The Murder on the Links

by Agatha Christie

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...

• ISBN10: 0425067947
• ISBN13: 9780425067949
• Publish Date: 31 December 1950 (first published 1 January 1923)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 30 January 2010
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Edition: Open market ed
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 240
• Language: English

Reviews

[Aidan Brack (Mysteries Ahoy)]

It is, in my opinion, a big step up for Christie and Poirot although it would soon be overshadowed by his next appearance in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

Read my full review at Mysteries Ahoy!

[celinenyx]

Pretty decent mystery with plenty of twists. I didn't love the relationship between Hastings and Poirot in this one, they seemed to be particularly at odds with each other, not trusting each other at all. The romance between Hastings and one of the suspects was paper-thin and pretty weird to me.

[MurderByDeath]

Meh.  But probably 'meh' because I listened to the BBC Audio full cast dramatisation and it wasn't as well scripted, or whatever it is they do, than the last one, Crooked House.  It was shorter, but somehow much more scattered, less cohesive.   What I can say that applies to any edition of this book is that: 1.  Dumb title; there's nothing here to do with golf, except the location of the body.   2.  I really can't stand Poirot.  Sorry, but I just wanted to reach through the speakers and yank on his silly moustaches.  Hastings doesn't come through so well here either, although that might have been how he was played in the audio; hopeless romantic falling instantly in love?  Ugh.   I'm going to have to read the print book to have anything more to say, i.e. plot and characterisation.  The murderer in this one totally blindsided me, but how much of that is to Christie's credit and how much because I never knew quite what was going on, I can't say.

Poirot was an extraordinary-looking little man. He was hardly more than five feet four inches, but carried himself with great dignity. His head was exactly the shape of an egg, and he always perched it a little on one side. His moustache was very stiff and military. The neatness of his attire was almost incredible; I believe a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound. Yet this quaint dandified little man who, I was sorry to see, now limped badly, had been in his time one of the most celebrated members of the Belgian police. As a detective, his flair had been extraordinary, and he had achieved triumphs by unravelling some of the most baffling cases of the day.

Christie, Agatha. Hercule Poirot 3-Book Collection 1: The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Murder on the Links, Poirot Investigates (Kindle Locations 308-313). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition.

I love Hercule Poirot. Such a great detective. Such a character. There's always a great mystery with lots of twists and turns and red herrings, all of which keep me riveted. The characters are interesting and have complex motives for their actions. That said, not a huge fan of Hastings. He's too busy being on his high horse to be likable. I've read many Agatha Christie books before but not all and not in order so I'm in the process of commencing a reread. Highly recommend to crime lovers.

In The Murder on the Links, Poirot and Hastings are called to assist a man who later winds up dead and stay on to help solve the murder. There's love affairs and mistaken identities and lots of intrigue. I had no idea what the hell was going on and it was fantastic. Hastings irritates me with how easily he falls in love - he knows this chick for two seconds and he loves her? Seriously, he met her twice. He's too fickle and it irritates me a lot. Fantastic.

[ibeforem]

It’s hard to find anything wrong with an Agatha Christie story. I listened to the BBC production, and I have to say that it was one of the weaker ones… It’s narrated by Poirot’s roommate, and I’m not sure if that’s a device of the audio production of a device of the novel itself. It was also very short. So it wasn’t my favorite Agatha Christie, but really not too bad.