Cards on the Table: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries, 15)

'Cards on the Table' is different from other Christie novels because we only have four suspects for a change (whew). What it makes this novel confusing to me is that there are four detectives solving the crime. Christie just couldn't deal with a small number could she?

This book will most likely have a deeper meaning to you if you play the card game Bridge. Alas, I don't play Bridge so I feel like I missed a bit of the plot.

For a Poirot mystery, he really isn't in the book that much. For a change, Poirot isn't the great detective with a bumbling sidekick. Poirot's part in solving the mystery is very brief but all four sleuths collaborate in solving the crime. I feel like the three other detectives are used a lot more. Their narratives and interviews make up the majority of the book.

There is a lot of death and attempted murder in this novel. I want to warn for it in case someone is squeamish.

I wouldn't recommend this as a first book to get into Poirot though.

I think this is one of the best of Agatha Christie's mystery novels featuring Hercule Poirot. It is a genuine "country house" murder mystery. Poirot is a guest at a weekend party at the home of a wealthy gentleman. After dinner the guests all sit down to play bridge and at some point in the evening the host is discovered dead in his chair by the fireside. Obviously he was murdered but "who dun it?"
Poirot uses his little grey cells to solve the crime.
I may have read this book years ago, if so, I didn't remember any of it. This was like reading a brand new story and it kept me captivated throughout.

This was possibly my least favorite Agatha. A bridge player might enjoy it. I don't play bridge or other card games and sort of went glassy eyed over the game details or card references. They were both boring and incomprehensible to me. I normally adore Poirot, but not in this one.

Loved this mystery that Agatha created. Keeps your interest all the way through!

Joy to read. Excellent mystery.

I very much enjoyed reading this book, but I was extremely disappointed with the ending. It felt very abrupt, and the murderer's motives are never fully explained. Another page or two to flesh out the denouement would not have been amiss.

“Speech is the deadliest of revealers…”

Agatha Christie is a staple in mystery literature, with many incredible works such as Murder on the Orient Express, And Then There Were None, The ABC Murders, and Death on the Nile. Published on the early end of of her long career, Christie published Cards on the Table. It’s a charming and subtle work that steps away from the typical evidence based mystery and places more emphasis on the psychological face of a murder.
Three detectives: Hercule Poirot, Colonel Race, Superintendent Battle, and crime writer Ariadne Oliver must all work together to pin down the murderer in a group of four suspects, all eight of whom were playing bridge when their host, Mr. Shaitana, is found dead in a separate room. Through a process of interrogation and observation, the reader finds themselves in a twisted predicament of picking who they believe is the killer, then moving on to the next chapter to discover they were wrong. You will be left both relieved that such a likable character could not be the killer, but then face the realization that no matter who it is it will be a chilling shock.
The language is sophisticated and beautiful as on might expect of an Agatha Christie novel. Every paragraph is like a first class trip on the journey that is the story. I recommend everyone read this story for both the sake of appreciating such a wonderful author, and to engage in such a wonderful plot.

There are a lot of very intricate details concerning the card game of bridge in this book. While I’m sure it’s fascinating to those who play, I ended up skipping the more involved passages. Luckily, the eventual solution doesn’t hinge upon a knowledge of the game. Every so often I come across an outrageously racist line in one of these books. After my initial shock, I always check the publication date and--nine times out of ten--it can be explained away by the fact that “times were different” back then.

This is Agatha Christie's 20th novel, featuring Poirot and Colonel Battle as well as novelist Mrs. Oliver.

Here once again, we must rely on Hercule Poirot to solve a devil of a mystery, this time a murder committed in front of three witnesses during a bridge game. Hercule is at the party at which the bridge game occurs; we must enjoy many questions about the bridge game (a game I do not play and have no plans to ever endure) but this is not because he has questions about bridge.

The party is hosted by victim Mr Shaitana, who had told Poirot he would invite four sleuths (Battle, Poirot, Oliver and ret. Secret Service Colonel Race) and four people who had never been caught for murders they committed. Under this premise, we have an interesting time following the back story of each suspect, as we probe their potential for this murder. Adding to the complexity is the four sleuths; it's not just Poirot doing this investigation and each sleuth has their own methodologies.

Of course, it is Poirot who brings the story to resolution. The final solution is his, and it's quite unexpected. I can't say I enjoyed the seemingly endless questions about bridge, since I'm not a player, but I understand he wasn't actually asking about bridge. And I admire Christie's ability in writing the story from the viewpoint of not just one of her beloved characters, but two additional. Really nice, tight story.

SPOILER ALERT:

To me, this is one of Christie's stronger entries in writing and plotting ... However, I would say that I thought the last flip-flop was one too many. Surprises, twists and turns, yes. Christie always gives you red herrings and really, a lot of her plots do not play fair, with a wild card thrown in at the end you had no chance with. But, who said a writer had to be fair? But, her writing, characters and overall presentation are so good, she can throw the curves. But this one went tilt for me on the last one.

You were taken through the intricacies of the various suspect profiles, the detective theories and Poirot's psychology, which was very interesting, then the growing intimation of the young girl's culpability, then the confession of the older woman, then Poirot's rejection of that. At that point, it should have stayed with the girl, to my view. To set all that up on her so intricately and convincingly with background, then the older woman's assertions, then the same woman's reversal and personal confession -- and then suddenly, at the very end, whiplash it in an entirely different direction -- was too much for me. It didn't ruin a good book, but stood out to me as overkill on surprises, weakening the potency of everything that went before, I thought.

It was really interesting to have the detectives together in this one. The only Christie detectives missing were Tommy and Tuppence (well, then there's Parker Pyne also). Overall, an absorbing and interesting book. Can recommend.