Summary: The Murder on The Links by Agatha Christie
When a man is found dead in a freshly
dug grave adjacent to a golf course, Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings arrive
on the scene only to be met by a hostile local police detective who is
unwilling to share information. But Poirot's methodical investigation slowly
and surely reveals the real killer amid a host of suspects and clues, including
an impassioned love letter and heavy lead piping found near the body. However,
as Poirot and Hastings rush to solve the murder, a similarly slain corpse and
fresh clues are discovered.
Book Review: The Murder on The Links by Agatha Christie
Poirot receives a letter from Monsieur Paul Renauld
with a plea for help as he feels his life is in danger. Poirot and Captain
Hastings rush off to France only to find it too late to prevent the murder. The
victim is found in an open grave stabbed in the back with his own dagger. The
case includes a mess of cover-ups, lies and deceits to divert the
investigation, thoroughly testing Poirot’s skills.
Frensh Detective Investigator Girault tries to
undermine Poirot. He tries to consider him a silly little man. Using an arrogant,
condescending and patronizing manner, it doesn’t seem to get Poirot off his
game. He focuses on his task, ignoring Girault’s attitude. He even mocks and teases
Giroult by pointing out weaknesses in his investigation.
This is Story #2 of the Hercule Poirot Mysteries, when
Poirot has no become famous. It is told from Captain Hastings’ perspective from
a time when he doesn’t quite believe Poirot will be able to bring about a successful
outcome. Poirot gets on Hastings’ nerves with his neat, methodical methods. But
as the story progresses, he becomes impressed by Poirot and develops more trust
in his skills.
We get to follow Poirot and Hastings’ relationship in
the earliest stages when Hastings gets irritated with Poirot’s talks about “the
little great cells” and analyzing methods. That doesn’t happen in the later
stories. With his army background, Hastings seems to prefer to act instead of analyze
too much. He comes across as a rather impulsive character who gets side-tracked
by feelings, particularly regarding women, which put spanners in the works of Poirot’s
investigation.
There is an interesting mix of characters who don’t exactly
make it easy for Poirot to dig out the real truth. A veil of mystery surrounds
some of the characters. Some consistently lie and cover up to divert the
investigation, while others openly resist and do some great acting to deceive
the detectives, but Poirot doesn’t buy it. He walks to the beat of his own drum,
and methodically follows the evidence which ends up solving the murder. Must
say I was quite surprised by the result as I felt the culprit was sprung on me.
I normally pick up on clues along the way, but not this time.
All
in all I enjoyed this story by Agatha Christie a lot like I always do. In The
Murder in The Links I particularly liked the parts about the relationship between
Poirot and Hastings. These descriptions set it apart from later works where it
seems their relationship has developed into more fixed detective vs assistant roles
where they have learned how to go about solving cases most effectively way.
Fans
of Agatha Christie will enjoy The Murder in The Links. It is also recommended
for readers of crime fiction.
All
opinions in this review are my own.
My
rating: 4 stars / 5
Book Details:
Publisher: Public Park Publishing (January 16, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1989814387
ISBN-13: 978-1989814383
About The Author (Copied from Amazon.com)
Agatha Christie was born in 1890 and created the detective Hercule
Poirot in her debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). She achieved
wide popularity with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) and produced a total of
eighty novels and short-story collections over six decades.
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