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The Murder on the Links
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Unofficial Poirot Buddy Read: Poirot 2 SPOILER THREAD: The Murder on the Links
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This book takes us to France, where we meet a whole array of interesting people... I can tell you, the story was not what I expected at all. A lot less actual golfing than I expected ;-)
As we might expect Poirot to say, thank goodness there is not much golfing!
Having never thought of these novels as a sequence, I always thought of Murder on the Links as a later book - looking forward to revisiting it!
So as, Leslie posted:It always surprises me when I reread this how early Christie [marries Hastings off! After all, anyone who has read much of the Poirot series associates Poirot with Hastings despite this early disposal of his character. Was she was afraid of being stuck with a Dr. Watson type character (which of course Hastings is), do you think?
hmm that's interesting! I also was a bit disappointed (and surprised) that Hastings was married off so quickly ... though how often would it be fun to have him off on a whim of love?
Hastings doesn't disappear entirely because of his marriage. His penchant for redheads has many an airing in the future. In Murder on the Links I was interested that he was keen to see Cinderella again, but this did not preclude him from being affected by another woman's beauty, rather quickly - chapter 2! And yet, his old fashioned portrayal prevents him appearing unpleasant.
Robin wrote: "Hastings doesn't disappear entirely because of his marriage. ..."I know that but what I find interesting is that Christie had planted a reason to not include him so early in the series.
Mod
Susan wrote: "It is possible that she just didn't want to get tied down to certain characters too soon, perhaps. She may have still been experimenting and wasn't sure she wanted to go for the Holmes/Watson scena..."Indeed, also perhaps she was not planning to be writing so many more of them ...
I agree that she left matters open. Hasting's marriage and his new home in Argentina gives Agatha Christie flexibility. This contrasts with the Tommy and Tuppence relationship, doesn't it! Sometimes Poirot appears alone, and at one time Hasting's wife being in Argentina is necessary part of the plot. But she does like continuing characters, apart from Miss Marple, Poirot and Hastings and Tommy and Tuppence there are the detectives who appear fairly regularly (Japp, Battle, etc) and Race (Commander? can't recall his title), Isn't this feature - continuing characters - a hall mark of writers who want to write popular novels, a bit like a television series, in some ways.
Mod
I'm about 100 pages in on this re-read and am enjoying the Sherlock Holmes allusions: Hastings and Poirot sharing rooms in London, the rivalry between Poirot and Giraud who scrabbles around drawing conclusions from cigarette ends and matches - though these are fairly obviously planted! And, of course, Hastings' romance as a replaying of Watson's.For a second novel, Christie extends her range marvellously, from the murder in the country house in Styles to something more complex.
Yes, Roman, I agree. Christie seems so comfortable with her characters here. And they are very comfortable with each other. Hastings is able to try (and that needs to be heavily italicised!!) to thwart Poirot, and the latter accepts his reasons for doing so. They are friends. I just reread the novel and was most amused at the French servant's rendition of an English accent. As Australian, who probably sounds like this portrayal, it was nice to see the humour at an English person's expense for a change.
Robin wrote: ". Hastings is able to try (and that needs to be heavily italicised!!) to thwart Poirot.."Indeed, can you believe that? Would you dare to mislead Poirot? I do not think I would try, and if I did... I would certainly be more suspicious about Poirot's whereabouts!
I read this one years ago, and totally forgot the plot and whodunit, so it was like reading for the first time all over again. I agree that the title is somewhat misleading, in that the body is found on what is going to eventually be a golf course, but that only plays a part in the story as far as the the timeline for the discovery of the corpse. The one aspect that makes no sense to me (well alright, if you really think about, there is probably more than one...) is the fact that Renauld is desperate to keep his real identity a secret, but yet concocts a crime that is like the one he was convicted of in almost every detail. At a time when these types of crimes were few and and far between, I would think that people would have been able to make that association almost right away. For a crime that is supposed to be so well planned, it isnt very well thought out, is it?
As far as the Hastings marriage goes, I think part of the motivation was probably to change up the narration, as well as to imbue the story with some romance, since this distraction was almost nonexistent in Poirot's life. I would also hope that the only woman worth turning Hasting's allegiances would be his future wife, although to be frank, I found her character to be less than appealing throughout most of the story.
Mod
http://www.agathachristie.com/news/20...
Interesting to see, from this link, that she disliked the cover of the book.
Tara wrote: "I would think that people would have been able to make that association almost right away. For a crime that is supposed to be so well planned, it isnt very well thought out, is it?..."Perhaps though, since he escaped cleanly last time he considered his method to be foolproof. Though these crimes were few and far between, there was no such thing as Interpol or the internet... If Poirot wasn't there to make the association, would anyone have found out?
Also Susan, thanks for the link! It was interesting to read, and now we are all enriched by this little piece of trivia: According to the game show Jeopardy!, The Murder on the Links contains the first known usage of the phrase "the scene of the crime." haha
I'm interested to know if any of you shared my suspicion of Jack's mother at first?
The lack of knowledge about past crimes is not so odd. There are so many instances even now, where guilty people escape because they move and commit crimes elsewhere. I rather liked the insouciance of Cinderella, and the way in which she almost shocked Hastings into falling for her. I think that the romances between the sisters and their future husbands, Jack and Hastings, were indicative of changes in society. Although it might not be totally acceptable and this could be why the relationships are moved to Argentina. The sustained relationship, which works in class bound Britain, is that between Poirot and Hastings.
Jessica wrote: "Tara wrote: "I would think that people would have been able to make that association almost right away. For a crime that is supposed to be so well planned, it isnt very well thought out, is it?..."..."You might be right Jessica, but I still think that if Renauld was so desperate to keep his identity a secret, it wouldn't make much sense to duplicate his original crime in almost every aspect. After all, he wasn't successful at fooling the authorities the first time with his tale of masked men in the middle of the night, he was successful at being a fugitive. Whether or not anyone would have been able to connect the dots isn't so much the point as the fact that the psychology of the idea doesn't work for me.
I suspect almost everyone at some point in the story (as Christie intends I am sure). I was convinced there was a blackmail scheme pretty early on, and I didn't buy into the mistress story. I found something off about Cinderella from the word go (poor Hastings is always blinded by beauty), but it didn't really all tie together for me until the end.
Mod
"Then rushing to the tree in the flower-bed, he swarmed up it with the agility of a cat. I followed him, as with a bound he sprang in through the open window."
Haha, I haven't got to that bit yet in my re-read! I enjoyed Hastings in love and his chivalric defence of Cinderella, even against (he thinks...) Poirot.
The tree climbing incident was also something I noticed. it fits nicely into the debate that we have had about Poirot and his preferring to sit and contemplate - use his 'little grey cells'. However, lest we think this is an example of activity that replicates that of the detectives he despises, we need to think about the reason for the tree climbing. It was not a rushing around collecting physical clues, the method Poirot despises, it was for a purpose - he knew the answer to the problem and was acting to prevent another murder. I like that way Christie almost teases us to say, 'but Poirot is active too'. Like the clues she leaves us, she is meticulous in being fair. We must look at the detail and reasons, before rushing to judge.
Mod
Just finished, and enjoyed Poirot up that tree *enormously*! I hadn't realised before that Hastings and Jack will be brothers-in-law, and that Jack's family business is the reason that Hastings ends up on a South American ranch... the benefits of reading in order ;)
Mod
There are too many amazing coincidences, like Georges and his wife moving to exactly the same area of France as the one woman who can betray them (this also means two hidden identities in one town!)
Then there is the tramp with a suitable appearance turning up and dropping dead just when a substitute corpse is needed - I believe we don't even find out who this character is or what he was doing there, unless I missed it?
Also identical twins are involved, which I tend to find a bit of a cheat in plot terms (against the Detection Club rules!), although at least we were warned a "sister" existed. I also agree that the whole business of replicating the previous case is far-fetched. I'm hoping the Poirot series gets better after this - I liked the first book a lot more.
Mod
And it's rather hard to believe that Jack changes his affections from Marthe back to Bella after a fairly short interval, plus the fact that Bella will apparently be prepared to have him back!
Judy wrote: "Sorry to moan, but, as well as all the plot points I found hard to swallow, I also found the romances in this book unbelievable. Hastings falls in love with "Cinderella" after meeting her only 3 ti..."Don't worry Judy! Isn't it fun how we can get so worked up about these books? The best reaction I can hope for from my friends is:
"hmm well, I can see you find this very interesting" ... (this was literally said to me yesterday evening as I enthusiastically recalled my visit to Torquay last year and my Agatha/ Poirot quest... )
Yes, the romances are rather unrealistic but isn't that typical for books of this era? Hastings is drawn to his opposite, a vivacious woman who makes him feel alive and different. She is drawn to someone who has a comforting old fashioned manner. The sisters are alone, supporting themselves in a chancy profession and in a world where marriage is the norm. I haven't read any of Christie's romances but wonder if that is the pattern for that genre and she is replicating it.
Lucky you visiting Torquay. Have you visited Wallingford where AC owned another house? Also, she is buried near there, too. I am lucky that on my first visit to Wallingford my friends took me to the sites.
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"hmm well, I can see you find this very interesting" ... ..."
Haha Jessica, that's a bit crushing - but you know we all find it very interesting too!
I'm very late coming to this thread (the library book took forever to arrive-I've learned to request a couple of months in advance!) and enjoyed this second Poirot novel, although I found the Hastings romance a surprise-for one, isn't she a teenager? Also, I don't recall Hastings being married in later books, or perhaps I'm confusing it with the TV series.I enjoyed the mystery, and once again was completely fooled (other than figuring out it was blackmail, not a romance). This did seem like one of those cases where a certain amount was cleared up by letters arriving and distressed damsels coming and confessing, and less by the little grey cells, but nonetheless it was very cleverly (if somewhat fantastically) plotted.
We're reading the books in order as suggested by www.agathachristie.com, one book each month. There will be a separate spoiler and non-spoiler thread for each month. So for this year, we will read:
The Mysterious Affair at Styles 1920 --> Done!
Feb - Murder on the Links 1923
March - Christmas Adventure (short story) 1923 (well it's been placed here chronologically, you can ship it and save it for December...)
March - Poirot Investigates (short stories) 1924 (because we can certainly handle more than 1 short story this month!)
April - Poirot's Early Cases (short stories) 1974
May - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 1926 (my favourite)
June - The Big Four 1927
July - The Mystery of the Blue Train 1928
August - Black Coffee (play novelisation by Charles Osborne) 1997
September - Peril at End House 1932
October - The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest (short story) 1932
November - Second Gong (short story) 1932
December - Lord Edgware Dies 1933