The labors of Hercules

The Labors of Hercules (AKA The Labors of Hercules ) is a collection of short stories by Agatha Christie . It first appeared in the United States in 1947 with Dodd, Mead and Company and in the United Kingdom in September of the same year with the Collins Crime Club . The German first edition was published in 1958 by Scherz Verlag (Bern / Stuttgart / Vienna). It is therefore the first collection of Christie's short stories to be translated into German. The Great Hercule Poirot Book was published by Atlantik Verlag in 2015 . The best crime stories. with the foreword and four of the short stories in a new translation by Michael Mundhenk.

It determines Hercule Poirot in twelve cases with which he wants to end his glorious career. Based on his first name, he is guided by the legendary twelve works of Heracles . The individual works give the short stories their titles.

introduction

Hercule Poirot has a visit - Dr. Burton, a fellow at All Souls College , Oxford. The conversation revolves around Poirot's unusual first name and the fact that sometimes the first name given by the parents does not match the children. Dr. Burton quotes from Homer's Iliad (XXIII, 316 f.) And then tells Poirot the legend of Heracles. Poirot admits that he did not know them because he did not have time to study the ancient languages. Poirot later announced that he would like to retire after a few cases still to be resolved. Burton laughingly suggests naming the cases after the twelve labors of Heracles. After thinking about it for a night, Poirot decides to implement the idea.

The stories

The Nemean lion

(Original title: The Nemean Lion )

Miss Lemon "finds" the first task in a letter from a businessman from Northern England, Sir Joseph Hoggin. The Pekinese his wife was kidnapped. Poirot meets with Hoggin, who tells him the dog was abducted a week ago and has been asked for a ransom of £ 200. Actually, Hoggin wanted to let the matter rest, but in his club he learns from an acquaintance that the same thing happened to him. Poirot meets the angry Lady Hoggin and her companion, Miss Amy Carnaby, who looks very intimidated. He has the course of events described. Miss Carnaby was out for a walk in the park with the dog, Shan-Tung (described by Poirot as a veritable lion) when she stopped to admire a baby in a stroller. While she was looking into the car, someone cut the dog's leash and took him away. The ransom was to be sent in an envelope to a Captain Curtis with an address in Bloomsbury.

Poirot begins his investigation. After finding out the name of Miss Carnaby's previous employer, Lady Hartingfield, who died a year earlier, he visits her niece. In this conversation she shares Lady Hoggin's views on Miss Carnaby's intellectual achievements, but also emphasizes the good points. She takes care of her disabled sister so devotedly and is so good with dogs that Lady Hartingfield left her her Pekingese. After talking to the parking attendant, Poirot makes his way to the address to which the ransom should be sent. It's a cheap hotel where non-residents leave their mail too. Then he makes his way to the wife of the friend from Hoggins Club. She tells him the same story as Lady Hoggin. When he then reports to Sir Joseph, he realizes that his relationship with his blonde secretary is not just professional.

With the help of Georges, his servant, he finds Miss Carnaby's sister's apartment. When he visits the apartment, he meets Miss Carnaby, her disabled sister Emily and their Pekingese Augustus. All three are part of a plan by poorly paid employees of ungrateful rich ladies who are getting old and want to save something for old age. Miss Carnaby did not have Shang-Tung with her for the walk in question, but her own dog, who knew the way home from the park well and went home alone. But she found enough witnesses for the "kidnapping" in the park so that it was believable. After she is convicted, Miss Carnaby excuses her act with the often humiliating behavior of her lady. She had recently accused her of mixing something in her medicine because it tasted so bitter. Poirot asks her to stop the blackmail and return the money to Lady Hoggin, but at the same time promises to make sure that her husband does not find out.

He meets with Sir Joseph and offers him two possible solutions: Either to expose the criminal, whose name Poirot does not name, and lose the money, or to take the money and end the case. Greedy Sir Joseph opts for the latter option and takes Poirot's check. During the conversation that followed, the two of them talk about murders and Poirot explains to the astonished Sir Joseph that he reminds him of a Belgian murderer who poisoned his wife in order to marry his secretary. Sir Joseph Poirot quickly returns the check with the request that the money be kept. Poirot sends it back to Miss Carnaby as the final contribution to her pension fund. In the meantime Lady Hoggin states: “Funny, this medicine tastes very different now. It no longer has that bitter aftertaste ... »

The Lernaean snake

(Original title: The Lernaean Hydra )

Poirot is asked for help by Doctor Charles Oldfield, who has a doctor's office in Market Loughborough, a small Berkshire village . His wife died of stomach ailment about a year ago, but persistent rumors linger in the village that he poisoned her. People avoid his practice and he has also received some anonymous letters. He cannot do anything about the gossip, because, as with the heads of the Lernaean snake , it reappears in a new place if it has defeated it at one.

His wife was a difficult patient who died of a stomach ulcer. The symptoms of this disease are very similar to those of arsenic poisoning. She left her husband with a not inconsiderable fortune. With a little pressure, Oldfield admits that most of the talk revolves around Jean Moncrieffe, his young lab technician whom he actually plans to marry. But as long as the rumors keep boiling up, he doesn't dare. Poirot travels to Market Loughborough and meets with Jean. She speaks openly about her relationship with Oldfield and her dislike for his wife. However, she rejects the exhumation and subsequent autopsy proposed by Poirot, as not all poisons can be detected.

Poirot now contacts the two former employees of the Oldfields: the nurse Harrison and the housemaid Beatrice King. The nurse tells him that they have a conversation between Jean and Dr. Oldfield overheard while the two impatiently await Mrs. Oldfield's death. She is sure that Beatrice must have heard the conversation too. When he tells her about the upcoming exhumation, she is enthusiastic and says that this is the only right thing to do. When he then speaks to Beatrice, she denies having overheard the conversation between Jean and Oldfield, but can tell him other suspicious things. She observed that Jean prepared tea or medicines for Mrs. Oldfield, but also that Nurse Harrison dumped them or exchanged them before giving them to the sick woman.

In the meantime Poirot has received permission to exhumate and it is quickly clear: Mrs. Oldfield has been poisoned with arsenic. Sister Harrison is shocked and tells Poirot another story. For example, Jean is said to have poured a powder from the pharmacy into a powder compact.

Poirot alerts the police, who find just such a can in Jean's bedroom. When you show it to Sister Harrison, she immediately recognizes the can. Now the trap snaps shut: Poirot had instructed his servant Georges to watch Sister Harrison and he had seen her buy the can from Woolworth and then hide it in Jean's bedroom. Caught this way, Harrison confesses to the murder.

In conversation with Jean, Poirot explains his conclusions. It seemed unlikely to him that two conspirators would discuss their project in a place where they could easily be overheard. Harrison's very positive reaction to the planned exhumation also made him wonder. The motive turns out that Harrison had loved Oldfield for years and wanted to get her competitor Jean out of the way.

The Arcadian doe

(Original title: The Arcadian Deer )

Poirot crashed into a rural inn after his car broke down. And although he only had a bad dinner, he still enjoys the view of the log fire in his room after walking through the snow. He is disturbed by the mechanic Ted Williamson, a young man who looks like a Greek god.

Williamson, who has heard of Poirot's extraordinary reputation, asks Poirot to help him find a missing girl. Last June, Williamson was called to Grasslawn , a house just outside town, to fix a radio. The owners and their guests were traveling by boat and the staff was not in the house either, so that he was let in by a young girl, the maid of a Russian ballet dancer.

The blonde girl's name is Nita and he fell in love with her on the spot. The two meet for a walk, during which she tells him that she and her mistress will be back here in two weeks and the two make an appointment. When she doesn't show up for the appointment, he gathers all his courage and goes to Grasslawn . There he is told that the Russian dancer is there with her maid. But the maid is not Nita. The new maid, Marie Hellin, gave him an address in north London to write to. But his letter came back.

Poirot goes to this address and learns that the girl, an Italian, has returned to her homeland. She is described by her hostess as dark-haired, so she cannot be Nita. Then he tries to speak to Nita's mistress, Katrina Samoushenka, who has left for Paris. Then he visits the owner of Grasslawn , Sir George Sanderfield, who remembers Marie but not the maid on Madame Samoushenka's first visit and thinks that Poirot is wrong. Marie is next to be visited by Poirot. She was hired in the last week of June because the previous maid had left, probably because she was sick. She implies that she knows something about Sir George that might be of concern to Poirot. Much to her annoyance, he declines the offer.

When Poirot inquires at the theater in Paris, he learns that the dancer has now gone to Vagray Les Alpes in Switzerland because she has tuberculosis and that her maid was an Italian from Pisa . He goes to Pisa only to find that the girl, who is called Bianca by his family, has died in an appendix operation. Now all that remains for him is the trip to Switzerland, where he finds the dying Katrina Samoushenka. She confirms to Poirot that Marie Hellin blackmailed Sir George Sanderfield and that her predecessor has died. Just as he explains to Katrina that the family calls her Bianca, his gaze falls on her golden hair and everything becomes clear to him.

That day in June, Katrina had really traveled without a maid and she hadn't gone to the boat with the others. She was home alone, opened Williamson, and called herself Nita from Incognita . She enjoyed the hours that followed very much.

Poirot succeeds in awakening Katrina's courage to live by imagining a new life for her with Williamson away from the stage.

The Erymanthian Boar

(Original title: The Erymanthian Boar )

Since Poirot is currently in Switzerland, he decides to spend a few more days of vacation there. In the cable car to Rochers de Naye he receives a hastily penciled letter from Lementeuil, a Swiss police superintendent he knew. He writes that the gangster Marrascaud, involved in the murder of Salley, a Parisian bookmaker, wants to meet members of his gang in the mountain hotel. Since Lementeuil calls Marrascaud a “wild boar”, this case seems suitable as the fourth “Labor of Hercules”. Poirot finds the place completely unsuitable for such a gangster meeting. The hotel is located on a mountain and can only be reached by cable car.

Poirot looks at his fellow travelers: They are a friendly American tourist Mr. Schwartz, a beautiful but melancholy woman, a tall, elegant-looking man with gray hair who is reading a German book and three criminal types who are playing cards. When they arrive at the hotel, there is huge chaos, because the season has just started. Poirot, however, the hotel manager seems to be too panicked. The only efficient person is the waiter Gustave. From the hotel manager and Schwartz, Poirot learns that the beautiful woman is Madame Grandier, who comes here every year to commemorate the anniversary of the death of her husband, who had a fatal accident while climbing. The distinguished Dr. Lutz is a Jewish refugee from Austria and apparently a nerve specialist and specialist in psychoanalysis. Poirot introduces himself to Schwartz as Monsieur Poirier , a silk merchant from Lyon .

The next morning, when the waiter Gustave Poirot brings the coffee to the room, he identifies himself as the police inspector Drouet, whom Lementeuil named in his letter. He reports that the cable car's rope was probably sabotaged and that everyone is now stuck up there for a few days. The two discuss who Marrascaud could be. The most exciting question, however, remains why the meeting should take place in such a remote location.

Poirot speaks to the cook and her husband Jacques and discovers that there was another waiter named Robert before Gustave , who was fired for his incompetence but whose actual departure was not observed. During the night Poirot is attacked by the three card players in his room and is saved by Schwartz with gun in hand. The three had previously severely injured Gustave's face with a knife. Dr. Lutz had taken care of the injured policeman, but his life was not in danger. Then they discover a bloody footprint coming from the uninhabited part of the house. As they follow the trail, they discover a horribly battered corpse in a room, to which a note has been pinned with a knife: "Marrascaud will not murder again - nor will he rob his friends!"

Poirot suspects that the body is Robert. With the help of a heliograph , he sends a call for help into the valley and three days later Lementeuil and some officers reach the hotel after a strenuous climb.

Now Poirot announces that Gustave is not Drouet, but Marrascaud. Inspector Drouet was in the hotel as Robert ; Marrascaud murdered him and took his place. We learn that Poirot did not drink the coffee that Gustave had brought because he suspected it was poisoned. The attack by the three card players was also fictitious. He was supposed to explain Gustave's severe facial injuries, which were not caused by an attack but by a surgical intervention to alter the face by Dr. Lutz were created. For this reason, the remote location was chosen.

The Augean stables

(Original title: The Augean Stables )

Poirot is asked for help by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Edward Ferrier. Ferrier's predecessor in this office was his father-in-law, John Hammett, now Lord Cornworth, of whom people used to say, "John Hammett is honest." The weekly newspaper The X-Ray News has announced sensational revelations concerning Hammett should: accusations of shameless perversions of the law, fraudulent stock market manipulation and gross misuse of party funds. Poirot is not interested until the private secretary, Sir George Conway, speaks of needing help clearing out the "Augean stables."

Poirot seeks out Percy Perry, the seedy editor of The X-Ray News , from whom he has heard that he is willing to forego the publication of a story for a fee. In this case, however, he does not want any money, but desperately wants to publish the story. Soon after, another series of articles appeared in the press that apparently exposed a sex scandal involving Ferrier's wife, Dagmar. The articles show pictures of her enjoying herself with a South American gigolo.

Since the stories appeared on The X-Ray News , a defamation lawsuit is being filed against the newspaper. The first witness is the Bishop of Northumbria and he swears that Mrs. Ferrier was recovering in his palace on the advice of her doctor on the advice of her doctor. The second witness is Thelma Anderson from Denmark, who confirms that she was hired by a man on The X-Ray News to double an English actress. She did not know that it was Mrs. Dagmar Ferrier. So she was photographed in various compromising situations. Mrs. Ferrier wins her lawsuit and that's why rumors emerge that the articles about her husband were also fake.

Poirot later confesses to a surprised Ferrier that he came up with this plan with the help of Dagmar in order to cast doubt on the newspaper's credibility and divert attention from the original allegations.

The stymphalids

(Original title: The Stymphalean Birds )

Harold Waring, a 30-year-old Parliamentary Undersecretary of State, is enjoying his vacation in Herzoslovakia in a hotel on Lake Stempka. The only other English people in the hotel are an elderly lady, Mrs. Rice, and her married daughter, Mrs. Elsie Clayton. The three spend a pleasant time together.

Two other women worry Harold. He saw her first coming up a path from the lake to the hotel. They had long, curved noses like birds, and their faces, which looked strangely alike, were completely immobile. They wore loose coats over their shoulders that fluttered in the wind like the wings of two large birds. To Harold, they looked like large birds of prey. From Mrs. Rice, who has also noticed the women, he learns that her daughter is not a widow, but that she is unhappily married to her husband Philip, a drinker. Her daughter's soul is slowly being destroyed by this marriage. Mrs. Rice also knows from the doorman that the two creepy-looking women are Polish sisters.

One morning Harold finds Elsie in the woods on a felled tree, crying loudly about the state of her life. He comforts her and accompanies her back to the hotel. They meet one of the Polish women and Harold wonders what she has heard.

In the evening Elsie storms into Harold's room. Her husband has arrived at the hotel and is in a terrible rage. At that moment, Philip Clayton enters the room. With a heavy wrench in hand, he wants to kill Elsie after hearing from the Polish woman that she is having an affair with Harold. Elsie manages to escape to her own room, in which she can no longer lock herself in. Philip follows, locking them both in before Harold reaches the door. From inside he hears Elsie screams and Harold manages to open the door. Clayton rushes towards Harold - Elsie takes a heavy paperweight and knocks her husband down. Elsie asks Harold to return to his own room so that he is not associated with the incident. Half an hour later Mrs. Rice appears and tells him that Philip is dead, killed by a blow with a heavy object.

Harold is concerned and has little confidence in the local police. Only he can testify to Elsie's innocence; but will he be believed that their relationship was innocent? Suddenly Mrs. Rice has an idea: She believes that the police and the hotel staff are being bribed. Harold wants to try and telegraphs home to get a larger sum. He leaves all other negotiations to Mrs. Rice as he does not speak the local language. Everything seems to be going well and the next day he sees Mrs. Rice talking to a police officer. She later tells him that Payton's death will be officially declared natural. It seems that way until one of the two Polish women speaks to Mrs. Rice. She then explains that both women know the truth. Mrs. Rice throws Harold into complete despair. To calm down he runs to the lake. There he calls out: “To the devil with them! With those bloody, blood-sucking harpies! "

Poirot hears this exclamation and offers Harold his help. Harold tells him the whole story. Poirot draws a comparison with the "stymphalids with iron beaks that feed on human flesh and dwell on Lake Stymphalos." The next day, he tells Harold that he has succeeded in using the "iron rattles" and exposing the blackmailers were. He had found out through a telegram that the police were looking for them and had now been arrested. Harold is relieved. But suddenly spots appear on his face when he sees the two Polish women. Poirot explains that the two come from a good family and that the real blackmailers were Mrs. Rice and her daughter. "Philip Clayton" never existed. The man who was "murdered" was Mrs. Rice in disguise, an actress who was very successful in male roles. The police would never have been ready for such a cover-up as Harold had been told. But he paid the money because he didn't understand a word about the negotiations. Harold then swears: "I'll get down to work right now and learn every European language there is!"

The Cretan bull

(Original title: The Cretan Bull )

Poirot is asked for help by a young woman, Diana Maberly. She had been engaged to Hugh Chandler for over a year, but he suddenly broke that engagement thinking he was going crazy. There have been a few cases of insanity in the family history, including his grandfather, a great aunt, and Hugh's father, Admiral Chandler, made sure he could leave the army before any symptoms occurred. This was done on the pretext that Hugh had to take care of the family's lands. Nobody believed that, including Colonel Frobisher, a good family friend and Hugh's godfather. When asked by Poirot, Diana tells Diana about some unusual occurrences. Sheep with their throats cut were found near the manor. Diana says that Hugh has nothing to do with it. The admiral also prevents a doctor from seeing his son.

Poirot travels with Diana to the Chandlers' country estate, Lyde Manor, where he meets with those affected. Poirot meets Hugh as a nice young man like a bull. From Colonel Frobisher, he learns more details about the madness in the family, including the fact that Hugh's grandfather was so ill he had to be put in an asylum. Poirot also hears that Hugh's mother died in a boating accident when he was ten and that she was engaged to Frobisher before marrying the admiral, but who went to India. She was married when he returned. But that couldn't break the bonds of friendship between the two men. Poirot asks Frobisher to give him more details about what happened with the sheep. That night the admiral had found his son in his room with bloodied clothes and bloodied hands. The water in the basin was also colored red. Only Hugh couldn't remember anything. Poirot also questions the admiral, who has visibly aged since these incidents began. He is also sure that it was best to break off the engagement. So after his death and that of his son there will be no more Chandlers at Lyde Manor.

When Poirot questions Hugh, he learns of his dreams. They always contain parts with tantrums, hallucinations and he also tells that he saw a skeleton in the garden. But Poirot is still convinced that Hugh is not sick and continues with his investigation. To do this, he wants to spend the night in Manor. He searches Hugh's room and also makes his way to the local pharmacy, supposedly to buy a toothbrush.

That night Hugh manages to escape from his locked room, he is found right outside Diana's room with a bloody knife in his hand that he used to kill a cat. When he regains consciousness, he explains to everyone that he wants to hunt rabbits in the morning. But it is clear that he wants to commit suicide in the forest in order to spare the others and especially Diana further pain. Poirot stops him and can solve the case. Hugh was poisoned with thorn apples. The poison from this plant causes hallucinations that can lead to self-harm. It was given to him in his shaving cream and, with daily use, led to the slow but severe poisoning. Poirot had taken a sample to the local pharmacist and found the poison. But who is responsible?

Poirot explains that Admiral Chandler inherited the madness of the family, but Hugh is not his son, but that of Colonel Frobisher, who had an affair with his mother before leaving for India. When the admiral noticed the resemblance of his son to his friend, he extorted the truth from Hugh's mother and murdered her in the "boat accident". He prevented Hugh from seeing a doctor who would determine his health.

When the admiral hears all this from Poirot, he denies everything and presents Poirot's allegations as pipe dreams. He takes his rifle and explains that he, like his son, wants to go into the forest to shoot hares. He is seen walking into the forest. A shot is fired.

The mares of Diomedes

(Original title: The Horses of Diomedes )

One night a young doctor, Doctor Michael Stoddart, calls Poirot for help. Although it is one in the morning, Poirot makes his way to the address given. It's a mews - a typical London building with stables on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floor.

Poirot meets Stoddart in a shabby apartment that has had a party that also used cocaine. The apartment belongs to a Patience Grace. Mrs. Grace had an argument with her lover, Anthony Hawker, who left the apartment and she leaned out the window to shoot him. However, she missed him and instead met a homeless man who was fleshly wounded. The homeless man, who was bleeding profusely, was brought into the house and Stoddart was called. He took care of him and silenced him with a few five-pound notes. Poirot now wants to call the police, but Michael Stoddart asks him not to involve the police.

Because there was another woman at the party - Sheila Grant. Michael Stoddart had met her a few weeks ago at a ball in the country. She is one of four daughters of a retired Army General and all four sisters are indomitable and often go to parties where there is cocaine. And so Sheila is still intoxicated in Patty's apartment. When she wakes up, Michael teaches her about the dangers of cocaine use and Poirot introduces himself. It seems that she knows him and is getting nervous about it.

Poirot travels to the countryside in Mertonshire, where he learns details of the Grant family from an old friend, Lady Carmichael. Lady Carmichael is very excited because she thinks Poirot has come to solve dangerous crimes, but is disappointed when he explains to her that he only wants to tame four wild horses. He learns through Anthony Hawker that he and his friend Mrs. Larkin have a bad reputation.

He visits General Grant, whose house is full of memorabilia from India. The general himself completes the clichéd picture by sitting in an armchair with his leg, plagued by gout, put up and drinking port wine and scolding the world. Poirot brings him the news of his daughters drug use, hears the screams of anger and the old man's threats. When leaving the room, he trips and supports himself on the bandaged leg.

Poirot manages to get an invitation to a party at Mrs. Larkin's, where he meets Pamela Grant, Sheila's sister. Hawker arrives with Sheila tow, they come from the hunt and want to have a drink and fill up Hawker's canteen. Sheila heard from a servant in her father's house that Poirot was there yesterday. As Poirot leaves, he hears Pam whispering to Sheila "... canteen .." In the hall he finds a canteen with the monogram AH - full of a white powder.

Back at Lady Carmichael's, Poirot speaks to Sheila's conscience. With the help of a photograph he identified her as Sheila Kelly, a little shoplifter and the other three are neither her sisters nor is General Grant a general. He is the head of a drug trafficking ring and the four young women were its couriers. Poirot is able to convince Sheila to testify against the "general" in order to smash the ring.

Later he tells the completely surprised Michael that he only got behind the matter because the staging of the "General" was so exaggerated and because he didn't scream when he ran into his leg. Hawker wasn't the dealer, he was the customer. Finally, Poirot gives Michael the hope that Sheila will stop her criminal activities - that is, she will be tamed.

Hippolyta's belt

(Original title: The Girdle of Hyppolita )

Alexander Simpson asks Poirot for help because a picture of Rubens was stolen from his gallery . A group of unemployed people had broken into the gallery to hold a demonstration, as was the norm these days. After the police got the situation back under control, it was found that the picture had been cut from the frame. Simpson knows that the painting came to a wealthy collector in France. He wants Poirot's help because he believes he can deal with the unscrupulous millionaire better than the police. Poirot reluctantly agrees.

In another case he is much more interested. Japp, who already knows about his trip to France, asks him to investigate the disappearance of the 15-year-old English girl Winnie King. She was in a group of girls on her way to Paris, where she was to start the new school year at Miss Pope's exclusive school. On the way back from the train's dining car, shortly after it had left Amiens (the last stop before Paris), she went to the bathroom and apparently disappeared. A body was not found and the train had not stopped again. But Winnie's hat was later found near the train tracks. Poirot asks if her shoes have also been found.

Some time later, Japp tells Poirot on the phone that Winnie was found about 15 miles from Amiens. She is numb and seems to be drugged. She remembers nothing since leaving her hometown of Cranchester; nor of her meeting with the clerk of Miss Popes, Miss Burshaw in London and her journey across the Canal. Although the girl has now been found, Poirot speaks to the investigating officer in France, who has not come any closer to solving the problem. Fellow travelers don't seem to be under suspicion: two spinsters, two business travelers, a young man named James Elliot, and a shrill woman, an American little known about. But he can at least confirm that Winnie's shoes were found next to the tracks, which confirms Poirot's theory.

Poirot travels to France and visits Miss Pope's facility in Neuilly . The formidable director praises the advantages of the school through its proximity to culture and music in Paris, until it occurs to her that Poirot is not a parent at all. He learns that the Paris police have been there twice to examine Winnie's belongings. The two departments had apparently not spoken to each other. Then he sees a really terrible oil painting of the bridge in Cranchester, painted by Winnie as a gift for Miss Pope. In front of the horrified woman, Poirot begins working the painting with turpentine and explains that Winnie never traveled across the canal. Miss Burshaw met a girl in London she had never seen before and who disguised herself in the train's toilet in such a way that the schoolgirl became a shrill American - the wife of James Elliot. At that moment Poirot wiped the paint off the painting and it turns out to be Rubens' sought-after masterpiece. The thieves had used this trick to take advantage of the fact that nobody is interested in the suitcase of a schoolgirl traveling in a group. Other members of the gang then appeared at the school disguised as police officers and tried to take the picture back. Little did they know that Miss Pope had already unpacked the suitcase and hung up the present.

When Poirot leaves, the girls swarm around him and ask him for autographs. Poirot compares this to an attack by the Amazons .

Geryon's herd

(Original title: The Flock of Geryon )

Poirot receives a visit from Miss Carnaby, whom the reader already knows from The Nemean Lion . Poirot praises her as the most successful criminal he ever met. But Miss Carnaby is appalled by her criminal energy and would rather direct the talents living in her into legal channels. She also wants to help Poirot solve cases and has brought a case with her.

Her friend, Mrs. Emmeline Clegg, is a wealthy widow who, in mourning the death of her beloved husband, turned to a sect in Devon - the "Shepherd's Flock". Its leader is the beautiful and charismatic Dr. Andersen and Mrs. Clegg fell for him so much that she left her entire fortune to the sect in her will.

The house of the sect in Devon is called Green Hills Sanctuary . Miss Carnaby is particularly concerned because she knows of three other women who also changed their wills in favor of the sect and who died last year. She had investigated the deaths and found nothing abnormal. Poirot asks Miss Carnaby to join the sect and gain access to Green Hills Sanctuary .

Poirot consults Japp to discuss the case with him. Scotland Yard finds out that Andersen is a German chemist who had to flee the Nazis because his mother is Jewish and that there is nothing suspicious about the deaths mentioned by Miss Carnaby. Nevertheless, Poirot sees in Andersen the monster Geryon who guards the herd and which must be destroyed in order to free the herd.

Miss Carnaby moves to Green Hills Sanctuary to live with Mrs. Clegg. During the night, the two of them take part in a service under the motto “The fully blooming willow”. Miss Carnaby thinks the event is blasphemy until she suddenly feels a pinprick in her arm and the world looks completely different. A feeling of well-being and euphoria envelops her and she falls into a wonderful sleep.

Later she meets with Poirot, who urges her to strictly follow his instructions: She should tell Andersen that she will soon receive a large sum of money, which she will then donate to the sect, that she has problems with her lungs and that Mrs. Clegg will soon inherit a larger sum from an aunt.

Poirot also asks if there is a man named Mr. Cole on Green Hills Sanctuary . Miss Carnaby says yes and explains that it seems very strange to her. As if to prove her claim, Mr. Cole approaches Miss Carnaby the next day and tells her about his strange vision in which he saw "the prophet Elijah descending from heaven in his fiery chariot." She only escapes further descriptions because she speaks to Mr. Lipscombe, the porter.

The day before the next service, Poirot and Miss Carnaby meet in a local tea room. Miss Carnaby is suddenly completely changed. She raves about the great master and that she cannot betray him because she belongs to him with body and soul. Excited, she storms out of the salon. Poirot is completely confused, but notices that their conversation was overheard by a sullen looking man.

The next service is in progress and Miss Carnaby is due to have her next injection when Cole steps in. He's really Detective Inspector Cole and he's arresting Andersen.

Later, everyone involved will meet to discuss the case. The man in the tea room was Mr. Lipscombe, and when Miss Carnaby recognized him, she staged the act of loyalty to Andersen. Poirot understood this immediately when he followed the man who went to the Green Hills Sanctuary . Andersen's knowledge as a chemist (although he was probably not a Jewish refugee) had allowed him to inject hashish into his protégés and also to infect them with certain bacteria to kill them. The syringe Andersen had tried to kill Miss Carnaby contained tuberculosis virus .

The apples of the hesperides

(Original title: The Apples of Hesperides )

Poirot receives a visit from Emery Power, a wealthy art collector. Ten years ago he had bought a gold goblet at auction that supposedly belonged to Pope Alexander VI. - Rodrigo Borgia - should have heard. The cup was made by Benvenuto Cellini and was used by the Pope to give poison to unwelcome visitors. The chasing depicts a tree around which a precious stone-adorned serpent winds, and the apples of the tree are carved from wonderful emeralds. Poirot is immediately interested in the mention of apples.

In 1929 Power paid £ 30,000 for the mug to the Marchese di San Veratrino, but the night before it was handed over, his house was broken into and the mug and other treasures were stolen. At the time, the police were certain that a gang of three international thieves were behind the crime. Two of the men were quickly caught and some of the stolen valuables were seized. The cup wasn't there. The third man, known as the "Irish cat" burglar Patrick Casey died shortly afterwards when he fell from a building. Power spent ten years and a ton of money getting hold of the mug, but to no avail. The Marchese had offered to give the money back. Power had refused, because he wanted to be the owner in case the mug was found again. He himself always suspected Sir Reuben Rosenthal, who was his rival at the auction. The two have recently become business partners, and Power is now convinced that Rosenthal is innocent.

Poirot takes over the case and first asks the investigating officer, Inspector Wagstaffe, about the suspects. Patrick Casey's wife, a strict Catholic, is dead. His daughter has gone to the convent. Only his son has followed in his father's footsteps and is now in prison in America.

After three months he is in Ireland and wants to visit the monastery where Casey's daughter lives as a nun. There he learns that she died two months ago. With the help of a local, he breaks into the monastery, where he finds the mug. He takes it to Power and tells him that the nuns used it as a sacrament chalice . Casey's daughter had brought him to the monastery, presumably to atone for her father's sins. The nuns were not interested in its history or the real owner. The idea that the chalice could be in the monastery had occurred to Poirot because it had not appeared anywhere in the past ten years.

Poirot shows Power the mechanism by which the poison gets into the cup and asks Power to give the cup back to the monastery, because he thinks that a cup with such a story cannot bring its owner luck. When the mug arrives at the monastery, the nuns are singing mass for Power's soul, and he finally realizes that his greed has made him unhappy.

The capture of Cerberus

(Original title: The Capture of Cerberus )

Poirot is just leaving the London Underground in Piccadilly Circus when an old friend, Countess Vera Rossakoff , walks towards him on the escalator . He desperately calls after her, where he can find her: "In hell ..." Once at the top, he immediately turns around and drives back down - but he can no longer find her.

Poirot is confused. But when he asks the imperturbable Miss Lemon what she would do with such an answer, she replies, “I think it would be advisable to reserve a table.” Because as Poirot now learns from her, “Hell” is the one at the moment hippest nightclub in London. The club is located in a basement and is decorated as hell, the way different cultures imagine hell. There is even a black, dangerous-looking dog Cerberus at the entrance . The Countess Rossakoff introduces Poirot to Professor Liskeard, an archaeologist who had advised the Countess on the interior decoration, but is now appalled by the result and Dr. Alice Cunningham, a psychologist engaged to Rossakoff's son who is currently working in America. Cunningham and Poirot don't get along well. She is only interested in criminal psychology and, to Poirot's annoyance, fails to appreciate his legendary deductive achievements. His questions about her less feminine clothing are also not well received. Alice Cunningham, however, is fascinated by the womanizer Paul Varesco, who is a handsome man with a dubious reputation. She dances with him and, as a psychologist, immediately cross-examines him about his childhood. Poirot recognizes a young policeman in tails in the crowd and senses that something is “in the bush”.

When he meets Japp the next day, his suspicions are confirmed. The club was under police surveillance for being linked to a drug ring. It is not known who finances the club, but it is known that the drugs are paid for in jewelry. Rich women exchange their jewelry for cheap imitations and drugs. Later, when the insurance companies and the police deal with it, they deny they knew about the exchange. Scotland Yard has also found out that the imitations come from a Golconda company and from there to Paul Varesco. The police searched the club under the pretext of looking for a murderer, but could not find any drugs or jewelry, not even at Varesco.

Poirot asks Countess Rossakoff about the real owner of the club. She denies there is another owner but is appalled by the drug trafficking suspicions. Japp tells Poirot about another raid on the club, and Poirot makes his own plans. On the night of the raid, he posts a little man, Higgs, in front of the club.

The morning after the raid, Japp called and said they found jewelry in Professor Liskeard's pocket, but Professor Liskeard said he did not know how the jewelry got into his pocket. However, again no drugs were found. Poirot tells the surprised Japp that he is responsible and hangs up because the doorbell rings.

Countess Rossakoff happily announces that she put the stones in the professor's pocket that she found in her own pocket at the beginning of the raid. It was Varesco who deposited them there and he is also the real owner of the club. Poirot takes the countess into the next room, where Higgs and Cerberus are waiting. Higgs can handle any dog ​​and had taken the otherwise dangerous dog during the raid and brought it to Poirot's apartment. Poirot asks Countess Rossakoff to order the dog to spit out what it is holding in its mouth: a small packet of cocaine falls to the floor. The shocked Countess loudly protests her innocence and Poirot says that he believes her.

The real criminals are Alice and Varesco. Alice had the drugs in her clothes pockets and then slipped them into her clients' pockets on the dance floor. When the lights went out during the raid, Poirot positioned himself with Cerberus and heard Alice give the dog the commands. He took the chance and cut a piece of her coat with scissors to prove her identity.

Major expenses

• 1947 Dodd Mead and Company (New York)
• 1947 Collins Crime Club (London), September 1947
• 1958 German first edition by Scherzverlag
• 1971 new title:

1. Band: Monsieur P. is curious
2. Volume: Farewell performance for Monsieur P.

• 1977 new title:

1. Volume: The First Labor of Hercules
2. Volume: The Last Labor of Hercules

• 2007 new title: The first and the last labors of Hercules

• 2015 new title: The great Hercule Poirot book. The best crime stories. New translation by Michael Mundhenk , contains: Foreword, The Nemean Lion, The Cretan Bull, The Belt of Hippolyte, The Capture of Cerberus

First publication of the individual stories

All of the short stories except The Capture of Cerberus first appeared in the UK in Strand Magazine , illustrated by Ernest Ratcliff:

• The Nemean Lion : November 1939 - Issue 587
• The Lernaean Hydra : December 1939 - Issue 588
• The Arcadian Deer : January 1940 - Issue 589
• The Erymanthian Boar : February 1940 - Issue 590
• The Augean Stables : March 1940 - Issue 591
• The Stymphalean Birds : April 1940 - Issue 592
• The Cretan Bull : May 1940 - Issue 593
• The Horses of Diomedes : June 1940 - Issue 594
• The Girdle of Hyppolita : July 1940 - Issue 595
• The Flock of Geryon : August 1940 - Issue 596
• The Apples of the Hesperides : September 1940 - Issue 597

The Capture of Cerberus was first published in the anthology.

In the United States, nine stories were published in the weekly This Week :

• The Lernaean Hydra : September 3, 1939 under the title Invisible Enemy
• The Girdle of Hyppolita : September 10, 1939 under the title The Disappearance of Winnie King
• The Stymphalean Birds : September 17, 1939 under the title The Vulture Women
• The Cretan Bull : September 24, 1939 under the title Midnight Madness
• The Erymanthian Boar : May 5, 1940 under the title Murder Mountain
• The Apples of the Hesperides : May 12, 1940 under the title The Poison Cup
• The Arcadian Deer : May 19, 1940 under the title Vanishing Lady
• The Flock of Geryon : May 26, 1940 under the title Weird Monster
• The Capture of Cerberus : March 16, 1947 under the title Meet Me in Hell

Furthermore, two other stories have been published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine as follows :

• The Nemean Lion : September 1944 (Volume 5, Number 18) under the title The Case of the Kidnaped Pekingese
• The Horses of Diomedes : January 1945 (Volume 6, Number 20) under the title The Case of the Drug Peddler

Film adaptations

The Works of Hercules were first filmed in 2013 by Andy Wilson as a long episode for the thirteenth season of the British television series Agatha Christie's Poirot . The individual stories were not filmed as such, but characters, plot motifs and locations from several stories were combined into a coherent film plot. In addition to David Suchet as Poirot, Orla Brady , Simon Callow , Rupert Evans and Eleanor Tomlinson play among others ; it first aired on ITV on November 6, 2013. Poirot falls into a depression as he asks himself whether it was right that he did not have a family and instead preferred the job. It thus indicates the end of his investigative work (it is the penultimate episode).

Audio books

These short stories are the only short stories with Hercule Poirot that have not yet been implemented in an audio book.

The radio play series by SWR and MDR from 2006, which implements eight short stories from other collections, uses the dialogue between Poirot and Burton from the foreword to this collection as a leitmotif.

Web links

• The Labors of Hercules on the official Agatha Christie website
• The film version of The Labors of Hercules on the official Agatha Christie website
• The Labors of Hercules in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ John Cooper and BA Pyke. Detective Fiction - the collector's guide : Second Edition (Pages 82 and 88) Scholar Press. 1994. ISBN 0-85967-991-8
2. ↑ American Tribute to Agatha Christie
3. ↑ Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. Collins Crime Club - A checklist of First Editions . Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (Page 15)
4. ↑ ^{a b} German first edition in the catalog of the German National Library
5. ^ The great Hercule Poirot book in the catalog of the German National Library
6. ↑ Monsieur P. is curious (1971) in the catalog of the German National Library
7. ^ Farewell performance for Monsieur P. (1971) in the catalog of the German National Library
8. ^ The first works of Hercules (1977) in the catalog of the German National Library
9. ^ The last works of Hercules (1977) in the catalog of the German National Library
10. ^ The first and last works of Hercules (2007) in the catalog of the German National Library
11. ^ The great Hercule Poirot book in the catalog of the German National Library
12. ↑ See the information on this and the following on the official Agatha Christie website. ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
13. ↑ The Labors of Hercules in the Internet Movie Database (English)
14. ^ Eight Hercule Poirot thrillers - the radio plays in the catalog of the German National Library