Cards on the Table

Infobox Book |
name = Cards on the Table
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition
author = Agatha Christie
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Crime novel
publisher = Collins Crime Club
release_date = November 2 1936
media_type = Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
pages = 288 pp (first edition, hardcover)
isbn = NA
preceded_by = Murder in Mesopotamia
followed_by = Murder in the Mews

"Cards on the Table" is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 2 1936 ["The Observer" November 1, 1936 (Page 6)] and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year [John Cooper and B.A. Pyke. "Detective Fiction - the collector's guide": Second Edition (Pages 82 and 86) Scholar Press. 1994. ISBN 0-85967-991-8] [http://home.insightbb.com/~jsmarcum/agatha35.htm American Tribute to Agatha Christie] ] . The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6)Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. "Collins Crime Club – A checklist of First Editions". Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (Page 15)] 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 Christie novel (she previously had a role in the Parker Pyne short story "The Case of the Discontented Soldier".

Plot summary

At an exhibition of snuff boxes, Hercule Poirot meets Mr. Shaitana. The extravagant Shaitana claims that he collects items that may be of interest to Poirot. When the Belgian detective inquires what these items are, Shaitana responds that he collects the finest specimens in the world of crime: the people who commit a murder and get away with it. Shaitana proceeds to invite Poirot over for dinner in order to meet his 'collection'.

Upon arrival at Shaitana's house, Poirot is met by a number of other guests. Mystery novelist Ariadne Oliver, Scotland Yard's Superintendent Battle, Colonel Race of His Majesty's Secret Service, Dr Geoffrey Roberts, Mrs Lorrimer, Major John Despard, Miss Anne Meredith and Poirot converse as dinner is prepared. At the dinner table, conversation turns to the topic of murder. Shaitana discusses the thought that if he were to commit a murder, he would make it simple: a domestic or a shooting accident. He also mentioned that poison was a woman's weapon and about a doctor's opportunities. These comments leave many guests uncomfortable and the party adjourns to a game of contract bridge.

Dr Roberts, Anne Meredith, Mrs Lorrimer and Major Despard sit down to a game in a small room, while Shaitana leads Poirot, Mrs Oliver, Race and Battle into an adjoining room where the four begin a second game of bridge. Shaitana claims that bridge is not his preferred game and returns to the first room. The evening progresses and when Poirot and his company prepare to leave, they move to say farewell to their host, who is sitting in his chair in the first room. Upon inspection, it is quickly discovered that he has been murdered, stabbed with a small stiletto. It becomes apparent that no one has entered the first room since the bridge games began, immediately pointing to the four members of Shaitana's 'collection' of murderers as the suspects.

The four 'sleuths' (Poirot, Oliver, Race and Battle) interrogate the four suspects, all of whom, to their belief, have killed before. Upon finding very little from their interviews, the 'sleuths' prepare to go about their own ways to determine who murdered Shaitana.

Characters in "Cards on the Table"

The Four Detectives

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

The Four Suspects

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

Other characters

*Rhoda Dawes, Anne's friend
*Mrs. Luxmore, who his husband was also murdered
*Ms. Burgess, Dr. Robert's secretary
*Sergeant O' Connor, extremely handsome and tall
*Elsie Batt, a parlourmaid of a Mrs. Craddock

The Victim

*Mr. Shaitana, a collector of murderers

Literary significance and reception

The "Times Literary Supplement" of November 14, 1936 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." ["The Times Literary Supplement" November 14, 1936 (Page 927)]

In "The New York Times Book Review" for February 28, 1937, 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." ["The New York Times Book Review" February 28, 1937 (Page 23)] .

In "The Observer"'s issue of November 15, 1936, in a review section entitled "Supreme de Poirot", "Torquemada" (Edward Powys Mathers) said, "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 Observer" November 15, 1936 (Page 8)] .

"The Scotsman" of November 19, 1936 said, "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 ["The Scotsman" November 19, 1936 (Page 15)] .

E.R. Punshon of "The Guardian" reviewed the novel in the November 20, 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." ["The Guardian" November 20, 1936 (Page 7)]

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." [Barnard, Robert. "A Talent to Deceive – an appreciation of Agatha Christie" - Revised edition (Pages 189-190). Fontana Books, 1990. ISBN 0006374743]

References or Allusions

References to other works

* In chapter 2, Anne Meredith, when introduced to Poirot, already knows of him from his having solved "The A.B.C. Murders".

* In chapter 23, Poirot offers to show one of the characters a knife given to him "by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons Lits". In describing this knife, he reveals the solution to "Murder on the Orient Express": a most unusual example of Christie's occasional references to Poirot's former cases acting as a spoiler. [Page 188 (at the end of Chapter 23) of the 1940s mapback edition: "A knife, mademoiselle, with which twelve people once stabbed a man. It was given me as a souvenir by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons Lits."]

* Anne Meredith knows Ariadne Oliver from her book "The Body In the Library", which was the title of a book later written by Agatha Christie and published in 1942.

References in other works

*In "The A.B.C. Murders" Poirot mentions to Hastings his vision of an ideal case. It is in fact the plot of this novel.

* Major Despard reappears in "The Pale Horse" (1961), the only time a suspect was re-used by Christie.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

1981 Stage Adaptation

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.

Agatha Christie's Poirot

ITV adapted the story into a television programme in their 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. The solution strayed from the source material slightly, however, incorporating homosexual elements into the story.

Publication history

* 1936, Collins Crime Club (London), November 2, 1936, Hardcover, 288 pp
* 1937, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1937, Hardcover, 262 pp
* 1949, Dell Books (New York), Paperback, (Dell number 293 [Mapback| [mapback] ), 190 pp
* 1951, Pan Books, Paperback, (Pan number 176), 186 pp
* 1957, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 192 pp
* 1968, Greenway edition of collected works (William Collins), Hardcover, 253 pp
* 1968, Greenway edition of collected works (Dodd Mead), Hardcover, 253 pp
* 1969, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 343 pp, ISBN 0-85-456695-3
* 2007, Poirot Facsimile Edition (Facsimile of 1936 UK First Edition), HarperCollins, March 5, 2007, Hardback, ISBN 0-00-723445-7

The book was first serialised in the US in "The Saturday Evening Post" in six instalments from May 2 (Volume 208, Number 44) to June 6, 1936 (Volume 208, Number 49) with illustrations by Orison MacPherson.

References

External links

* [http://us.agathachristie.com/site/find_a_story/stories/Cards_on_the_Table.php "Cards on the Table"] at the official Agatha Christie website
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