The Labors of Hercules: The Capture of Cerberus by Agatha Christie (1947)

The Labors of Hercules: The Capture of Cerberus by Agatha Christie (1947)

Exiting the London Underground at Piccadilly Circus, Poirot encounters an old acquaintance, the Countess Vera Rossakoff, descending the escalators. She insists on a meeting, cryptically suggesting “In Hell…!” Unruffled, Miss Lemon, Poirot’s unflappable assistant, informs him it’s the name of a new nightclub and promptly secures a table for the evening. The club, nestled in…

gaodf

February 29, 2024

3–4 minutes

Agatha Christie, Book Review, Book Reviews, Hercule Poirot, mystery, Short Story, The Capture of Cerberus, The Labors of Hercules

The club, nestled in a basement, is a flamboyant ode to different cultural interpretations of hell. Adorned with ominous décor, including a menacing black hound named Cerberus at the entrance, it’s an extravagant spectacle. Rossakoff introduces Poirot to Professor Liskeard, the mind behind the decorations, and Dr. Alice Cunningham, a psychologist engaged to Rossakoff’s son, currently in the U.S.

Poirot finds Alice aloof, her fascination with criminal psychology and Rossakoff’s kleptomania intriguing but her indifference toward him disappointing. His critique of her unconventional attire doesn’t endear him either. However, Alice finds a dubious character named Paul Varesco captivating, delving into his past to unearth potential influences on his personality. Poirot notices a young detective from Scotland Yard among the attendees, signaling something amiss.

Meeting Japp the following day, Poirot’s suspicions are confirmed. The club is under police surveillance due to suspected ties to a drug ring. Jewellery serves as currency for narcotics, with affluent women unknowingly swapping genuine gems for fakes and drugs. Investigations lead to Paul Varesco via a jeweller named Golconda. A police raid fails to uncover incriminating evidence, frustrating their efforts.

Poirot confronts Rossakoff about the club’s true owner, who denies any involvement in drug trafficking. Learning of another planned raid, Poirot takes matters into his own hands. During the subsequent raid, Poirot stations a resourceful individual named Higgs outside the club.

Following the raid, Japp informs Poirot of jewels found in Professor Liskeard’s possession, but no drugs. Poirot, astonishingly, admits responsibility, implicating Alice as the true culprit. Rossakoff arrives at Poirot’s flat, confessing to hiding the jewels out of panic during the raid. She implicates Varesco as the club’s actual owner. Poirot reveals his sleight of hand, exposing Alice’s involvement. During the raid, he witnessed her surreptitiously planting drugs on Cerberus, obtaining damning evidence from her sleeve.

The Review

I found the last short story in The Labors of Hercules middling at best. Everything was a bit too on the nose: the nightclub named “Hell,” the guard dog named Cerberus, and the drug smuggling ring seemed tired and overdone.

I was not a fan of the brassy Vera Rossakoff, and her love story with Poirot was a blatant rip-off of the relationship between Sherlock and Irene Adler. Poirot is a bit more in love with Rossakoff than warrants good sense. I think it was supposed to be funny, but honestly, it felt like a clumsy way of excluding her from the suspect list.

Not that the suspect list was very long, but Alice was too broadly drawn to be anything but a caricature with her giant pockets and strange, off-putting attitude. She stuck out from the outset as totally put on.

The long descriptive passages are unusual for Christie, known for her concise, accurate style. This departure from her usual style gave the story a feeling of being in a dreamscape or, more unkindly, Poirot fan fiction. There was a fundamental quality of unreality in the action of the story, and Poirot’s weird stupefaction in the presence of Rossakoff added to this overall impression.

I think it could have appealed to others, but this story, unfortunately, was not my cup of tea.