The Murder on the Links
by Agatha Christie
Genres: Crime, MysteryPages: 273
Series: Poirot #2
Rating:
Synopsis: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…
The Murder on the Links is the second Poirot book, and mercifully gets rid of Hastings by marrying him off. He’s just unbearable — one can believe there’s someone so self-absorbed and unable to learn from mistakes, but one would rather not have to. Not that I love Poirot as a character, either, but Hastings’ deficiencies are much more aggravating.
The plot here is a bit over-convoluted, to my mind, and of course relies on characters appearing and disappearing like jack-in-the-boxes. “Cinderella” and Hastings’ relationship is based on less than nothing, and Poirot’s posturing toward Giraud does him no credit in my eyes.
There’s a satisfaction in seeing the plot work out, but it wasn’t enough for me. I wonder if I’ll get along better with Poirot without Hastings — I know I liked The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, back when I read that.
Rating: 2/5
I read this book last month, and while I liked it a smidge better than you did, I also was glad that Hastings is married and living his own life after this one. (For me, his constant “Ooh a girl! I’m in love!” was what annoyed me about him.) I just finished Roger Ackroyd, and liked it a lot better than this book.
With Hastings, it’s that and his constant “Poirot’s making a fool of himself, poor old boy” when of course it’s Hastings who is the fool. Ugh.
I remember finding The Murder of Roger Ackroyd really clever — I actually first read it for a crime fiction course at university, so I was reading it with an eye to how it was constructed etc etc and it’s just so fun.
I opted for the TV episode of this story when I wanted to engage with it in the 100th year of its publication last year. That was fun.
Ha! If I was inclined to rate a book as 2/5, I probably wouldn’t have finished it. I admire your fortitude. And will definitely be avoiding this one.