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.

With 14 stories, 14 crimes, and twice as many suspects, this delightful Christie collection, repackaged and redesigned, firmly established the brilliant Belgian sleuth's reputation and standing in the canon of classic detective fiction. What connects a movie star, an archaeologist, a French maid, a prime minister, a wealthy dowager, and an Italian count? Crime, of course-and the master crime-solver, Hercule Poirot.

A murder trial takes a diabolical turn when the wife of the accused takes the stand. A woman's sixth sense and a loaded revolver signal premonitions of doom. A golfer hears cries for help, that no one else can hear. A stranded motorist seeks refuge in a remote mansion and is greeted with a dire warning. A mysterious phone call leads a fiction writer into a very real adventure. Detective Hercule Poirot faces his greates challenge when his services...

"Christmas Eve, and the Lee family?s reunion is shattered by a deafening crash of furniture and a high-pitched wailing scream. Upstairs, the tyrannical Simeon Lee lies dead in a pool of blood, his throat slashed. When Hercule Poirot offers to assist, he finds an atmosphere not of mourning but of mutual suspicion. It seems everyone had their own reason to hate the old man . . ."--Publisher's website.

Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Without a shred of doubt, one of his fellow passengers is the murderer. Isolated by the storm, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer among a dozen of the dead man's enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again....

"As instructed, stenographer Shelia Webb let herself into the house at 19 Wilbraham Crescent. It was then that she made a grisly discovery: the body of a dead man sprawled across the living room floor. What intrigued Poirot about the case was the time factor. Although in a state of shock, Shelia clearly remembered having heard a cuckoo clock strike three o'clock. Yet, the four other clocks in the living room all showed the time as 4:13. Even more...

"Even the great detective Hercule Poirot harbored a deep and abiding fear of the dentist, so it was with some trepidation that he arrived at the celebrated Dr. Morley's surgery for a dental examination. But what neither of them knew was that only hours later Poirot would be back to examine the dentist, found dead in his own surgery. Turning to the other patients for answers, Poirot finds other, darker, questions."--Back cover.

"The luxurious Blue Train carries its passengers across France, from dreary wintertime England to the sunny French Riviera. When it arrives at Nice, a guard attempts to wake serene Ruth Kettering from her slumber. But she will never wake again -- she has been killed, and a heavy blow has disfigured her features almost beyond recognition. What is more, her precious rubies are missing and her ever-present maid was dismissed from the train back in Paris....

"Hercule Poirot stood on the cliff-top. Here, many years earlier, there had been a tragic accident. This was followed by the grisly discovery of two more bodies a husband and wife shot dead. But who had killed whom? Was it a suicide pact? A crime of passion? Or cold-blooded murder? Poirot delves back into the past and discovers that old sin leave long shadows'."--

Poirot is called in when a young teen is found murdered at a Halloween party.