More pleasure is gleaned from “Geryon” when you’ve already read “The Nemean Lion,” which opens this collection. This thematic companion to “Murder on the Orient Express” is fascinating because Poirot sympathizes with Miss Carnaby after he exposes her ingenious dognapping scam. Oddly, the one that least stands alone, “The Flock of Geryon,” was recollected in “The Last Séance” (2019) because of its supernatural theme. The Labors of Hercules themselves are a loose connective tissue, recalling Christie’s approach in “Partners in Crime.” These stories can mostly stand alone. But Christie doesn’t show any particular growth in Poirot’s character or abilities. ![]() The stories don’t take place in immediate succession, but rather over the course of decades. As such, “The Labors of Hercules” is short on sharp insights about the contemporary condition (with one exception). ![]() So she’s often writing about the past rather than the present. These stories begin to unspool shortly before Christie’s first novel, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” (1920), wherein Poirot “retires” from detective work in order to raise vegetable marrows. The fact that Poirot is the opposite of Hercules in every respect except his name hangs like a cloud over the premise – even though we have a laugh about it when Poirot comes up with the notion of seeking 12 of his own “labors.” (For example, instead of fighting a lion, Poirot matches wits with a lion of society.) Embarking on ‘retirement’ ![]() Via stories originally printed in magazines from 1939-47, Christie puts Poirot through mental trials that metaphorically parallel Hercules’ physical trials. Agatha Christie tries to tie a dozen Hercule Poirot cases in with the Greek myth of “The Labors of Hercules” in her 1947 short-story collection of the same name.
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