Cards on the Table


Cards on the Table is a detective novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 2 November 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence and the US edition at $2.00.
The book features the recurring characters of Hercule Poirot, Colonel Race, Superintendent Battle and the bumbling crime writer Ariadne Oliver, making her first appearance in a Poirot novel. The four detectives and four possible suspects play bridge after dinner with Mr Shaitana. At the end of the evening, Mr Shaitana is discovered murdered. Identifying the murderer, per Mrs Christie, depends wholly on discerning the psychology of the suspects.
This novel was well received at first printing and in later reviews. It was noted for its humour, for the subtlety of the writing, good clueing and tight writing, showing continuing improvement in the author's writing style in this, her twentieth novel. One later reviewer considered this in the top rung of her novels, and another found it to be most original, with a brilliant surprise ending.

Plot summary

The mysterious Mr Shaitana hosts an unusual dinner party. His guests include four sleuths – Hercule Poirot, secret agent Colonel Race, mystery writer Mrs Ariadne Oliver, and Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard – and four people suspected to have murdered in their past – Dr Roberts, Mrs Lorrimer, young Anne Meredith, and Major Despard. After dinner, the guests retire to play bridge – the sleuths play in one room, while the others play in another room that Shaitana relaxes in. After the sleuths end their game, Poirot and Race find that Shaitana had been stabbed in the chest, with a weapon from his collection. As he made a veiled accusation about how murder could be committed within one's profession, the sleuths suspect one of the other four guests as his murderer. Each denies this when interviewed. To help his investigation, Poirot takes the score sheets they made in their bridge game.
Seeking the motive and psychology behind the murder, each sleuth finds out about a death connected to each suspect – a female client of Dr Roberts, Mrs Craddock, lost her husband to anthrax, while she herself died afterwards from a blood infection while abroad; the botanist Luxmore died suddenly from a fever, while Despard guided him through the Amazon; an elderly woman died of accidental poisoning when Meredith worked for her; the husband of Mrs Lorrimer was poisoned. During the investigation, tensions among the suspects rise, with Meredith becoming skittish and afraid, despite offers of support from Oliver, Lorrimer and Despard. Sometime later, Poirot visits Lorrimer, who reveals to him that she killed her husband and that she has a terminal condition. She then confesses to the murder, but Poirot refuses to believe this, suspecting she wishes to protect Meredith. The next morning, Lorrimer is found dead by Roberts – she committed suicide, leaving a note admitting to the murder.
That same morning, Meredith decides to take her flatmate, Rhoda Dawes, for a punt in the nearby river, as they await a visit from Despard. Suspecting another death, Poirot and Battle race to her cottage, arriving after Despard to watch Meredith attempt to drown Dawes. After she falls in, both are rescued; Dawes survives, but Meredith dies in the aftermath. Poirot invites Dawes, the sleuths, and the surviving suspects of the dinner party to his apartment, whereupon he accuses Dr Roberts of killing the Craddocks – the husband's shaving brush was contaminated with anthrax during a house call, while Mrs Craddock was given a viral infection during her anti-typhoid inoculations for her trip abroad. Shaitana was killed because Roberts believed his words at dinner hinted to his crime, while Lorrimer was murdered by him to create a scapegoat – she died from a fatal injection of anaesthesia. Although Roberts protests, he eventually confesses when Poirot reveals a window washer who witnessed Lorrimer's murder and Battle makes clear that the police have a strong case against him.
Poirot later explains that his theory was based upon Roberts' recollection of the bridge game – he could remember little of it, except for the grand slam that he made, but could remember much about the layout of the room they played in. This was in direct contrast to what the other suspects recalled. In addition, Lorrimer's body was found to have the mark of a hypodermic needle. To elicit a confession from Roberts, Poirot hired an actor to pose as the witness he provided. A police investigation later reveals that Meredith killed her employer when she found out about her petty thievery and that she intended to murder Dawes, while Poirot reveals that Despard did not kill Luxmore – both he and Luxmore's wife revealed that the botanist contracted fever, but died from a shooting accident. With the murder solved, Despard courts Rhoda.

Characters

The novel contains a foreword by the author, in which the author warns the reader that the novel has only four suspects and the deduction must be purely psychological. Further, it is also mentioned that this was one of the favourite cases of Hercule Poirot, while his friend Captain Hastings found it very dull. The author then wonders with whom will her readers agree.

Title

is in charge of the investigation by the police. He agrees to work with the three other sleuths, unusual for the police, sharing all facts equally. He says in Chapter 19, "Cards on the table, that's the motto for this business." There is a theme of playing cards in the plot, as the potential murderers played a card game, contract bridge, as the murder was committed, and the manner of playing bridge is part of Poirot's way to study the psychology of each individual.

Literary significance and reception

The Times Literary Supplement stated favourably in its review by Caldwell Harpur that, "Poirot scores again, scores in two senses, for this appears to be the authoress's twentieth novel. One of the minor characters in it is an authoress of thirty-two detective novels; she describes in several amusing pages the difficulties of her craft. Certainly Mrs Christie ought to know them, but she continues to surmount them so well that another score of novels may be hoped for."
In The New York Times Book Review, Isaac Anderson concluded, "The story is ingenious, but there are one or two loose ends left dangling when his explanation is finished. Cards on the Table is not quite up to Agatha Christie's best work."
In The Observer's issue of 15 November 1936, in a review section entitled Supreme de Poirot, "Torquemada" wrote, "I was not the only one who thought that Poirot or his creator had gone a little off the rails in Murder in Mesopotamia, which means that others beside myself will rejoice at Mrs Christie's brilliant come-back in Cards on the Table. This author, unlike many who have achieved fame and success for qualities quite other than literary ones, has studied to improve in every branch of writing in each of her detective stories. The result is that, in her latest book, we note qualities of humour, composition and subtlety which we would have thought beyond the reach of the writer of The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Of course, the gift of bamboozlement, with which Agatha Christie was born, remains, and has never been seen to better advantage than in this close, diverting and largely analytical problem. Cards on the Table is perhaps the most perfect of the little grey cells."
The Scotsman wrote: "There was a time when M. Hercule Poirot thought of going into retirement in order to devote himself to the cultivation of marrows. Fortunately, the threat was never carried out; and in Mrs Christie's latest novel the little Belgian detective is in very good form indeed. The plot is simple but brilliant." The review concluded by saying, "Mrs Oliver, the novelist, is one of Mrs Christie's most amusing creations."
E.R. Punshon of The Guardian reviewed the novel in the 20 November 1936 issue when he began, "Even in a tale of crime and mystery humour is often of high value." He went on to say that, "In this respect... Agatha Christie shows herself once again... a model of detective tales. There are delightful passages when Poirot anxiously compares other moustaches with his own and awards his own the palm, when his lips are forced to utter the unaccustomed words 'I was in error', when Mrs Oliver, famous authoress, discourses upon art and craft of fiction. But all that never obscures the main theme as Poirot gradually unravels the puzzle of which four bridge-players had murdered their host." He concluded, "Largely by a careful study of the score, Poirot is able to reach the truth, and Mrs Christie sees to it that he does so by way of springing upon the reader one shattering surprise after another."
Robert Barnard: "On the very top rung. Special opportunities for bridge enthusiasts, but others can play. Superb tight construction and excellent clueing. Will be read as long as hard-faced ladies gather for cards."
Charles Osborne: "Cards on the Table is one of Agatha Christie's finest and most original pieces of crime fiction: even though the murderer is, as the author has promised, one of the four bridge players, the ending is positively brilliant and a complete surprise."

Adaptations

Stage adaptation

The book was adapted as a stage play in 1981, although without Poirot. It opened at London's Vaudeville Theatre on 9 December 1981 with Gordon Jackson as Superintendent Battle and a cast that included Derek Waring, Belinda Carroll, Mary Tamm and Patricia Driscoll. 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.

Television

adapted the story into a television programme in the series Agatha Christie's Poirot starring David Suchet as Hercule Poirot and Zoë Wanamaker as Ariadne Oliver, which aired in the US on A&E Network in December 2005 and, in the UK, on ITV1 in March 2006. While the adaptation, written by Nick Dear, retains some elements of the plot, including the method of the murder and who committed it, the episode was only loosely based on the novel. The changes that were made included:
Cards on the Table was adapted for radio by Michael Bakewell for BBC Radio 4, featuring John Moffatt as Hercule Poirot, Donald Sinden as Colonel Johnny Race, and Stephanie Cole as Ariadne Oliver. This adaptation was generally faithful to the plot of the novel.

Publication history

The book was first serialised in the US in The Saturday Evening Post in six instalments from 2 May to 6 June 1936 with illustrations by Orison MacPherson.