When lists of the Best Mysteries of Agatha Christie show up, Cards on the Table (1936) rarely makes the cut. But my fondness for Cards on the Table centers around Christie’s comic character Ariadne Oliver who plays a key role in the solving of Mr. Shaitana’s murder.
I rarely reread Agatha Christie mysteries–after all, once you know whodunit… But Cards on the Table is different because Christie plants more red herrings and plot diversions than she normally does. It’s a delight to watch how Christie distracts and misleads the reader!
Mr. Shaitana is a wealthy businessman and collector who loves to throw parties. The party in Cards on the Table is a bridge party with eight guests. When Mr. Shaitana hints to Hercule Poirot, who attends this party, that the four card players have secrets to hide, Poirot senses danger. And, sure enough, Mr. Shaitana ends up dead before the party is over.
Poirot and Mrs. Oliver investigate the suspects. Dr. Roberts, Mrs Lorrimer, Anne Meredith, and Major Despard all have something in their Past that could motivate them to murder Mr. Shaitana. While all four card players had motives to kill Mr. Shaitana, who had the best opportunity?
Up until the last chapters, Poirot is still unraveling the plot that faked me out when I first read Card on the Table in 1965. And Christie gives Mrs. Oliver the best line in the book (it’s the last sentence of CHAPTER 30). What’s your favorite Agatha Christie mystery? GRADE: A
It would be impossible to pick just one – perhaps AND THEN THERE WERE NONE or WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION- but there are so many good ones. I do remember liking CARDS ON THE TABLE a lot. As with most of Christie, I read it in the early ’70s.
Jeff, I have CARDS ON THE TABLE as part of the BBC POIROT DVD series, but I haven’t gotten around to watch it yet.
I have no trouble rereading Christie. I find much to enjoy even if I remember (which I don’t always) whodunnit.
Jeff, whenever I do reread Agatha Christie, I’m always studying how she achieves her effects. I only reread a handful of books each year because so many new books arrive all the time.
I’m happy to reread. I’m happy to read new stuff. I’m happy to read old stuff I never got around to. All that matters is I enjoy what I read.
I’m reading two books at the moment — an upstairs book and a downstairs book. One is GREEN EARTH by Kim Stanley Robinson, three novels from 2004-07 revised into one novel in 2015. I’d never read either version before. It’s about government scientists fighting climate change, and is unfortunately kind of quaint now, with all such people fired. Very good, though. And the other is THE HOBBIT, for, I don’t know, the fourth or fifth time.
Jeff, I’m a One-Book-At-A-Time guy. Currently, I’m reading Barry Malzberg’s last SF novel reprinted by STARK HOUSE. I’ve managed to get caught up on my Library books. I just happened to stumble upon THE WITCHER paperbacks at a used bookstore and bought the entire set. I’ve only read the first volume, but now I’m set for the entire series. I’m also reading one of David Hartwell’s YEAR’S BEST FANTASY volumes each month. Like you, I want to enjoy what I read so I’m a bit picky about the books that make it to my READ REAL SOON stack.
My all-time favorite Christie is the quite atypical ENDLESS NIGHT (the closest thing to noir that she ever wrote)—the movie adaptation from the early 1970s is good too (and fairly faithful to the book). For more “typical” Christie, I love the “travelogues”: EVIL UNDER THE SUN, DEATH ON THE NILE, and MURDER IN THE ORIENT EXPRESS. To see how neatly Christie worked her sleight-of-hand, I always recommend DEATH IN THE CLOUDS where an obvious clue to the killer’s identity is presented openly; however, Christie does it so smoothly you don’t even notice it until the big reveal. The interesting thing about CARDS ON THE TABLE is the limited number of suspects (there are eight people playing bridge, but only the four playing in the same room where Mr. Shaitana is sitting could logistically have committed the murder) and how Christie still makes you wonder which one of them could possibly be the murderer.
Deb, and Mrs. Oliver adds to my delight of CARDS ON THE TABLE. Even with just four suspects, Christie works her magic!
I don’t do any deep dives into Agatha Christie. Her books/stories are more plot-driven and today character-driven works are more prevalent and to my liking.
Like Jeff Smith, rereading is not a problem, especially if I’ve had a run of bad or mediocre books.
My first Agatha Christie was EVIL UNDER THE SUN. My favorites are CROOKED HOUSE and DEATH COMES AT THE END.
Beth, great choices! Love CROOKED HOUSE and DEATH COMES AT THE END! For Christmas, Diane gave me a copy of Mark Aldridge’s AGATHA CHRISTIE MARPLE: EXPERT ON WICKEDNESS which analyzes all of the Miss Marple Mysteries. Talk about a Deep Dive. I won’t be able to post about this for a few months as I reread all the Marples!
The first one I read was THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD and I have no idea she was breaking a rule in it. I read every one after that, but they are too plot driven for me today. Like Beth I look for character-driven novels.
Patti, I agree with you on Christie and plotting. But, on the other side of the spectrum, you have the character-driven Philip Marlowe mysteries of Raymond Chandler where the plots are frequently goofy.
There’s a (possibly apocryphal) story that when William Faulkner and Leigh Brackett were adapting Chandler’s THE BIG SLEEP, they were unable to determine who killed a particular character (Canino, possibly?). They called Chandler to ask who the culprit was. Chandler apparently didn’t know or couldn’t remember and just told them to “blame it on the chauffeur”, which they did 😂
Deb, that’s a great story…and apocryphal for sure! Just the opposite of a well-crafted Christie mystery!
I remain fond of Poirot stories for the points Christie uses him to score off her fellow Britons. Among the relatively few of her novels I’ve read, I’ll plump for AND THEN THERE WERE NONE as well.
Todd, AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is definitely a Christie classic!
This is one of my faves and definitely made the cut:
https://ahotcupofpleasureagain.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/twelve-best-agatha-christie/
It was one of the initial Christies that I read so perhaps my fondness stems from that. Your fine review has made me want to reread it.
Neeru, once again your excellent taste in mysteries shows up with your fondness for CARDS ON THE TABLE! Back in the 1960s, I binged on a dozen Christies–CARDS ON THE TABLE was one of the 12–and I learned how Christie achieved her effects.