The Labours of Hercules Totally Explained

Everything about The Labours Of Hercules totally explained

The Labours of Hercules is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1947 and in the UK by Collins Crime Club in September of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.50
An unnamed reviewer in the Toronto Daily Star of December 6, 1947 said, "Hercule Poirot...here emulates his Olympian namesake, Hercules...As the old-timer tackled the 12 classical labors...so Mrs. Christie turns her dapper sleuth loose on 12 modern counterparts in the detection-mystery line. A tricky task, neatly done." Robert Barnard: "Probably the best single short-story collection, because more varied in its problems and lighter in its touch than usual. Lots of tricks from her novels, and other people's used very skilfully. But the mention of the goblet made by Cellini for Alexander VI (before the age of three?) is a good example of Christie slapdash, almost amounting to philistinism or contempt for her audience."

References to actual history, geography and current science

In The Capture of Cerberus Professor Liskeard speaks of the "Criminal Code of Hammurabi" and correctly dates it to 1800 BC, however he goes on to speak of older Sumerian laws quoting, "If a wife hateth her husband and saith unto him, 'Thou art not my husband' they'll throw her into the river." However Sumerian Laws were part of the Code of Hammurabi.

Publication history

1947, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1947, Hardback, 265 pp
1947, Collins Crime Club (London), September 1947, Hardback, 256 pp
1951, Dell Books, Paperback, 255 pp
1953, Penguin Books, Paperback, (Penguin number 928), 254 pp
1961, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 256 pp
1967, Greenway edition of collected works (William Collins), Hardcover, 319 pp
1967, Greenway edition of collected works (Dodd Mead), Hardcover, 319 pp
1978, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 467 pp ISBN 0-70-890119-0

First publication of stories

All of the stories except for The Capture of Cerberus were first published in the UK in the Strand Magazine with illustrations by Ernest Ratcliff as follows:

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 - 597 The Capture of Cerberus received its first UK publication in the Collins first edition.
In the US nine of the stories were first published in the weekly newspaper supplement This Week magazine in two series of four stories each plus one later publication as follows:

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 with an illustration by C.C. Beall

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 with an illustration by C.C. Beall

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 In addition, two other stories were first published in the US unillustrated 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 Pekinese

The Horses of Diomedes: January 1945 (Volume 6, Number 20) under the title The Case of the Drug PeddlerFurther Information

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