“I think Murder on the Links was a moderately good example of its kind – though rather melodramatic. This time I provided a love affair for Hastings…Truth to tell, I think I was getting a little tired of him.”
-Agatha Christie, An Autobiography
Murder on the Links begins with Hastings meeting a beautiful and mysterious young woman on a train. She gives her name as “Cinderella” and slips away before Hastings can engager her further. This is not the last we see of Cinderella, although she does turn up in a most unexpected place.
Hercule Poirot returns in Agatha Christie’s third mystery novel. An urgent note from Paul Renauld explaining that he has a secret and his life is in danger takes Poirot and Hastings to the south of France. Upon their arrival just a day later, they find they are too late. Renauld is dead.
Renauld’s wife tells the story of the events leading up to the murder. She claims two thugs entered their bedroom, bound and gagged her, and led her husband in his underclothes and overcoat outside. He is found the next morning stabbed in the back and buried in a shallow grave on a golf course adjoining the Renauld property.
While Mrs. Renauld stands to benefit fully from her husband’s will, Poirot isn’t convinced of her guilt despite her strong motive. The Renauld’s son, Jack, emerges as a prime suspect after it’s discovered that he planned to marry the neighbor’s beautiful daughter Marthe despite his father’s strong objections. Jack was also unaware that his father had cut him out of his will just weeks before his murder. And then there’s Marthe’s mother, Madame Daubreuil, who is said to be a frequent visitor to Renauld’s house when his wife is absent and whose bank account has grown tremendously in recent months. Poirot also discovers what appears to be a love note from an unknown Bella Duveen in the dead man’s pocket.
Hastings reconnects with Cinderella on the golf course near the grave site and finds that she has a morbid fascination with Renauld’s murder. It takes the appearance of a second body for Poirot to recall the elusive memory that dogs him from the beginning of the case and allows him to narrowly avert a third murder.
Murder on the Links has been my favorite Christie mystery so far, albeit I have 63 more to go!, but I did tire a bit of Hastings and his emotional turmoil, although I generally enjoy his interaction with Poirot. While he usually brings level-headedness to the case, this time Hastings loses his heart to Cinderella. Curiously, a Have Your Say posting on Agatha Christie’s official website, which asks the question “Is Hastings Married?” cites Cinderella as Hastings’ wife (post contains spoilers to Murder on the Links).
I give Murder on the Links four of out five stars.
