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Review
‘Twelve little masterpieces of detection. Poirot and Agatha Christie at their inimitable best’
Sunday Express
‘I have often thought that Mrs Christie was not so much the best as the only living writer of the true of classic detective story’
Margery Allingham
‘A finely shaped book, richly devious and quite brilliant – by far the best volume of Poirot shorts’
San Francisco Chronicle
Product Description
Poirot undertakes to solve twelve final cases, providing they correspond with the labours of his namesake the Greek hero Hercules.
Poirot sets himself a challenge before he retires - to solve 12 cases which correspond with the labours of his classical Greek namesake…
In appearance Hercule Poirot hardly resembled an ancient Greek hero. Yet – reasoned the detective – like Hercules he had been responsible for ridding society of some of its most unpleasant monsters.
So, in the period leading up to his retirement, Poirot made up his mind to accept just twelve more cases: his self-imposed ‘Labours’. Each would go down in the annals of crime as a heroic feat of deduction.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A collection of twelve short stories (with a brief prologue setting up the central conceit) in which Poirot dedicates himself to taking a dozen final cases which parallel the mythical labours of his greek demi-god namesake.
Unfortunately this is easily one of the weakest Poirot books I've so far read (I'm working through them in approximate publication order). I continue to enjoy Christie's books because of her superb mastery of plot. Poirot's adventures are usually a masterclass in mystery fiction and more often than not I find myself suprised to discover the identity of the murderer, yet forced to acknowledge that the clues were there all along.
So it is a shame that in too many of these stories, the miscreant or their method are easily identfied in advance of the final page. In short tales like these, one would assume that there is an even greater focus on plot as opposed to characterisation and description (often alleged to be AC's weaknesses) - but the format just doesn't work well. There is less room for Christie's trademark misdirection (e.g. when everyone has a motive) and, in fact, the episodes in 'The Labours of Hercules' actually suffer from a lack of good characterisation - highlighting how good the author actually is in building up efficient and effective character sketches.
The stories themselves are often quite far-fetched and their connection with the mythical feats they reference are often far more tangential than they need to be (there is also an assumption that the reader is familiar with the ancient Greek tales and little is done to draw out comparisons).
An intriguing idea, poorly executed - but occasionally diverting nonetheless. I'll still be grateful to return to a novel-length mystery with the necessary time to unfold and an appropriately large and conflicting cast of characters.
Unfortunately this is easily one of the weakest Poirot books I've so far read (I'm working through them in approximate publication order). I continue to enjoy Christie's books because of her superb mastery of plot. Poirot's adventures are usually a masterclass in mystery fiction and more often than not I find myself suprised to discover the identity of the murderer, yet forced to acknowledge that the clues were there all along.
So it is a shame that in too many of these stories, the miscreant or their method are easily identfied in advance of the final page. In short tales like these, one would assume that there is an even greater focus on plot as opposed to characterisation and description (often alleged to be AC's weaknesses) - but the format just doesn't work well. There is less room for Christie's trademark misdirection (e.g. when everyone has a motive) and, in fact, the episodes in 'The Labours of Hercules' actually suffer from a lack of good characterisation - highlighting how good the author actually is in building up efficient and effective character sketches.
The stories themselves are often quite far-fetched and their connection with the mythical feats they reference are often far more tangential than they need to be (there is also an assumption that the reader is familiar with the ancient Greek tales and little is done to draw out comparisons).
An intriguing idea, poorly executed - but occasionally diverting nonetheless. I'll still be grateful to return to a novel-length mystery with the necessary time to unfold and an appropriately large and conflicting cast of characters.
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