The Labours of Hercules.
Ratings34
Average rating3.6
This was entertaining enough and I liked the gimmick of each case having to do with an individual Labour. Some stories, I felt, had quite a fair bit of misogynistic elements, but nothing that I couldn't close one eye towards.
This reads like a series of short stories, each mystery mirroring one of the labors of Hercules. I loved it and found them all very clever (but then, I do like mythology too!)! I feel like I say this every time I read a new Poirot mystery, but really, this is one of my favorites. :D
I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie and I am about three-quarters of the way through reading all of her mysteries. That said, I had trouble getting through this book of short stories. I don't know if it was the format or what.
The one thing I will say is that the concept would have been clever if she had been less obvious with it. She makes it Poirot's idea to accomplish his equivalent of the 12 labors of Hercules before retirement, so he constantly making far-reaching comparisons throughout the whole book.
“The dog is missing? Why that is JUST LIKE in the first labor of Hercules when...” etc. etc.
It would have gone over better if she had just titled each story with the labor it is referring to and let us make the connection without Poirot's help. And if goes over our heads? Tough luck.
Overall, okay. Not her best short stories.