The Nemean Lion

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  • Hercule Poirot
  • Short Story
  • 1939

The first of Poirot's labours - he encounters the Nemean Lion when he takes on the case of a missing Pekinese dog. From The Labours of Hercules.

More about this story

Having resolved to finish his career by taking on the twelve labours of his namesake, Poirot's first labour is found by Miss Lemon, when she reads a letter from an outspoken businessman, Sir Joseph Hoggin. His wife's Pekinese dog, Shan Tung, has been kidnapped and held to ransom, and it's up to Poirot to find what he describes as "a veritable lion" of a dog.

The story was first published in 1939 in Strand Magazine (UK) and in This Week (US), under the revised title The Case of the Kidnapped Pekinese. It forms one of The Labours of Hercules. The collection The Labours of Hercules was adapted in 2013 as part of the final series of Agatha Christie's Poirot, starring David Suchet.

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