Agatha Christie Reviews
Saturday, February 03, 2007
The Labors Of Hercules
During the 1930s, Hercule Poirot was always talking about "retiring". Of course, any such period of "retirement" didn't last long. Wherever he was, murder reared its enticing head, calling him to action. Besides, Poirot usually found retirement boring, anyway.
In one of these retirement fits, he decided to exit in grand style by taking just twelve more cases. Not just any case; it had to be a modern equivalent of the original 12 labors of Hercules.With these stories, Christie really let her creativity run free. It's a delight to read them, not only for the plotting, but to enjoy her cleverness in coming up with those modern equivalents.
My favorites are "The Nemean Lion", about a dognapping ring; "The Stymphalean Birds", a blackmail case; "The Girdle Of Hippolyta", a combination kidnapping and art theft; "The Augean Stables", political chicanery; and "The Lernean Hydra", where gossip emulates the many-headed monster.Perhaps most interesting is that many of the labors deal with crimes other than murder. Christie shows quite nicely that you don't need a corpse all the time to tell an interesting tale.
She also demonstrates her ability to handle the short-story form, something not every author can do. Each one is a little gem, carefully constructed and fitting beautifully into the overall theme.Christie's novels may be full-course meals, but the shorts make very tasty appetizers, especially these. Not to be missed by any Christie fan!
