Captain Hastings on Golf And Cars

While it's always interesting to speculate as to how the people and events in an author's life inspire her to include them in her story, what we know is that the production team chose to rewrite Agatha Christie's original stories. Often, they did this to strengthen the bond between Hercule Poirot and Hastings, as proved the case with this story. In the TV version, Poirot and Hastings travel to France on holiday. Somewhat bizarrely, a perfectionist like Poirot, who always needs everything just so, leaves the entire planning of this vacation to Captain Hastings. A man who cares about all the little details, who needs everything symmetrical and suited to his tastes, entrusts his friend, who takes a much more casual view of life, to choose the hotel? It may not make sense, but it does endear us to Hastings, who pushes back the porter at the train station when the man attempts to hand him his golf clubs. 

Hastings knows that Poirot dislikes the game of golf. Poirot's aims for this trip are different. He wishes to explore the glorious realms of French cuisine. In the car, he casually asks Hastings what hotel he has chosen. Then the great detective sees the taxi pulling up at the Hotel Du Golf. As Poirot leaves the car, we feel for Poirot when he warns Hastings that the chef's cooking had better be acceptable to his palate. Hastings quickly assures Poirot that he's sure the food is up to scratch. After all, you can work up a healthy appetite after playing 18 holes!

Thankfully for Hastings, Poirot finds the food at the Hotel Du Golf acceptable. Even better, the rich Mr. Renault (note the slight name change) shows up in the hotel lobby. There he sits by Poirot, and urgently requests his assistance. Poirot shushes him, and agrees to call on his tomorrow at his house. Perhaps Poirot shushes Renault because he does not wish to disturb his friend Captain Hastings. If so, he need not worry, as Hastings is thoroughly absorbed by the beautiful lady singer. 

The TV series presented Captain Hastings as having a passion for automobiles. Poirot, meanwhile, views them merely as a necessity. So swapping the name of an obscure French nobleman for one shared by a company with a rich heritage in racing and automotive history seems like another way to involve Hastings further in the story. Consider Hastings' agony in the TV version of The Murder on the Links. He plans a magnificent vacation in France, only to have his golf plans ruined with the murder of a fellow golf enthusiast. Worse, the name of the victim is synonymous with that of the famed Renault car company. What a catastrophe!

Dragon Dave

Archibald Christie's Passion For Golf

By all accounts, Agatha Christie enjoyed playing golf. It was a pastime she shared with her first husband, Archibald Christie. But writing came first for Agatha Christie. So while she wrote her novels on the weekends, Archibald spent his weekends at the Sunningdale Golf Club. 

Interestingly, she chose to make a golf enthusiast the victim in The Murder on the Links, her second Hercule Poirot novel.

In her story, Captain Hastings travels back to France at Hercule Poirot's invitation. There they discover Mr. Renauld, the rich man who wrote to Poirot, pleading for the great detective's assistance, has been found stabbed on the golf course. This isn't just any golf course: this is one Mr. Renauld helped design and fund, and it lies right next to his property. Agatha Christie never explores this aspect of the story, but you can imagine the irony of the situation, as well as how his wife and son must have viewed it. This man, who to a certain extent lived for golf, has now also died for his cherished sport. Poirot and Hastings spend the entire day assisting the French police, then take a car to the Hotel Des Bains, which has been recommended to them by the examining magistrate M. Hautet. 

In the TV adaptation,
Captain Hastings plans a vacation for himself and Poirot.
Instead of the Hotel Des Bains,
he books them into the Hotel Du Golf.
The film location is the five-star Hotel Normandy,
located in the French city of Deauville

Was Agatha Christie merely envious that her husband got to play a sport he loved while she locked herself away at home to write? Even if she loved writing? Did she suspect that his time away from her, playing a sport he loved with other men and women, might lead him to form new and powerful relationships, which would sap his devotion to her?  We may not know what drove her to make a golf enthusiast like her husband the victim of her next novel. What we do know is that, a few years after she wrote The Murder on the Links, Archibald Christie asked her for a divorce. 

But then, life imitates art, often in unexpected ways.

Dragon Dave