The Labours of Hercules
Twelve cases to close a career, each matched to a labour of Hercules.
The Labours of Hercules is a short story collection by Agatha Christie, first published in the US in 1947 and in the UK by Collins Crime Club in September of the same year. It gives an account of twelve cases with which Hercule Poirot intends to close his career as a private detective.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Agatha Christie
- Country
- United Kingdom; United States
- Language
- English
- Series
- Hercule Poirot
- Genre
- Crime novel
- Publisher
- Dodd, Mead and Company
- Released
- 1947
- Format
- Print (hardback & paperback)
Lore & Background
In the foreword, a visitor, Dr Burton, jokes about the twelve labours of Hercules, and Poirot decides that his final cases will follow the mythological sequence of his namesake's Twelve Labours. In some stories, such as "The Nemean Lion", the connection is very tenuous; by the end, "The Capture of Cerberus" corresponds to the twelfth labour with almost self-satirical convenience.
Reader's Guide
In "The Nemean Lion", Miss Lemon finds the first labour in a letter from the businessman Sir Joseph Hoggin, whose wife's Pekingese dog has been kidnapped and returned for a ransom of two hundred pounds. Miss Lemon, the valet George and Chief Inspector Japp make cameo appearances in the collection. The stories were all first published in periodicals, all but one in 1939 and 1940.
More in Cases & Stories
Elsewhere in Hercule Poirot
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