#49 in Short stories
The Labours of Hercules
- 265
- Pages
- about 5 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“The Labours of Hercules” is a clever, varied Poirot collection in which every case echoes one of the twelve labours of the Greek hero. Readers enjoy the conceit, and Poirot stays firmly at the centre throughout. Some readers find a few cases solved too hastily or notice misogynistic touches in certain stories. Lovers of Greek myth and of classic puzzles get both at once.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Labours of Hercules is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published 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 and the UK edition at eight shillings and sixpence.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.3 across 97 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 40% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Short stories average of 7.8. That is how 7.5 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.4 | 9 | 9% |
| Hardcover | 7.2 | 88 | 91% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Labours of Hercules?
It has 265 pages — shorter than 88% of the ranked books in Short stories.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Short stories — with scores between 7.3 and 8.2, closest to this book.
