The Best of the Poirot Short Story Collections

Though the funny little man with the egg shaped head and luxurious mustache has filled out most of the queen of crime's bibliography, he has excelled generally more in his novels then in the short stories. Oh, he has good short stories alright, but compared to the likes of Miss Marple, Mr Quin and Parker Pyne, they generally fall a bit short. They're not bad, but they don't quite reach excellence like his novels do.

The one exception to this is this collection of short stories, The Labors of Hercules. I'm not sure what sets this collection apart per se: the semblance of an overarching narrative perhaps, maybe the running theme, maybe the diversity in tales represented, maybe maybe maybe. But whatever the reason, I find it the best of his short stories; moreover, even if you disagree, there'd be seldom denying I think that this collection has Poirot go a greater variety of quests then any other collection. From solving a kidnapping of a dog to escaped murderers to reuniting lovers to proving an 'insane' man sane, there's no lack of interesting setups with equally interesting conclusions to the various problems. And whereas in other collections I might be tempted to skip a tale or two, there's no such one here to bore me.

Between that and excellent as usual narration by Hugh Fraser, this collection does no wrong. Be you an old or new Christie fan, you owe it to yourself to check out these stories; you won't be disappointed.

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Enjoyed

I love Agatha Christie’s novels and Hercules Poirot is my favourite... well done Hugh Fraser

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Excellent, as per usual

Once again, Agatha Christie lets us spend time with her most popular sleuth: Hercule Poirot, this time in a series of enjoyable, and quite varied, short stories :-)

Hugh Fraser’s narration only enhances the listener’s enjoyment of these stories :-) He voices Hercule Poirot exceedingly well, no doubt aided by his long-running, tv pairing with David Suchet, as Captain Hastings and Poirot, respectively. Concerning Fraser’s portrayal of the other, quite varied characters inhabiting these short stories, many times, I found myself forgetting that it WAS Hugh Fraser who was speaking, so unlike his usual voice are his portrayals :-)

Some of the American accents were even performed quite well, with only the usual occasional American character sounding the way many British actors portray them: not American at all. (Fellow Canadians and Americans: do you ever wonder just WHY British people think that we sound the way that they portray?!? LOL: they probably wonder the same thing about us, eh? ;-D )

In his performances of various Agatha Christie novels (available on Audible :-) ), Hugh Fraser does a VERY GOOD job of portraying American characters :-) :-) :-)

Amusingly, one of Fraser’s male American characters in this selection of short stories has almost the exact same accent as Neil Dudgeon’s Jack, in the delightful, cosy mystery audio series: Cherringham. (Sorry Hugh and Neil: while your two male characters’ accent begins [in each episode, for Neil] as a pretty passable American one, it is rendered obviously fake, by your characters’ lack of variation in pitch, cadence, etc.)

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Outstanding!

Published in 1947, this very accomplished series of twelve short stories stands out as one of Agatha Christie’s best works. The stories themselves are very diversified. Though some deal with murder as is classically the case in her novels, others centre on very different themes such as dog kidnapping, estranged lovers or blackmail. Unity is provided by connecting each with the mythological labours of Hercules (though some readers may judge some links a bit tenuous).

Here, Hercule Poirot is not yet a caricature of himself as in the author’s later works. In fact, he is humanized, and the reader witnesses him for instance walking in the snow wearing patent leather shoes or taking the London Underground.

Overall, this offering is eminently enjoyable and will long remain in the reader’s memory thanks to its freshness and sharp images.

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