Cerberus" were loosely woven together as a single plot. The episode is notable for the reappearance of Countess Vera Rossakoff this time played by Orla Brady. Filming for this episode took place in April and May 2013 and was directed by Andy Wilson, who also directed Death on the Nile and Taken at the Flood for the series.
Publication history[]
Dust-jacket illustration of the US (true first) edition.
All of the stories except for The Capture of Cerberus were first published in the UK in The Strand Magazine with illustrations by Ernest Ratcliff as follows:
The Nemean Lion: November 1939 - Issue 587
The Lernaean Hydra: December 1939 - Issue 588
The Arcadian Deer: January 1940 - Issue 589
The Erymanthian Boar: February 1940 - Issue 590
The Augean Stables: March 1940 - Issue 591
The Stymphalean Birds: April 1940 - Issue 592
The Cretan Bull: May 1940 - Issue 593
The Horses of Diomedes: June 1940 - Issue 594
The Girdle of Hyppolita: July 1940 - Issue 595
The Flock of Geryon: August 1940 - Issue 596
The Apples of the Hesperides: September 1940 - 597
The Capture of Cerberus was rejected by Strand Magazine and was not published as part of the series. A new story under the same title first appeared in the Collins first edition. The original story surfaced in 2009 in Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran. In the U.S. nine of the stories were first published in the weekly newspaper supplement This Week magazine in two series of four stories each plus one later publication as follows:
The Lernaean Hydra: 3 September 1939 under the title Invisible Enemy
The Girdle of Hyppolita: 10 September 1939 under the title The Disappearance of Winnie King
The Stymphalean Birds: 17 September 1939 under the title The Vulture Women with an illustration by C.C. Beall
The Cretan Bull: 24 September 1939 under the title Midnight Madness
The Erymanthian Boar: 5 May 1940 under the title Murder Mountain
The Apples of the Hesperides: 12 May 1940 under the title The Poison Cup
The Arcadian Deer: 19 May 1940 under the title Vanishing Lady with an illustration by C.C. Beall
The Flock of Geryon: 26 May 1940 under the title Weird Monster
The Capture of Cerberus: 16 March 1947 under the title Meet Me in Hell
