Like The Labors of Hercules, the twelve cases Poirot must solve in this captivating collection of short crime fiction stories are dangerous, demanding, and positively ingenious.

In appearance Hercule Poirot hardly resembled an ancient Greek hero. Yet—reasoned the detective—like Hercules he had been responsible for ridding society of some of its most unpleasant monsters.

So, in the period leading up to his retirement, Poirot makes up his mind to accept just twelve more cases: his self-imposed "Labors." Each would go down in the annals of crime as a heroic feat of deduction.