The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie

I did find him slightly irritating in this book, with his tendency to instantly fall in love with every young woman he meets, but the romantic subplot does have a purpose as it leads to Hastings departing for Argentina, only to make occasional reappearances for the rest of the series. He provides a viewpoint close to Poirot, while also being as mystified as we are by Poirot’s methods and deductions. I usually like the books narrated by Hastings, who is a sort of Watson to Poirot’s Sherlock Holmes. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you which of the two detectives will eventually solve the mystery!

Meanwhile, Giraud is equally scornful of Poirot’s approach to crime-solving. Poirot refers to Giraud as ‘a human foxhound’, someone who ‘sniffs out’ clues like footprints and cigarette ends while failing to see the bigger picture or to consider motive and psychology as well as physical evidence. In this book he has a rival – the French detective Monsieur Giraud – and we can see the contrast between their detecting methods. None of the characters are particularly memorable or appealing her characterisation would be stronger in later books in the series – maybe at this early stage she was still concentrating on developing the character of Poirot himself. I enjoyed this, although I don’t think it’s one of the better Poirot novels I’ve read. There are several suspects, but when Cinderella reappears and seems to have some involvement in the murder, Hastings will have to choose between his love for her and his loyalty to Poirot. The two set off at once, only to discover that Renauld had been murdered the night before, his body found on the new golf course which is under construction near his house. The next day, Hastings learns that Poirot has just received a letter from a Mr Paul Renauld requesting him to come to his home in France as soon as possible because he believes his life is in danger. For Hastings, it’s love at first sight, but when they part ways he doesn’t expect to ever see her again. Hastings, a close friend of Poirot’s, is on his way home to England from France when he meets a girl on the train who introduces herself only as ‘Cinderella’.

The May theme for Read Christie 2022 is “a story set in Europe” and The Murder on the Links is the perfect choice as the story takes place almost entirely in France.įirst published in 1923, this is a very early Poirot novel (just the second in the series, in fact) and one of several to be narrated by Captain Arthur Hastings.

The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie