The Murder on the Links (Hercule Poirot #2)

Title: The Murder on the Links (Hercule Poirot #2)

Author: Agatha Christie

Published in: 1923

Date read: 8th October 2024

Score: 4/5

Genre: Crime, Mystery, Detective

Plot: (Warning, may contain spoilers):
"The Murder on the Links," published in 1923, is the second novel featuring Hercule Poirot and his faithful companion, Captain Arthur Hastings. It is a complex, multi-layered mystery that sends the detective duo from England to the coastal cliffs of northern France to investigate a murder with no shortage of suspects and a baffling number of conflicting clues.

The story begins with a frantic and desperate letter arriving at Poirot's London flat. The author is Paul Renauld, a wealthy French millionaire, who is convinced his life is in grave danger and pleads for Poirot's immediate help. Poirot and Hastings quickly travel to the seaside villa in Merlinville-sur-Mer, but they arrive too late.

They find Renauld's body lying in a newly dug grave on the golf course ("links") adjacent to his property. He has been stabbed in the back with a dagger. The crime scene is immediately complicated by several factors: a young woman in a red cloak is seen fleeing the scene, and Renauld's wife is found bound and gagged in the house, claiming she was a victim of the attack.

The case becomes a source of tension and professional rivalry for Poirot, as he finds himself working alongside the brilliant but arrogant French detective, Monsieur Giraud of the Sureté. Giraud, a man who relies on modern forensic science and concrete evidence, clashes with Poirot's meticulous, psychological approach to detection. Giraud scoffs at Poirot's obsession with tiny details and human motives, setting up a fascinating intellectual duel between the two sleuths.

As the investigation unfolds, the plot thickens with a bewildering number of twists and turns. A second body is discovered, identical to the first, and the victims' identities and motives become increasingly obscured. Everyone, it seems, has a secret. Poirot and Hastings must sort through a complex web of secret identities, hidden pasts, blackmail, and a love affair that is not what it seems.

The climax reveals a solution that is both ingenious and highly convoluted, with a number of red herrings and false identities that must be stripped away. Poirot, using his trademark "little grey cells," exposes the truth, solving a mystery that was far more intricate than anyone, including his rival Giraud, could have ever imagined. "The Murder on the Links" is a classic example of Christie's intricate plotting, full of clever misdirection and satisfying revelations.

Comments:
Very much enjoyed this book and was kept on my toes again. Poirot, as a character, really develops here and there is the mischievous side him that makes him more human than previously thought. In future, I need to read these relatively short books in a much shorter time so that they flow more smoothly. Ideally, I will read one in a single day...when I get the time.

Books that we've read by Agatha Christie (8):
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot, #1) (1920), The Secret Adversary (Tommy and Tuppence Mysteries, #1) (1922), The Murder on the Links (Hercule Poirot #2) (1923), The Man in the Brown Suit (Colonel Race, #1) (1924), The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot, #4) (1926), The Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple #1) (1930), The Thirteen Problems (Miss Marple, #1) (1932), And Then There Were None (1939)