The Murder On The Links by Agatha Christie

 

The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie.

This edition published 21st May 2015 by Harper Collins.

From the cover of the book:

On a French golf course, a millionaire is found stabbed in the back…

An urgent cry for help brings Poirot to France. But he arrives too late to save his client, whose brutally stabbed body now lies face downwards in a shallow grave on a golf course.

But why is the dead man wearing his son’s overcoat? And who was the impassioned love-letter in the pocket for?

Before Poirot can answer these questions, the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically murdered corpse…

***********

Hercule Poirot, accompanied by his faithful sidekick Captain Hastings, is called to France to aid Mr Renauld, a millionaire who has written to the little Belgian detective asking for his help with a case of fraud - a case which he believes puts his life in danger.

By the time Poirot and Hastings arrive at the Villa Genevieve in Merlinville-sur-Mer they discover that Mr Renauld has been abducted by masked intruders, and it is not long before his body is discovered on the nearby golf links - stabbed through the back with a paper knife that appears to belong to his wife.

The arrogant Monsieur Giraud, Detective of the Paris Sûreté, is in charge of the case and he looks upon Poirot as too old fashioned to be of any use in solving the mystery when compared to his modern methods, but of course, as we all know Poirot is well ahead of the curve once he applies his little grey cells to the small matters that are below Giraud's notice. Why was the murdered man wearing an overcoat that was clearly too long for him? Who was the intended recipient of the love letter found in his coat pocket? And why does this case remind Poirot of one he has come across in the past? Then matters are thrown up in the air by the shocking discovery of a second body, also stabbed with an identical paperknife...

Narrated by Captain Hastings, this is a complex mystery packed full of deliberate deceptions, that has many layers of red herrings around fraud, blackmail, affairs of the heart, and revenge to be stripped away before Poirot can get to the truth, and there is plenty of classic Christie toing and froing before we discover the identity of the murderer.

I love that the adorable Captain Hastings has such a big role to play in this story. Naturally, he is as clueless as ever when it comes to identifying the true killer, but he has such a wonderful romantic plotline as he falls hook, line and sinker in love with a mysterious stage performer who goes by the pseudonym of Cinderella - and it causes him to act in an uncharacteristically rebellious manner that I find rather delightful. Ah, the things Hastings will do for love!

This book is my May choice for the #ReadChristie2022 challenge, which this month is all about 'A story set in Europe', and I alternated between the paperback and the excellent audio book narrated very fittingly by Hugh Fraser as Hastings, who he plays in the sublime David Suchet television adaptations.

Everything good about Agatha Christie's glorious Poirot books in an exotic French location! 

The Murder in the Links is available to buy now in multiple formats.

About the author:

Born in Torquay in 1890, Agatha Christie began writing during the First World War and wrote over 100 novels, plays and short story collections. She was still writing to great acclaim until her death, and her books have now sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. Yet Agatha Christie was always a very private person, and though Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple became household names, the Queen of Crime was a complete enigma to all but her closest friends.