Reviews

The Labors of Hercules by Agatha Christie

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ginaparrish's review against another edition

3.0

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.

megegghan's review against another edition

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3.0

Entertaining but not a must-read. Not all stories were about murder which was a nice change.

anisha_inkspill's review

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4.0

Twelve short stories by Agatha Christie where Hercule Poirot takes on his last 12 cases, each one gives a nod to a labour of (the Greek hero) Hercules. I listened to the audiobook, brilliantly read and entertaining.

mgiegerl's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

thaurisil's review against another edition

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3.0

Taking place about 20 years after The Big Four, this book features Hercule Poirot as an elderly man. On a whim, he decides that the final twelve cases of his career would each correspond to one of Hercules' twelve labours. It is a clever way for Agatha Christie to bring us Poirot tackling cases that are atypical for him on the pretext that these cases involve an element that corresponds, sometimes in a remote way, to one of the twelve labours. These are cases that don't involve murders, that involve thefts, deceptions and missing persons, and cases which don't involve crime at all, but benefit from Poirot's creative, intelligent way of thinking out of the box.

Agatha Christie tends impress when she writes stories with hidden subplots and occasionally complex plotlines. As such, the whodunnits in this book are not satisfying. The criminals are easily guessed – they are the least likely person – but there aren't enough clues for the reader to figure out who the criminal is logically. However, I did like the variety of cases, criminal or otherwise, and the twists that every story ended in.