Monsieur Giraud is a major protagonist of Agatha Christie's 1923 Hercule Poirot novel, The Murder on the Links. In the story, he was presented as a rival to Poirot during the murder case's investigation.
He was voiced by Vincent Brimble in the 1990 BBC Radio 4 radio adaptation, and was portrayed by Bill Moody in Agatha Christie's Poirot.
Biography[]
Monsieur Giraud was a police detective of the Paris Sûreté and the investigating officer on Paul Renauld's murder case. Giraud considered Poirot as his rival and resented the Belgian detective's involvement. They soon decided to compete against each other on who would solve the mystery first.
During the investigation, Giraud arrested Jack Renauld, the son of Paul Renauld, on the basis he wanted his father's money, and Jack had admitted to police he had argued with his father over wishing to marry Mme. Daubreuil's daughter Marthe, whom his parents found unsuitable.
However, Poirot revealed a flaw in Giraud's theory, as Renauld changed his will two weeks before his murder, disinheriting Jack. Soon afterwards, Jack is released from prison after Bella Duveen, an English stage performer he loved , confessed to the murder. Both had come across the body on the night of the murder, and assumed the other had killed Renauld.
Nevertheless, Poirot revealed neither did, as the real killer was Marthe Daubreuil, who was equally manipulative and malicious to her mother, who attempted to seize Renauld's fortune by approaching Jack. This was eventually proven to be true after Marthe fell for a trap set by Poirot and Mrs. Eloise Renauld, and was killed by Dulcie Duveen (Bella's twin sister, and later the wife of Arthur Hastings) in time when she tried to attack and kill Eloise.
After the case's resolution, even though Giraud had the decency to pay the 500 francs they betted, he and Poirot parted ways, still despising each other.
Trivia[]
- In the 1992 adaptation from Agatha Christie's Poirot, Giraud's personality was initially presented to be as same as the novel, but he was later shown to become a much nicer person than his novel counterpart, particularly by the end of the story, where he finally acknowledged Poirot's skills and the two made amends.