CARDS ON THE TABLE
UK publication: 1936 (Collins)
US publication: 1937 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Hercule Poirot
Genre: Novel
Plot summary and comments:A psychological problem for Poirot , one of his favorite cases. A dinner party is held by a connoisseur of the bizarre, Mr. Shaitana, in his Park Lane flat, to which are invited four investigators of crime and four people who Shaitana says have committed murders and not been caught. After the two groups play two separate games of bridge, Shaitana is found murdered. The four successful murderers are equally suspected; they include a young woman domestic, a widow who may have killed her husband, a doctor who lost several patients, and a Major who may have killed a botanist on the Amazon. The detectives are Poirot, Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard, Colonel Race (known from The Man in the Brown Suit and here revealed to be a Secret Service agent), and Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, the crime novelist and gentle self-parody of Christie. One of the suspects reappears 25 years later in The Pale Horse. The story was (not too successfully) adapted as a play, with the character of Poirot removed, which opened in London in 1981.
Courtesey of: http://stout.physics.ucla.edu/%7eyoder/mystery/christie.html
::READERS REVIEWS::
"This has to be one of my favorite books; it ranks right up there with The Murder of Roger Akroyd, Murder on the Orient Express, And then There Were None, and Death on the Nile. The characters were extremely well drawn, especially Rhoda and Ann. I love Mrs. Oliver! :-)
However, you should definatley read Murder on the Orient Express first, because Poirot rather carelessly reveals the solution to that book in Cards on the Table. Read it; you won't regret it.If you love Agatha Christies too, please email me! "
"I espceially love the beginning of the book. It is almost ritualstic, like a Japanese dance. Quite unlike, say, Ackroyd or Express.
The solution is not a trick (unlike both the previous); and it is based purely on psychology. Very good characterisation, an almost surrealistic atmosphere, and a devious, devious Poirot! The only comparison to this novel is And Then There Were None, which is even more devious, but less of a joy to read. Ackroyd I still admire greatly.
But this book is, overall, the best of Christie I have read."
"Cards on the table is one of Agatha Christies best books,I highly recomend it to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.Poirot shows off his skills once more,using his pscological deduction.
Although Agatha Christie states in the beggining that the murderer is only one of the four,and there are no other suspects,the ending is no less surprising.Christie has given each of her suspects reasons and the ability to murder the victim,and it will still leave you guessing at the end."
"This is absolutely one of the best.This ranks in one of my top 3.Read this.It is a masterpiece.A shocker! "
::YOUR OPINION::
