Murder on the Links- Day 4

First Published: 1923

Setting: Merlinville-sur-mer, France

Starring: Hercule Poirot, Arthur Hastings

Important Other People: Cinderella, The Renaulds, Giraud

Reading Agathas throughout my life, I had never really heard of Murder on the Links until I sought it out on my own. I didn't typically find it in bookstores or at tag sales; instead, I only found it at a used book store once I knew it existed. This is odd to me because it is such a good story and so unique in its plot. Also, Hastings finds his lady love in it! We always hear about his penchant for auburn hair and ladies in distress, and he is forever musing about how lovely different ladies he meets throughout the cases are, but here we actually meet his future wife! And no one ever talks about this book. I would like to point out one more thing about Hastings: we meet Giraud, who not only is the human foxhound whose methods Hastings finds better suited to his idea of what a detective should be, but he also has an auburn mustache and hair! Definitely not a coincidence.

The plot of this book is significantly different from most of her other books because Poirot reveals most of the truth halfway through the book. Usually, he saves all of his secrets till the end, dropping Hastings and the reader some hints that of course are too obscure for us to understand, and continually chastises Hastings (and us) about our lack of intelligence and our misuse of the little grey cells. Murder on the Links is different because, in order to fully develop Hastings and Cinderella's relationship and thus find the true murderer, almost all of the case is revealed halfway through. The only key point held back by Poirot is who the actual murderer is, which he needs to get evidence on anyways.

We also get Poirot's theory on motives in this book. In later books, he expands on his theory, but for now (in Agatha time), we just hear three motives:

1. Money

2. The crime passionnel

3. Mental derangement

Think back to all of the murders that have occurred so far throughout Agatha's books, and see if there are any motives that do not fall into one of these three categories (and usually into only the first 2). In later books, there are some, but Poirot expands on this theory later on and adds a few more. Only then do we see murders occurring for different motives.

Agatha also makes a point of stressing the modernized view of women in this book. Along with her depictions of Tuppence, we see Cinderella as a lower class girl who has to work to earn her living and is also willing to stand up for herself and her family no matter what. This image strays from the views of the time that showed women to be meek and feminine to the utmost degree.

Interesting facts: Japp is also briefly mentioned in this book! Also, we get to see the human foxhound in progress.

Favorite? Kind of. I love that Hastings finally finds his lady love (although she doesn't have auburn hair!)

Death by: Stabbing (Mr. Renauld). I will not count the epileptic fit of the tramp, or the bashed in hid of the murderer (or murderess???) since they fell.

Body Count: 1; Cumulative: 3 (again, the natural deaths do not count, only the murders)

The Count: Poirot-2, Miss. Marple-0, Tommy and Tuppence-1, Hastings-2, Japp-1

Agatha's Life Lessons: "If a girl respects herself, it's up to her not to let herself get slack." (thanks, Cinderella!) Always look under the mats (good for housekeeping as well as life). Crimes are very much the same everywhere. You can't help who you fall in love with (probably the most realistic life lesson of the book)

Up Next: The Man in the Brown Suit