Cards on the Table

Cards on the Table (published in 1936) is a whodunit mystery novel by Agatha Christie. It features the recurring characters of Hercule Poirot, Colonel Race, Superintendent Battle, and novelist Ariadne Oliver who makes her first appearance in a Christie novel, after earlier appearing in a short story in Parker Pyne Investigates.

Plot summary

Hercule Poirot is invited to a dinner party at Mr. Shaitana's house and after dinner the eight guests settle down for a game of bridge. Two games are set up so that four guests play in one room and the other four play in an adjoining room which could only be accessed from the first room. Poirot joins Mrs. Ariadne Oliver (an author of crime fiction books), Superintendent Battle (a Scotland Yard detective), and Colonel Race of His Majesty's Secret Service for the game in the inner room. Mr. Shaitana, the host, sits with the other group of four in the outer room away from the bridge table by a fireplace. At the end of the night Mr. Shaitana is found dead in his chair by the fire. It becomes obvious that he must have been killed by one of the four players in the room (Major Despard, Dr. Roberts, Mrs. Lorrimer, and Anne Meredith). Making the case more astounding is the fact that, before his death, Shaitana boasted to Poirot that all four of them had successfully gotten away with murder, at least once before. The four detectives now set out to investigate the case.

Characters in "Cards on the Table"

Detectives

Superintendent Battle, a stolid officer from Scotland Yard
Colonel Race, a debonair Secret Service agent
Ariadne Oliver, a popular detective novelist
Hercule Poirot, a famed private detective

Suspects

Dr Roberts, an avuncular Harley Street specialist
Mrs Lorrimer, an elderly bridge enthusiast
Major Despard, an explorer
Anne Meredith, a pretty young girl

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

The book was adapted as a stage play in 1981, although without Poirot. This followed Christie's trend of adapting Poirot novels as plays, but without Poirot as a detective, as she did not feel that any actor could portray him successfully. ITV adapted the story into a television program starring David Suchet, which aired in the US on A&E Network in December 2005 and, in the UK, on ITV1 in March 2006.

Trivia

In a previous novel, (The A.B.C. Murders) Poirot mentions to Hastings his vision of an ideal case. It is in fact the plot of this novel.

Agatha Christie novels | 1936 novels | Hercule Poirot | Agatha Christie plays | 1981 plays