Just ahead of Episode Twelve of The Murder on the Links, thank you again for your kind comments about this caper and our other Tales for Our Time. For some listeners, this namecheck and its many reprises stood out:
In unison, the magistrate and the commissary exclaimed 'Santiago.'
Which prompted Israel, an Israeli Steyn Clubber, to write:
And my perverse mind said 'Slowly I turned, step by step...'
Israel is channelling either the Three Stooges with Niagara Falls, or Milton Berle with Buffalo, or Abbott & Costello with Pokomoko, or any one of a dozen other vaudevillian variants. He will be interested to hear that, in tonight's installment of Agatha Christie's detective yarn, Hercule Poirot is beginning to weary of the routine:
"But Mr. Renauld's letter? It distinctly mentions a secret and Santiago?"
"Undoubtedly there was a secret in M. Renauld's life—there can be no doubt of that. On the other hand, the word Santiago, to my mind, is a red herring, dragged continually across the track to put us off the scent. It is possible that it was used in the same way on M. Renauld, to keep him from directing his suspicions into a quarter nearer at hand. Oh, be assured, Hastings, the danger that threatened him was not in Santiago, it was near at hand, in France."
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear Mark read Part Twelve of The Murder on the Links simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes can be found here.
If you've yet to hear any of our Tales for Our Time, you can do so by joining The Mark Steyn Club. For more details, see here - and don't forget our special Gift Membership. Mark will be hosting Part Thirteen of The Murder on the Links right here tomorrow evening.
