A new year means the start of a new Agatha Christie challenge! Read Christie 2023 is hosted by the official Agatha Christie site and this year the focus is on methods and motives. The theme for January is jealousy and the chosen book is Sad Cypress. However, I read that one quite recently so I’ve gone with one of the alternative suggestions for this month, Cards on the Table.
Published in 1936, this is a Poirot novel, but it also features three of Christie’s other recurring characters, all of whom work together to solve the mystery. They are Superintendent Battle, the Scotland Yard detective; former Army officer and intelligence agent, Colonel Race; and Ariadne Oliver, the famous crime author. All three, along with Poirot, are invited to a dinner party hosted by Mr Shaitana, a wealthy man known as a collector of rare objects. He tells Poirot that he will also be inviting a collection of criminals – four people he believes have committed murder but never been caught.
During the party, the eight guests divide into two groups and sit down to play bridge. Several hours later, Mr Shaitana, who wasn’t participating, is found dead in his chair by the fire – stabbed with a small dagger by one of his guests while the others were engrossed in their game. The four sleuths can obviously be ruled out, but any one of the other four could be the murderer. To get to the truth, Poirot and his friends must investigate the background of each suspect to see whether Shaitana was correct and each of them had already killed before.
Cards on the Table begins with a foreword in which Christie explains that unlike most crime novels where the least likely suspect is usually the culprit, this book has four suspects who are all equally likely. They have all (allegedly) committed murder in the past, so all have a motive – fear that Shaitana will expose their previous crimes to the other guests. There’s Dr Roberts, who may or may not have been responsible for the death of at least one of his patients; Major Despard, whose expedition to the Amazon is shrouded in mystery; young Anne Meredith, who tries to cover up her reasons for leaving a previous job; and Mrs Lorrimer, an expert bridge player whose secrets prove particularly difficult to unearth. I suspected all of them at various points, but every time I thought I’d worked it out, Christie threw another twist into the story and I had to think again!
I loved the idea of having four different detectives working together in the same novel (it’s a shame Miss Marple and Tommy and Tuppence hadn’t been invited to the party too!) and each of them has a chance to contribute to the solving of the mystery. Colonel Race has a disappointingly small part, but we see a lot of Battle and Mrs Oliver – who is often described as a self-parody of Christie herself and provides an opportunity to comment on the writing of detective novels. Of course, it’s Poirot who correctly identifies the murderer in the end!
I enjoyed this book, but I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I’d had more knowledge of bridge, which is a game I don’t play and don’t really understand. Part of Poirot’s investigation revolves around the score cards and an analysis of each suspect’s playing style, so this meant very little to me. Luckily, though, it’s not completely essential to be able to follow all of this and there are other clues to piece together as well.
February’s Read Christie theme is ‘a blunt object’ and the group read will be Partners in Crime, which again is a book I’ve already read. I’ll wait until they reveal the alternative choices for the month and see if any appeal to me.
She Reads Novels 
I love this book too – one of my favourite, and having the four regulars together is a treat! Like you, Bridge is a mystery to me, and I’ve always wished I knew more about it when I was reading GA crime stories!!
I wish she had written more books with multiple detectives – they work together so well in this one! And yes, I think a knowledge of Bridge would be very handy when reading GA crime!
I haven’t read this one and it sounds wonderful with the four together, may be we should start a Bridge Blog for beginners and GA enthusiasts!
I think that would be very helpful!
Ages since I read this but I do remember enjoying it. Bridge is something I find hard fo follow to. A recent read devoted a fair few pages to it which I only skimmed through.
I was pleased that I could still follow the story without understanding the bridge parts, but it would definitely have made it easier!
I think, my last ‘encounter’ with bridge was in EF Benson’s Paying Guests.
That’s rough when they assume a knowledge of something you know nothing about. Dorothy Sayers did that in The Nine Tailors, went into a lot of detail about bell-ringing that I couldn’t follow. Also cricket in Murder Must Advertise, although Lord Peter Wimsey’s cricket game didn’t have anything to do with the solution to the murder.
I could still follow the plot, but it would definitely have made things easier if I had understood the rules of bridge! I don’t know much about bell-ringing or cricket either.
Yeah, it can be tedious when someone is sort of explaining but in terms that you don’t really understand what’s going on. Or other times not explaining at all.
A favorite of mine with the four sleuths involved, especially Ariadne Oliver – Christie had so much fun with that character!
Yes, I always look forward to Ariadne Oliver’s appearances in Christie’s novels!
Agreed about the bridge scores! It shows, though, how popular bridge must have been at the time that Christie assumed her readers would all be familiar with it. Otherwise, I love this one – Ariadne is on fine form!
I can’t imagine many people will be learning to play bridge these days, but it was obviously very popular in the 1930s! And yes, Ariadne is a great character – I always enjoy seeing her pop up in Christie’s novels!