Murder on the Links

BBC Radio 4 Poirot

by Michael Bakewell (Adapter), Agatha Christie, John Moffatt (Narrator)

When Poirot arrives in France, following an urgent appeal for help, he finds he is too late. His client, a South American millionaire, has been stabbed to death and his body flung into a freshly dug open grave on the golf course adjoining the property. Meanwhile the millionaire's wife is found bound and gagged in her room. Her wrists are badly cut and she seems to be in shock, but she agrees to speak to Poirot. She tells him that they were attacked by thugs who tied her up and forced her husband to leave the house, dressed only in his underwear, before brutally killing him. Poirot is not sure whether to believe her story. Did she, as the sole beneficiary of her millionaire husband's estate, set the whole thing up? And if not, who did kill M. Renauld? The suspects include the mysterious Dulcie Duveen and Renauld's son Jack, who had quarreled violently with his father. As Poirot investigates, the mystery begins to unfold—but not before another murder occurs. . .

John Moffatt stars as Poirot, with Jeremy Clyde as Captain Hastings, Madeline Smith as Dulcie Duveen, and Stephen Tompkinson as Jack. It was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 15 September 1989.

2 CDs. 1 hr 30 mins.

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook, Fiction, Agatha Christie, Crime, Classics

2 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Michael Bakewell (7 June 1931 – 11 July 2023) was a British radio and television producer and radio playwright.

His work included adapting The Lord of the Rings (with Brian Sibley) into a 1981 radio series for the BBC and a series of 27 adaptations of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot stories broadcast between 1985 and 2007 by BBC Radio 4.

He was born in Birmingham, England. After graduating from Cambridge in 1954, he was recruited by the BBC's Third Programme. He became the first Head of Plays at the BBC in the 1960s.

Reviews

[writer...]

Excellent actors' dramatization of this 2nd Poirot mystery. Hastings plays a larger role that offers introduction of his personality and character to listeners/readers. Poirot's observance and understanding links realities of characters that Hastings is unwilling to accept.

Well played with plenty of subterfuge until Poirot lifts the veil of revelation.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspector Poirot solves a complicated double murder in this abridged, dramatized full cast recording from the BBC.

[ShoSho · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am big fan of Agatha Christie and her characters Poirot and Miss Marple and this book didn't disappoint me either.
This was first time listening to a dramatization of a novel. I really liked it but I wanted all thedetails because I know there was more . This was only 1:24 while the unabridged version is 6 hours.

I think this edition is best for reread of a book.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the BBC radio version, so done really as a radio play versus the entire book. I liked it, but prefer listening to the unabridged books better.

[angeline · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought an audio version would be better as I couldn't stand Hastings when I was reading it and had to DNF. I didn't realise it was an abridged version... The full cast recording was fun to listen to, but all the names got super confusing, so in the end I was a little lost as to what had actually happened.

[Isabella ⸙ · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 stars)

(Fancy hearing you here, Inspector Alleyn 😏)

I enjoyed the ambience and the messy family dynamics and all the twists and turns - especially that last one, which I did NOT see coming at all!

I would've given this four stars if it weren't for the annoying romance subplot. Hastings is an idiot.😂

[harshitha · Rating 4 out of 5]

arthur hastings is the consummate hormonal himbo.

[A.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paul Renauld sends a letter to Poirot insisting that he come at once to France. When he and Hastings pull up at the estate, the letter writer is already dead. His wife was tied to a chair by two assailants, and the body of the master is found on the golf links adjoining the property, stabbed by his letter opener and buried in a shallow grave. The wife seems remarkably unaffected until she is asked to identify the body, and then Poirot notes her real grief.
Hastings is distracted by the goddess, Marthe Daubreuil, the neighbour’s daughter. Poirot says she has anxious eyes.
The son Jack Renauld was engaged to the neighbour’s daughter Marthe, against his parent’s wishes and his father had recently written him out of the will, so it seems he has no fiscal motive.
The staff tell of late night visits from Madame Daubreuil, and there are rumours of business deals in Santiago, South America. Jack was on his way there but a port delay allowed him to see reports of his father’s death in the newspaper.
Meanwhile Hastings is still obsessed with the chatty girl he met on the train.
***
Monsieur Giraud is a Detective of the Paris Sûreté. Poirot doesn’t like his Holmes style of investigation. Hastings notes that while Giraud is expostulating about foreign matches, Poirot is measuring overcoats.
Amazing that Hastings of all people, is not genre savvy. [Good lord, man, don’t let that strange girl see the murder weapon and the body!] It is a character trait that Hastings falls in love, and proposes marriage impetuously fast, but it still feels silly.
Another convenient explanation. Of all the bad luck to retire with your new identity right next door to your old partner in crime. *whispers* it makes no sense. You’d move, or kill her or something… rather than decide to fake your own death again.
Jack was engaged to Marthe but now is engaged to Bella Duveen and they lie to cover for each other; assuming the other committed the crime.
But then a second body is found; that of a tramp dead two days but from natural causes. How does this fit?
Faked alibis, several copies of the murder weapon, secrets, lies, old deaths and money… always money.
And acrobatic girlfriends. Deus ex acrobatic, eh?
3 stars

[sabisteb aka callisto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Captain Hastings hat sich im Zug von Paris nach Calais in eine Mitreisende verliebt, was Poirot nicht sonderlich spannend findet. Viel spannender findet er den neuen Auftrag aus Südfrankreich von einem Monsieur Paul Renauld. Poirot nimmt, warum auch immer, Hastings zu diesem Fall mit nach Merlinville-sur-Mer. Leider kommen sie zu spät, der Auftraggeber ist bereits tot. Er und seine Frau wurden im eigenen Haus von zwei maskierten Männern überfallen, die die Gattin fesselten und den Ehemann und Auftraggeber mitnahmen und erstachen, nachdem sie ihn sein eigenes Grab schaufeln ließen. Der Sohn Jack war währenddessen auf Geschäftsreise in Südamerika.
Hatte Renauld eine Affäre mit seiner Nachbarin Madame Daubreuil, die Poirot als Mörderin aus einem 20 Jahre zurückliegenden Fall erkennt? Kurz darauf wird eine weitere Leiche eines Mannes entdeckt, der jedoch eines natürlichen Todes starb und post mortem erstochen wurde.

Ein extreme verwickelter Fall, dem man als Hörspiel nur sehr schlecht folgen kann, weil viele der Personen, die erwähnt werden, selber nie auftreten, nur kurz auftreten und teils auch noch unter zwei Namen laufen. Das Ganze ist dermaßen überkonstruiert, dass die für das Hörspiel wohl notwendigen Kürzungen, das Ganze noch schlechter verständlich machen. Einige Beziehungen zwischen den Personen wurden mit auch bis zum Schluss nicht wirklich klar und die Motive und die eigentlich zwei Fälle, die hier gemischt werden sind einfach zu viel für dieses Hörspiel, das als Roman sicherlich deutlich spannender und besser verständlich sein dürfte.
Auch wird hier vorausgesetzt, dass der Hörer wohl weiß, dass zu diesem Zeitpunkt Hastings und Poirot eine Holmes Watson WG haben, es wäre aber nett gewesen, das zumindest zu erklären und zu erwähnen.
Auch wenn John Moffatt erneut einen wirklich genialen Poirot gibt, die Sprecher durchweg top sind und die akustische Umsetzung das BBC übliche hohe Niveau erreicht, ist die Umsetzung dieses Falls so verwirrend und chaotisch, die Konstellationen zu verwickelt oder zu wenig erklärt, dass ich diesmal nur 3 Sterne geben kann.

[Randy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems a misnomer to say "Read" (although I guess I could say that about any audio book). This was the radio dramatisation(sic) of the book and was only 2 CD's/1.5 hours. I definitely would have preferred the book. The actors did a great job and I got the idea of the plot, but feel like I missed out not having the full book. No sense reading/listening to the full book now, though.

Not sure if it was the abbreviated nature of this work or the story overall, but it didn't captivate me the way the first book did. I do always enjoy Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, though. I don't think his idiosyncrasies come through as clearly in the TV renderings of these stories as they do in the books.

Onto #3 of the Poirot series next...

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Very clever. My little grey brain cells were working VERY hard. The solution is so unfair! However, I am getting smarter about interpreting each character, situation, and clue. My little grey brain cells are recognizing patterns now! But, again, my attempts are in vain. Mon Dieu.

BBC Audio - Full cast dramatization. The 15 Best Agatha Christie novels. This book roughly 50 minutes.

[CountZeroOr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this radio play was fairly enjoyable, though having someone other as David Suchet playing Poirot caused a bit of cognitive dissonance for me. The narrative resolution wasn't as good as I'd like - thought that's perhaps a problem of the nature of radio plays as a medium - you have to tell everything, which means omissions are an even bigger problem then they'd be normally.

[Nic · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wonder whether the romances in this story would work better for me if I read or listened to the whole text rather than this abridged, dramatized version. As it is, they seem to me extremely unlikely and silly.

(If I had access to the full-text audios right now, I would listen to those! I do love these full-cast ones, though.)

[Ruth]

Not the full text, just a radio play. But for a radio play, it captured the basic essence of the book. I was disappointed that I was unable to find a fuller audiobook at my library, but I can't fault the play for being what it is.

[Stephanie Ricker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been binge-listening to BBC Radio 4's Agatha Christie adaptations and (mostly) loving them, but this one did not pull me in at all. I found the story very unmemorable. Maybe I was too distracted while listening? Poirot doesn't normally irritate me, but irritated I was.

[Richard Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poirot's second outing is not one of his best. It's very twisty, which is fine, but although the Dame plays fair, it still seems like the solution is a bit of a stretch. The production is brilliant, as usual.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

I am enjoying the BBC radio versions of Agatha Christies mysteries, but this story is not as entertaining as some others.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a full-cast dramatization of the book. Sometimes it can be hard to hear them speak, but they generally do a good job.

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moved fast and pretty good reading. Im intrigued to see the difference between this story and the actuall book.

[Rilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great performance from cast but this is not exactly an audiobook, it's a radio play.