The Murder on the Links in WACKY READING CHALLENGES

Jul 14, 2017 Jody rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: aty-reject-challenge

There is something just so fun about Dame Agatha's books. They grip you from the very beginning, and are so incredibly twisty and addictive. I'm currently reading the Poirot series, while also reading the Sherlock Holmes books, and without a shadow of a doubt, I prefer these. I love that you are given all of the clues, making them true mysteries, unlike the Sherlock Holmes books.

These are, for me, the ultimate palate cleansers. I definitely won't be taking so long between visits again, although ...more

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Oct 31, 2013 Book Concierge rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, murder, psychology, detective, france, mystery, series, concierge, women-writers, library

Audio book performed by Hugh Fraser

Captain Arthur Hastings narrates this second book in the mystery series featuring Hercule Poirot. It all begins when Hastings meets a young woman on a train. In short order Poirot receives a letter from a South American millionaire living in France stating that his life is in danger and pleading with Poirot to come at once. Hastings and Poirot immediately go to France, only to find that their “client” has been murdered. There is no shortage of suspects – wife, ...more

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Apr 09, 2023 Catsalive rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2023

This has never been one of my favourite Poirots, not because of Poirot himself, who is as amusing as ever, but because Hastings is even more gormless than usual & there were no other particularly likeable characters. I really didn't care who was had up for murder in the end.

There is, however, a sweetness in meeting Hastings' auburn-haired girl for the first time: the woman who took him to South America, & whom he returned without many years later. I do miss him when he is gone.

The usual convolut ...more

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Sep 01, 2022 Irene rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-stars, kindle-unlimited, set-in-summer, aty-2022, read-in-2022, rounded-up, didnt-age-well, mystery

Rounded up my rating because every time I read Christie, I'm just so impressed by how clever she was. The plots are so complex (sometimes to the point of tedium) in a way that I haven't seen yet in any 21st century mystery (though to be fair, it's not a genre I read a lot). No suspicious action goes unexplained, as every clue and every motive fits neatly into the solution. Given that I was raging recently at The Woman in Cabin 10 for having so many characters act suspicious for no reason (purely Rounded up my rating because every time I read Christie, I'm just so impressed by how clever she was. The plots are so complex (sometimes to the point of tedium) in a way that I haven't seen yet in any 21st century mystery (though to be fair, it's not a genre I read a lot). No suspicious action goes unexplained, as every clue and every motive fits neatly into the solution. Given that I was raging recently at The Woman in Cabin 10 for having so many characters act suspicious for no reason (purely as red herrings without a care for how it affected the plot or what it meant for the characters), it was a great contrast to see how Christie does the opposite by never having anything happen solely to frustrate/confuse the reader.

I noticed that Hastings and Poirot were a bit more sassy in this book (Hastings calls Poirot an ass at least once), and while Hastings irritated me in this one, it was kind of forgiven because (view spoiler)

Favorite random moments:
(view spoiler)

Some minor details that I didn't think aged well: (not necessarily in a problematic way, just thought it would be interesting to note)
- the repeated statement/assumption (from very early on in the book) that the grave must have been dug by a man. While it's not clear if this is more related to the knowledge of digging a grave or to physical strength, I am 100% sure that there were lots of strong women who could dig a clean grave in the first half of the 20th century. Was the concept of strong women so impossible to grasp at the time this was written that it would literally be completely ruled out of a murder investigation?
- little comments like "how like a woman to be unable to throw away something sentimental" and "women should be womanly" (Hastings finds a woman's cursing very unladylike in the first few pages of the book).
- statements (regarding both men and women) about heredity and how people inherit their personalities and tendencies from their parents. I think today, we give the nurture side of the argument just as much if not more stock than nature, but at the time this book was written I guess people assumed that if, say, someone's parent was a murderer, then that the children would likely be similar. ...more

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