Agatha Christie Lovers discussion

Originally published 1947. Features Hercule Poirot.

First published in book form in 1947, The Labours of Hercules comprises an even dozen mysteries starring Christie's most popular sleuth, the ever-dignified Hercule Poirot. The introductory chapter of the collection sets up the rest of the book. At a dinner party, another guest compares the labors of Poirot to those of Hercules, and the little Belgian is not amused. He has already decided to retire, but makes up his mind to take on 12 great cases - each somehow reflecting the labors accomplished by Hercules - as a farewell to crime solving. All of the cases are quite different from each other, from searching for a lost poet to hunting down a particularly ferocious murderer, from solving mysterious deaths of religious cult members to saving a young would-be politician from potential blackmailers. Frequent Christie interpreter Hugh Fraser brings stories like "The Cretan Bull" and "The Apples of the Hesperides" to dazzling life.

Here's the link to the previous discussion: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Just finished.

I thought I had read all the Agatha Christie’s but obviously not - this one had escaped me.
Enjoyable Poirot short stories - easier to guess the solutions than in the novels.

Just a warning that if you haven't already seen it, give the Suchet adaptation a hard pass. It tries to be a mishmash of all of the stories into one coherent storyline, and it fails.

I am four chapters in. It has quite an interesting premise. However, knowing how many Poirot novels are after this one, it gets funny - Christie definitely has written herself into a corner.

Fiona,
I also find it easier to guess the solutions and plot twists.

Tara,
I try to watch every adaptation after reading the book. I hoped that all these stories got a dedicated shorter episode. Thanks for warning that I should not expect much 😄

Finished reading last week. An interesting collection of short stories. There was one that seemed vaguely familiar, but I didn’t find it listed in any of the other short story collections Christie published. I can’t say any of these sticks out more than the rest, either.

Some of the stories are better than others - I liked the one about the Pekingese the best, that was really funny.