opportunity to cut off a sample of cloth from her sleeve as proof. Literary significance and reception Maurice Richardson, in the 5 October 1947 issue of The Observer, wrote briefly: the Queen of Crime tries the difficult, unrewarding sprint form. The Labours of Hercules consists of twelve Poirot cases, neatly constructed but inevitably lacking the criss-cross of red-herring trails that make our arteries pulse over the full distance. But will Agatha Christie allow the little egg-headed egomaniac to carry out his frightful threat of retirement? An unnamed reviewer in the Toronto Daily Star on 6 December 1947 wrote, 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, in A Talent to Deceive: An Appreciation of Agatha Christie, wrote: 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. Adaptation The Labours of Hercules was adapted into a TV film by Guy Andrews with David Suchet as Poirot as part of the final series of Agatha Christie's Poirot. The adaptation combined "The Arcadian Deer", "The Erymanthian Boar", "The Stymphalean Birds", "The Girdle of Hippolyta" and "The Capture of Cerberus" into one mystery, with "Boar" being the central one. The plots of "Deer" and "Birds" are included fairly faithfully, while only elements from the others are present. "The Lemesurier Inheritance'", the only Poirot short story not previously adapted by the series, was also referenced in this adaptation. It was first broadcast on ITV on 6 November 2013 and then on the Acorn TV website on 18 August 2014. Unlike in the novel, the titular Labours are not undertaken by Poirot as cases, but rather refer to a series of paintings that are stolen by Marrascaud, the main villain; the title is also symbolic of Poirot's path to redemption after his plan to snare Marrascaud leads to the senseless murder of an innocent girl, Lucinda LeMesurier. The most significant departure from the source material is the change in Marrascaud's