Crimă pe terenul de golf by Agatha Christie

"Here is a remarkably good detective story." — The New York Times Book Review "For God's sake, come!" implores the letter to Hercule Poirot from Paul Renauld. A wealthy English financier living in France, Renauld hints at being in possession of a deadly secret. The Belgian sleuth — accompanied by Captain Hastings, his friend from The Mysterious Affair at Styles — rushes to answer the call but arrives too late. Stabbed in the back, Poirot's would-be client lies in a shallow grave on the golf course alongside his estate. Renauld's wife, found bound and gagged in her bedroom, identifies a pair of masked intruders as the likeliest culprits. But the thugs prove untraceable even as the roster of suspects expands. The instant dislike formed between Poirot and Monsieur Giraud of the Paris Sûreté further intensifies the investigation, which becomes a competition between their radically different approaches to crime detection. Both are incapable of solving the murder until the discovery of a second corpse, slain in the same manner as the first, provides fresh clues. Agatha Christie's lively and stylish whodunit offers mystery lovers an abundance of twists and turns as well as a dash of romance.

Like usual, Agatha Christie's book kept me on the edge of my seat, but this time I actually lost my interest towards the end of the book. I went ahead and took a guess on what the murder is all about, who did it and why, at the start of the book, and when it turned out I was half-right, I lost some interest. Of course, everything was way more complicated than I assumed, but that also made it feel a bit over the top, just a tad.

Do not think I did not enjoy the book, because I did, a lot. I like Agatha Christie's writing style and I absolutely love Hercule Poirot. There were some instances, some remarks, of the great detective that actually made me laugh. The humour is great in this book and I am a big fan of it.

Hastings, on the other hand, is just as insufferable as I remembered him. Luckily for me, I felt like I had to put up with him for only about three chapters before the murder plot took over and he remained just a narrator. I wonder if he'll grow on me, because I do plan on reading more of Hercule Poirot's adventures, not necessarily in order, though.

I don't think there's much else to be said about the book. It's a classic, it's just as enjoyable now as it probably was when it was first published. Highly recommend it.

Also, while reading the book, I thought I'd do a simple pixel art portrait of Hercule Poirot, so since this book kind of inspired it, I'll link it here.