Agatha Christie's detective novel The Murder on the Links was first released in 1923, in March in the US by Dodd, Mead & Co. and in May in the UK by The Bodley Head. It is the second book involving Arthur Hastings and Hercule Poirot. Retail price for the UK edition was seven shillings. Because the action is set in northern France, Poirot has a hostile rival from the Paris Sûreté. Poirot's extensive recall of prior or comparable crimes helps in solving the crimes. An interesting subplot in the book involves Hastings falling in love, which Agatha "greatly desired" because it would send him to married bliss in Argentina. Paul Renauld has asked Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings for assistance, so they go to Merlinville-Sur-Mer, France. When they go there, the local police meet them and inform them that Renauld was discovered dead that morning, stabbed in the back with a knife, and dumped next to a golf course. Mother of Marthe vanishes once more. Hastings and his Cinderella, who is revealed to be Bella Duveen's twin sister Dulcie, will travel to South America with Jack, Hastings, and his mother.