The Labours of Hercules

The Labours of Hercules
Agatha Christie

In this set of short stories, Poirot sets himself a challenge before he retires – to solve 12 cases which correspond with the labours of his classical Greek namesake…In appearance Hercule Poirot hardly resembled an ancient Greek hero. Yet – reasoned the detective – like Hercules he had been responsible for ridding society of some of its most unpleasant monsters.So, in the period leading up to his retirement, Poirot made up his mind to accept just twelve more cases: his self-imposed ‘Labours’. Each would go down in the annals of crime as a heroic feat of deduction.

Copyright

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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First published in Great Britain by

Collins 1947

Copyright © 1947 Agatha Christie Ltd.

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The moral right of the author is asserted

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.

Ebook Edition 2010 ISBN: 9780007422418

Version: 2018-04-09

To Edmund Cork

of whose labours on behalf of

Hercule Poirot I am deeply appreciative

this book is affectionately dedicated

Contents

Copyright

Foreword

1 The Nemean Lion

2 The Lernean Hydra

3 The Arcadian Deer

4 The Erymanthian Boar

5 The Augean Stables

6 The Stymphalean Birds

7 The Cretan Bull

8 The Horses of Diomedes

9 The Girdle of Hyppolita

10 The Flock of Geryon

11 The Apples of the Hesperides

12 The Capture of Cerberus

E-Book Extras

About Agatha Christie

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Foreword

Hercule Poirot’s flat was essentially modern in its furnishings. It gleamed with chromium. Its easy-chairs, though comfortably padded, were square and uncompromising in outline.

On one of these chairs sat Hercule Poirot, neatly–in the middle of the chair. Opposite him, in another chair, sat Dr Burton, Fellow of All Souls, sipping appreciatively at a glass of Poirot’s Château Mouton Rothschild. There was no neatness about Dr Burton. He was plump, untidy, and beneath his thatch of white hair beamed a rubicund and benign countenance. He had a deep wheezy chuckle and the habit of covering himself and everything round him with tobacco ash. In vain did Poirot surround him with ashtrays.

Dr Burton was asking a question.

‘Tell me,’ he said. ‘Why Hercule?’

‘You mean, my Christian name?’

‘Hardly a Christian name,’ the other demurred. ‘Definitely pagan. But why? That’s what I want to know. Father’s fancy? Mother’s whim? Family reasons? If I remember rightly–though my memory isn’t what it was–you had a brother called Achille, did you not?’

Poirot’s mind raced back over the details of Achille Poirot’s career. Had all that really happened?

‘Only for a short space of time,’ he replied.

Dr Burton passed tactfully from the subject of Achille Poirot.