The Murder on the Links is a mystery novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead & Co in March 1923, and in the UK by The Bodley Head in May of the same year. It is the second novel featuring Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6),

The New York Times Book Review of 25 March 1923 began, "Here is a remarkably good detective story which can be warmly commended to those who like that kind of fiction." After detailing the set-up of the story the review continued, "The plot has peculiar complications and the reader will have to be very astute indeed if he guesses who the criminal is until the last complexity has been unravelled. The author is notably ingenious in the construction and unravelling of the mystery, which develops fresh interests and new entanglements at every turn. She deserves commendation also for the care with which the story is worked out and the good craftsmanship with which it is written. Although there is not much endeavour to portray character, except in the case of M. Poirot, several of the personages are depicted with swiftly made expressive and distinctive lines."

The unnamed reviewer in The Observer of 10 June 1923 said, "When Conan Doyle popularised Sherlock Holmes in the Strand of the 'nineties he lit such a candle as the publishers will not willingly let out. Not a week passes which does not bring a 'detective' story from one quarter or another, and several of the popular magazines rely mainly on that commodity. Among the later cultivators of this anything but lonely furrow the name of Agatha Christie is well in the front. If she has not the touch of artistry which made The Speckled Band and The Hound of the Baskervilles things of real horror, she has an unusual gift of mechanical complication." The reviewer went on to compare the novel with The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which they called "a remarkable piece of work", but warned that "it is a mistake to carry the art of bewilderment to the point of making the brain reel". They did admit that "[n]o solution could be more surprising" and stated that the character of Poirot was "a pleasant contrast to most of his lurid competitors; and one even suspects a touch of satire in him."

Robert Barnard: "Super-complicated early whodunit, set in the northerly fringes of France so beloved of the English bankrupt. Poirot pits his wits against a sneering sophisticate of a French policeman while Hastings lets his wander after an auburn-haired female acrobat. Entertaining for most of its length, but the solution is one of those 'once revealed, instantly forgotten' ones, where ingenuity has triumphed over common sense".

In a modern work of literary criticism, Christie biographer Laura Thompson writes:

She notes as well that the book, the second novel featuring Poirot, is notable for a subplot in which Hastings falls in love, a development "greatly desired on Agatha's part... parcelling off Hastings to wedded bliss in the Argentine." This was Christie's first published work for the Grand Magazine which went on to publish many of her short stories throughout the 1920s.

Christie's Autobiography recounts how she objected to the illustration of the dustjacket of the UK first edition stating that it was both badly drawn and unrepresentative of the plot. It was the first of many such objections she raised with her publishers over the dustjacket. It would appear that Christie won her argument over the dustjacket as the one she describes and objected to ("a man in his pyjamas, dying of an epileptic on a golf course") does not resemble the actual jacket which shows Monsieur Renauld digging the open grave on the golf course at night.

Book dedication

Christie dedicated her third book as follows:

Christie refers here to her first husband, Archibald Christie (1889–1962) from whom she was divorced in 1928.

Dustjacket blurb

The dustjacket front flap of the first edition carried no specially written blurb. Instead it carried quotes of reviews for The Mysterious Affair at Styles whilst the back jacket flap carried similar quotes for The Secret Adversary.

Adaptations

Theatre

The Murder on the Links was adapted for the stage by American playwright Steven Dietz in 2021. Performed by an ensemble cast of six, with Poirot and Hastings played by either male or female actors, this serio-comic adaptation is scheduled to premiere in San Diego (North Coast Repertory Theatre) and at the Laguna Playhouse in 2023.

A separate adaptation debuted at Two River Theater in September of 2025. This version, written and directed by Darko Tresnjak, removed several characters and changed the denouement. In this version of the story, Jack and Marthe are half-siblings from Conneau and Madame Beroldy's affair. Jack kills Marthe as revenge for killing his father and is executed for her murder.

Radio

The Murder on the Links was presented as a one-hour, thirty-minute radio adaptation in the Saturday Night Theatre strand on BBC Radio 4 on 15 September 1990, the centenary of Christie's birth. It was repeated on 8 July 1991 and again in 2015. John Moffatt starred as Poirot. The play's recording took place on 21 June 1989 at Broadcasting House. It was adapted by Michael Bakewell and produced and directed by Enyd Williams.

Cast:

  • John Moffatt as Hercule Poirot
  • Jeremy Clyde as Captain Hastings
  • Madeline Smith as Dulcee Duveen
  • Vincent Brimble as Inspector Giraud
  • Geoffrey Whitehead as Inspector Bex
  • Joan Matheson as Madame Renauld
  • Stephen Tompkinson as Jack Renauld
  • David King as Judge Hautet
  • Petra Davies as Madame Daubreuil
  • Francesca Buller as Marthe Daubreuil
  • Barbara Atkinson as Françoise
  • Joanna Mackie as Léoine
  • Danny Schiller as Hotel Receptionist
  • Ken Cumberlidge as Sergeant of Police
  • Brian Miller as the Doctor

Television

British adaptation

An adaptation of the novel was made for the series Agatha Christie's Poirot on 11 February 1996. It was produced by Carnival Films, and starred David Suchet as Hercule Poirot, and Hugh Fraser as Arthur Hastings. While much of the novel's plot was retained, the adaptation featured a number of changes, which included the setting being changed to Deauville, France, where filming took place on-site. The wager between Poirot and Giraud is changed; instead of 500 Francs, the stakes are Giraud's famous pipe against Poirot's moustache. In the end, Poirot returns the pipe, observing that Giraud will think of him whenever he uses it. Jack is Paul's stepson who was adopted by him and took his last name, instead of being his biological son. The denouement is different. Bella is a singer, who introduces herself to Hastings as “Isabelle”. She still confuses things by confessing to the crime, but she no longer loves Jack. It is Stonor who shoots Marthe with her own gun when—as Poirot predicts—she breaks in and tries to kill Madame Renaud. Marthe's mother does not escape, but is arrested. There is no twin sister. Bella is now in love with Hastings, who is staying in Deauville to make sense of it all. Poirot brings her to join Hastings on the promenade on the seaside, where they share a long kiss.

Adaptor: Anthony Horowitz<br />

Director: Andrew Grieve

Cast:

  • David Suchet as Hercule Poirot
  • Hugh Fraser as Arthur Hastings
  • Bill Moody as Giraud
  • Damien Thomas as Paul Renauld
  • Sophie Linfield as Marthe Daubreuil
  • Kate Fahy as Bernadette Daubreuil
  • Jacinta Mulcahy as Bella Duveen
  • Bernard Latham as Lucien Bex
  • Ben Pullen as Jack Renauld
  • Diane Fletcher as Eloise Renauld
  • Terence Beesley as Stonor
  • Andrew Melville as Dr Hautet
  • Henrietta Voigts as Leonie
  • James Vaughan as Adam Letts
  • Ray Gatenby as a Station Master
  • Randal Herley as the Judge
  • Belinda Stewart-Wilson as a Dubbing Secretary

Japanese adaptation

The second night of Meitantei Akafuji Takashi (a two-night release in December 2005) was an adaptation of The Murder on the Links. The first night had adapted The A.B.C. Murders. The show starred Shirō Itō as Takashi Akafuji, who represents the character of Poirot.

French adaptation

The seventh episode of the second season of the French television series Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie was an adaptation of this novel. It aired in 2014.

Graphic novel

The Murder on the Links was released by HarperCollins as a graphic novel adaptation on 16 July 2007, adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Marc Piskic (). This was translated from the edition first published in France by Emmanuel Proust éditions in 2003, and then translated to English, published by HarperCollins in 2007.

References

  • The Murder on the Links in the Internet Archive
  • The Murder on the Links at the official Agatha Christie website
  • The Murder on the Links at the new Agatha Christie official website