Poirot Studies the Classics: The Labors of Hercules | 1947

First Edition cover, photo from here

"Yet there was between this Hercule Poirot and the Hercules of classical lore one point of resemblance. Both of them, undoubtedly, had been instrumental in ridding the world of certain pests...Each of them could be described as a benefactor to the society he lived in... 

What Dr. Burton said last night as he left: 'Yours are not the Labors of Hercules...' Ah, but there he was wrong, the old fossil. There should be, once again, the Labors of Hercules -- A modern Hercules. An ingenious and amusing conceit! In the period before his final retirement he would accept twelve cases, no more, no less. And those twelve cases should be selected with special reference to the twelve labors of Hercules." - The Labors of Hercules, p. 6

The Sum of It

The premise of this set of short stories is that Poirot, whose given name is Hercule, is 100% unfamiliar with Roman and Greek mythology, and really didn't know much about his classical namesake til a snobbish old Brit told him about it over claret. This seems kind of unlikely, given how cultured and urbane Poirot is, but it suits the purpose of the story and gives Agatha a chance to mock the elderly Oxford fellas who read classics and feel like they are fancy stuff, so I guess it works. 

His friend is talking about his name, and saying how Poirot certainly has a set of labors, but that they are labors of love, not like the labors of valor or whatever that Hercules undertook. But that gets ol' Poirot thinking. The two have been discussing Poirot's retirement plans, which are wholly centered around vegetable marrows, and cultivating them so that they are more flavorful. Poirot doesn't really explain why he feels like he's the man for that job, but they do talk about it quite a bit, and his friend is basically like um, Poirot, if you try to live that life you will be #SOBORED, but Poirot is totally sure it's a great plan and that he is the man to bring marrows into the future. However, he hasn't decided yet how he's gonna go out, and their conversation about Hercules gives him an idea... #THEMECRIME! 

He decides (as the quote at the top notes) that he will solve exactly twelve more crimes before retiring, all of which must correspond thematically with the various labors of Hercules. This sends him on several different globe-trotting adventures which take him from dog thieves and London society ladies to murder in a secluded Swiss ski lodge to a stolen goblet at a remote convent on the western coast of Ireland to a drug ring at a nightclub called HELL, owned by one of his favorite ladies of all time, the jewel thief Countess Vera Rossakoff. Each story is titled with the corresponding moniker of one of Hercules' labors. 

The YOA Treatment

Ahh, short stories. A great way to pay the bills. Listen, there may be people out there who actually really love short mysteries. If you're out there, and you're reading this, I'm sorry for the low level of credit we've given them so far. Also, I would love to get your insight, so please drop it in the comments section! But to me, and I feel like we're sounding like a broken record on this, the short story is just not the best vehicle for a really compelling mystery. 

In Agatha's full length novels, there is much more ability for character development beyond how golden someone's hair is or whether they have a neat mustache. There is also more room for plot twists and build up to the resolution. Given the shorter page length of the short stories, obvi, there is just not really time for too much of that, though the mysteries aren't un-clever. 

Anyhow, the theme of these contributed an added level of interest, and the total range of settings was fun, especially the part set in Ireland, because the way Agatha described it just made it sound like the perfect place to go wander around with a book and meet a romantic fisherman who looks like Matthew Goode or something (I'm pretty sure he's Irish in real life and not just in that terrible Amy Adams movie). 

"It was three months later that Hercule Poirot stood on a rocky point and surveyed the Atlantic Ocean. Gulls rose and swooped down again with long melancholy cries. The air was soft and damp...It had a beauty, a melancholy, haunted beauty, the beauty of a remote and incredible past."

So overall, of course, as a set of short stories this one wasn't bad, and there were some thematic and linguistic highlights! But I am definitely looking forward to my next full-length novel.

- E.