History Literature / TheMurderOnTheLinks

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Dulcie Duveen introduces herself to Hastings as "Cinderella". He doesn't get to know her real name until very late in the books. [[spoiler: in ''Curtain'', Hastings' narrative reveals that 'Cinderella' was his lifelong pet name for his wife. He uses it to refer to her in his thoughts, even after her death.]]

* IHaveNoSon: Even after he is acquitted of his father's murder, Mrs Renauld still holds Jack responsible for Paul Renauld's death, and publicly denounces her son when he returns home. [[spoiler: On Poirot's advice - so that the real murderer will be forced to reveal themselves.]]

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: When Bella finds out about Marthe, she's willing to let Jack go so that he can be with the woman he actually loves. [[spoiler: She even [[FalseConfession falsely confesses]] to murder in order to protect him, even knowing he wanted to marry someone else.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Jeanne Beroldy, [[spoiler: better known as Madame Daubreuil]], is a cold-hearted manipulator who tricks one of her lovers to murder her husband so that she could marry a rich suitor. When the scheme was found out, she then manages to charm the entire jury to declare her as innocent, and she lives a peaceful and comfortable life afterwards. [[spoiler:She then blackmails her former lover, who had changed his identity and became a rich man himself. She also allows her daughter to seduce the man's son, and is implied that she knew of her daughter's scheme to murder the man so that she can cash in on the son's inheritance.]] Once again, she escapes justice and disappeared before the police could arrest her.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Dulcie Duveen introduces herself to Hastings as "Cinderella". He doesn't get to know her real name until very late in the books. [[spoiler: in ''Curtain'', Hastings' narrative reveals that 'Cinderella' was his lifelong pet name for his wife, using it to refer to her in his thoughts even after her death.]]

** [[spoiler:Her daughter, Marthe Daubreuil,]] is much the same. She murders her lover's rich father, who did not approve of their relationship, and anticipates that said lover would then be free to marry her, and she'd become rich from his inheritance.

* AssholeVictim: Downplayed. The narrative regards Paul Renauld's death as a well-served justice because [[spoiler:he's an escaped convict]], but the fact that he has a genuinely loving relationship with his family, and is liked well enough by his current employees, prevents him from being a completely unsympathetic character.

* InTheBlood: A major theme of the novel:
** [[spoiler: Marthe Daubreuil]], daughter of Jeanne Beroldy grows up to become a ruthless, calculating and cold-hearted gold digger who fails to see the inherent wrongness of killing for money.
** Jack Renauld also worries that being [[spoiler:Georges Conneau's]] son might make him a murderer, and that no one would be willing to take him because of it. Poirot reassures him that he's also his mother's son, and Madame Renauld is a woman of great character.

* ParentalMarriageVeto: Paul Renauld forbids his son Jack from marrying Marthe Dubriel, and cuts him out of his will. [[spoiler: It transpires that Marthe is [[InTheBlood the murderous daughter of a blackmailing murderess]], so he had a point.]]

* TakingTheHeat: Jack Renauld and Bella Duveen to each other. When the police arrests Jack for the murder of his father, he quietly accepts his fate in order to divert the suspicion from Bella, whom he believes to be guilty because she possesses a knife identical to the murder weapon. Before he could be put on trial, Bella comes in to confess the crime, taking his place in custody.

* SelectiveObliviousness: Giraud ignores the evidence of a piece of lead piping found by the body, and also fails to properly explain why, if Jack Renauld killed his father for his inheritance, he would have bothered trying to bury the body afterwards as it would surely be to Jack's advantage for the body to be found immediately.

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: When Bella finds out about Marthe, she's willing to let Jack go so that he can be with the woman he actually loves. [[spoiler: She even [[FalseConfession falsely confesses]] to murder in order to protect him, even knowinTg he wanted to marry someone else.]]

* TakeThat: The story takes Giraud's GreatDetective manner, styled on Sherlock Holmes and C Auguste Dupin, and deconstructs them with Giraud being an egomaniac who is easily misled and makes errors of judgement. See GrowingtheBeard above.

* GrowingTheBeard: This being the second Hercule Poirot novel, it sets up Christie's detective methods of looking into the psychology of characters, their motivations and personalities, as more effective and superior to locating evidence to judge from.

* GrowingtheBeard: This being the second Hercule Poirot novel, it sets up Christie's detective methods of looking into the psychology of characters, their motivations and personalities, as more effective and superior to locating evidence to judge from.

* TakeThat: The story takes Giraud's GreatDetective manner, styled on Sherlock Holmes and C Auguste Dupin, and deconstructs them with Giraud being an egomaniac who is easily misled and makes errors of judgement. This sets up Christie's detective methods as used by Poirot, of looking into the psychology of characters, their motivations and personalities, as more effective and superior.

* KarmaHoudini: Jeanne Beroldy, [[spoiler: better known as Madame Daubreuil]], is a cold-hearted manipulator who tricks one of her lovers to murder her husband so that she could marry a rich suitor. When the scheme was found out, she then manages to charm the entire jury to declare her as innocent, and she lives a peaceful and comfortable life afterwards. [[spoiler:She then blackmails her former lover, who had changed his identity and became himself a rich man. She also allows her daughter to seduce the man's son, and is implied that she knew of her daughter's scheme to murder the man so that she can cash in on the son's inheritance.]] Once again, she escapes justice and disappeared before the police could arrest her.

* OutGambitted: Paul Renauld's plans to [[spoiler:fake his death to escape Madame Daubreuil's blackmail are overheard by Marthe, who kills him for real during the night when he is trying to carry out his plan. She wants him dead so that she can get his money by marrying his son.]]

* TakingTheHeat: Jack Renauld and Bella Duveen to each other. When the police arrests Jack for the murder of his father, he quietly accepts his fate in order to divert the suspicion from Bella, who possesses a knife identical to the murder weapon. Before he could be put on trial, Bella comes in to confess the crime, taking his place in custody.

* ExactWords: Giraud holds out a match to Poirot and asks him what he sees. Poirot says he sees nothing. Giraud smugly points out that the match is a South American brand. [[spoiler: The twist is that Poirot has already uncovered evidence that shows the stick was planted and is useless as evidence, so he actually doesn't see anything important.]]

* SpannerInTheWorks: Bella Duveen. [[spoiler: She not only interferes with Jack Renauld's plans, but when she gives herself up to save Jack, it spoils Poirot's deductions.]]

* DeepSleep: In the novel, Jack collapsed into a feverish sleep due to the nervous breakdown of going through a gruelling arrest, which was followed by his mother publicly disowning him.

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: When Bella finds out about Marthe, she's willing to let Jack go so that he can be with the woman he actually loves. [[spoiler: She even [[FalseConfession falsely confesses]] to murder in order to protect him, even knowing he wanted to marry someone else.]]

* SpannerintheWorks: Bella Duveen. [[spoiler: She not only interferes with Jack Renauld's plans, but when she gives herself up to save Jack, it spoils Poirot's deductions.]]
* StrongFamilyResemblance: Jack Renauld looks so similar to his father that, when he first arrived at the crime scene, Hastings briefly thought that the deceased had come back to live.

* InTheBlood:

Only the second of Agatha Christie's novels to feature Literature/HerculePoirot, '''''The Murder on the Links''''' was first published in 1923. Millionaire businessman Paul Renauld is found stabbed to death in an open grave in the golf course he was constructing. Poirot, who had received a letter from Renauld shortly before his death, tries to trace the murderer. There are several suspects: the widow who inherits Renauld's entire estate, the son who had recently quarreled with his father, the woman who might have been Renauld's mistress... However, the pattern of events in the murder of Renauld bear strong similarities to a case that happened 20 years ago. Is the same mind at work behind both cases?

* LoveMartyr: Mrs Renauld knows all about her husband's shady past, and is very likely aware of his affair with Madame Daubreuil, but is completely devoted to him, and shows genuine sorrow when he dies.

** [[spoiler:Her daughter, Marthe Daubreuil,]] is much the same. She murdered her lover's rich father, who did not approve of the relationship, and anticipating that said lover would then be free to marry her, and she'd become rich from his inheritance.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Dulcie Duveen introduces herself to Hastings as "Cinderella". He doesn't get to know her real name until very late in the books.

Only the second of Agatha Christie's novels to feature Literature/HerculePoirot, '''''The Murder on the Links''''' was first published in 1923. Millionaire businessman Paul Renaud is found stabbed to death in an open grave in the golf course he was constructing. Poirot, who had received a letter from Renaud shortly before his death, tries to trace the murderer. There are several suspects: the widow who inherits Renaud's entire estate, the son who had recently quarreled with his father, the woman who might have been Renaud's mistress... However, the pattern of events in the murder of Renaud bear strong similarities to a case that happened 20 years ago. Is the same mind at work behind both cases?

* AccidentalMurder: When [[spoiler:Marthe Daubreauil]] attempts to murder Madame Renaud, Dulcie Duveen comes to the rescue, and accidentally kills [[spoiler:Marthe]] during the ensuing struggle.
* AssholeVictim: Downplayed. The narrative regards Paul Renaud's death as a well-served justice because [[spoiler:he's an escaped convict]], but the fact that he has a genuinely loving relationship with his family, and is liked well enough by his current employees, prevents him from being a completely unsympathetic character.

* BluffingTheMurderer: Poirot [[spoiler:has Madame Renaude pretend to disown her son]], so that the true murderer would be forced to reveal themselves in their attempt to murder her.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Despite Renaud's past as a criminal, he genuinely loves his wife, and left all his inheritance to her.
* FakingTheDead: Invoked. Renaud ''wanted'' to fake his death [[spoiler:so that he could escape from blackmail]], but ended up getting killed for real.

** Madam Beroldy was married to a much older gentleman, but is conducting two affairs with lawyer Georges Conneau and the wealthy Hiram Trapp. She arranges to have Conneau murder her husband, so that she could be free to marry Mr. Trapp. [[spoiler:20 years later, she encounters Georges Conneau, who has found success as Paul Renaud, and began blackmailing him]].

* HeKnowsTooMuch: Inverted. When he was being blackmailed, Paul Renaud plots to fake his own death, with the help of his wife, to escape his blackmailer. Of course, things goes wrong and he dies for real.
* IHaveNoSon: Even after being acquitted of his father's murder, Mrs Renaud still holds Jack responsible for Paul Renaud's death, and publicly denounces her son when he returns home. [[spoiler: On Poirot's advice - so that the real murderer will be forced to reveal themselves.]]

** Jack Renaud also worries that being [[spoiler:Georges Conneau's]] son might make him a murderer, and that no one would be willing to take him because of it. Poirot reassures him that he's also his mother's son, and Madame Renaud is a woman of great character.

* KarmaHoudini: Jeanne Beroldy, [[spoiler: better known as Madam Daubreuil]], is a cold-hearted manipulator who tricks one of her lovers to murder her husband so that she could marry a rich suitor. When the scheme was found out, she then manages to charm the entire jury to declare her as innocent, and she lives a peaceful and comfortable life afterwards. [[spoiler:She then blackmails her former lover, who had changed his identity and became himself a rich man. She also allows her daughter to seduce the man's son, and is implied that she knew of her daughter's scheme to murder the man so that she can cash in on the son's inheritance.]] Once again, she escapes justice and disappeared before the police could arrest her.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Renaud was killed for his money, but due to his criminal past, Poirot sees his murder as karma finally catching up to him.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Dulcie Duveen introduces herself to Hastings as "Cinderalla". He doesn't get to know her real name until very late in the books.
* OutGambitted: Paul Renauld's plans to [[spoiler:fake his death to escape Madam Daubreil's blackmail are overheard by Marthe, who kills him for real during the night when he is trying to carry out his plan. She wants him dead so that she can get his money by marrying his son.]]

* StrongFamilyResemblance: Jack Renaud looks so similar to his father that, when he first arrived at the crime scene, Hastings briefly thought that the deceased had come back to live.

* IHaveNoSon: Even after being acquitted of his father's murder, Mrs Renaud still holds Jack responsible for Paul Renaud's death, and publicly denounces her son when he returns home.

The story was adapted 1996 for the sixth series of ''Series/{{Poirot}}''.