The Murder on the Links (Hercule Poirot #2) by Agatha Christie

This helps adding to my currently growing list of books for #BritishCrimeClassicsChallenge

Narrator: Tim Bruce

It must be just my good luck that Amazon Classics continues to release audio versions of the old Agatha Christies (and many other classics I am a little afraid to try) in order and it gives me a fresh look at all the people in the stories.

When hearing Hastings narrate the story aloud (the narrator did a great job), you can see the combination of awe and disdain that hasting’s flighty thoughts take him through when he continues his association with Hercule Poirot. Poirot is not an easy man to be around but Hasting takes his position as the wounded assistant very seriously. It is clearly visible in this tale. Hastings has less work to do in his real job, (I never knew he had another job, never paid attention to that fact the previous time(s) I read this particular story) and is hanging out with Poirot. Then a mysterious letter makes it way to them, it urges them to come as soon as possible to sort out a problem for a wealthy man who fears for his life. By the time they get to the spot, however, they are too late!

There are many interesting women in this narrative (the men pale in comparison)and each gets time in the limelight as the suspicion moves from one to the other. The story is, as many of Agatha Christie’s are all about the people. Poirot makes not very subtle pokes at those men who grovel on the ground hunting physical clues although some physical evidence did help him confirm his suspicions. There are a lot of twists in this installment and I thankfully only remembered parts towards the end and therefore enjoyed the pace at which the story took me. I recommend this to those starting with the author to see if all the ‘people watching’ keeps you hooked.  Hastings’ romantic angle was a bit of a miss with me but I guess that is just the kind of story that might have worked in that era. I look forward to the day they release the next one into the KU library.

My last KU post was One Small Sacrifice (Shadows of New York #1) by Hilary Davidson and my queue looks like this now: (each cover leads back to the appropriate page on Goodreads, if you feel like adding to the list)

   

      

I started listening to the Elven and only then realised it is 28 hours of a single book! so I am pacing it with the Jamie Beck for now just to keep the seriousness a little lower. As you can also see, I am going to head back to Sherlock Holmes as well to see if it retains its magic for me.