I think that this is one of Agatha Christie’s strongest novels, and shows her ability to play with the format of the whodunnit story. In fact, in her previous novel featuring Hercule Poirot, The A B C Murders, he speculates about the possibility of an intense mystery perhaps arising from a game of bridge in which someone is murdered by one of the players while they are the dummy hand’ but with none of the other players noticing.

That is precisely the scenario for this story. Christie’s occasionally brutally of sentiment is evident here, and the victim, the enigmatic Mr Shaitana, is portrayed as an especially odious man whose death provokes interest but little sympathy. In a chance meeting he had boasted to Poirot that he ‘collected’ murderers, and invites him to dinner, along with Mrs Ariadne Oliver, the noted mystery writer (clearly meant as a humorous avatar from Christie herself), Superintendent Battle from Scotland Yard, and Colonel Race, a leading figure in the Intelligence Service. There are four other guests who are all civilians, with the implication being that at least one of them is one of Mr Shaitana’s collection of murderers. This imputation seems to be borne out when Mr Shaitana is himself murdered, unnoticed by the four ‘civilians’ who are playing bridge in the same room.

The four investigative figures all participate in the hunt for the killer, with various startling revelations along the way. Without wishing to be guilty of too great a spoiled, Poirot finds a solution.

All very enjoyable – Christie close to her enticing best. ( )

8 people are invited to Mr. Shaitana's for dinner: four sleuths--Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard; Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, writer of detective stories; Col. Race of His Majesty's Secret Service; and Hercule Poirot; four guests (2 men and 2 women)--whom the host feels have gotten away with murder. How he planned to enlighten the sleuths or expose the murderers is left undisclosed as he is murdered. The sleuths must find the murderer and perhaps find out what other murders were committed. Great set up. Loved how the sleuths used their own styles and worked together to solve the puzzle. Unfortunately I know nothing about bridge and don't know if that would have made a difference in determining my guess. ( )

AR: 6.0

Another fine Poirot mystery by the queen of the Golden Age of Detection. Perhaps the setup is a bit artificial, but it's entertaining, insightful in the psychology of the characters and a pleasure to read. ( )

Another great Christie book, where any 1 of 4 people could have been the killer. It's up to Poirot and the other 3 detectives at the scene to determine which one actually did it

[In this book] "There are only four starters [suspects] and any one of them, given the right circumstances, might have committed the crime. That knocks out forcibly the element of surprise. Nevertheless there should be, I think, an equal interest attached to four persons, each of whom has committed murder and is capable of committing further murders. They are four widely divergent types, the motive that drives each one of them to crime is peculiar to that person, and each one would employ a different method. The deduction must, therefore, be entirely psychological, but it is none the less interesting for that, because when all is said and done it is the mind of the murderer that is of supreme interest. I may say, as an additional argument in favour of this story, that it was one of Hercule Poirot’s favourite cases. His friend, Captain Hastings, however, when Poirot described it to him, considered it very dull! I wonder with which of them my readers will agree.

Christie, Agatha. Cards on the Table: Hercule Poirot Investigates . HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Well, I can't lay claim to the little grey cells of Hercule Poirot, but neither do I have to claim Hastings'. I'm apparently to be something of a middle ground. I failed to deduct the murderer but I did enjoy the investigation to get there.

So, a party of eight are invited to dine with Mr Shaitana, four of whom he considers to be murderers and four of whom represent law enforcement. The law enforcement side is made up of Hercule Poirot, Ariadne Oliver (a mystery writer and sometimes amateur sleuth), Superintendent Battle (a police officer from Scotland Yard) and Colonel Race (a government spy of sorts). Although I'm aware of who they are, I haven't actually read any of their books - but I'm certainly looking forward to it now! Although I didn't really get a feel for Colonel Race - he doesn't really play much of a part - I would've been more interested to see Mr Satterthwaite (from Harley Quin) make up the fourth member of the party. Or even Miss Marple - that would've been pretty amusing.

They dine, they talk and they play bridge - and when they go to leave they find that their host, Mr Shaitana has been murdered - and only four people were in the room at the time - all of the suspected murderers. This was rather funny. I liked how the law enforcement side agree to lay their cards on the table and to share all facts. It was interesting seeing how they all worked the problem from their own strengths.

On the other hand, I found the ending somewhat rather bizarre. Okay so it was Doctor Roberts. I only clued to the bruise on her arm and actually thought maybe him and Anne Meredith were in on it together. But that's fine it was him. What I didn't get - was if it was him, why the hell did Anne try to kill her friend Rhoda Dawes? I mean jealousy seemed kind of weak when Rhoda is her meal ticket and she's not actually panicking about being found out.

Overall it was an interesting read. I wouldn't say it was quite as good as some of her other works, but it was definitely a solid mystery. 3.5 stars, rounded to 3. ( )

I always enjoy a good Agatha Christie novel. I am usually rather OCD about reading mystery series in order but I just pick and choose Christie haphazardly but I feel they stand on their own all well enough that this isn't an issue. This was classic Christie and I enjoyed the multiple red herrings until the "big reveal" although I think if I understood anything about bridge, it would have been helpful. ( )

Dame Agatha wrote some brilliant things, but this wasn't one of them, by a long shot. ( )

I hadn't read any Christie in years, though I've kept my ancient paperback copies of her books through many household moves. Picking up [b:Cards on the Table|6473183|Cards on the Table (Hercule Poirot, #15)|Agatha Christie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1458406267l/6473183._SY75_.jpg|894955] as part of a group read reminded me why I haven't let them go.

In a word, reading this was fun , pure and simple. Christie isn't brilliant at any one aspect of writing, but she's decent at all of them. And I love the pace. The plot moves along briskly without feeling rushed, and the various misdirections at the end are deliciously entertaining.

The fictional detective Poirot's friend, the fictional author of mysteries Ariadne Oliver, makes an appearance in this book and as always, she's an entertaining addition. Her idiosyncrasies, along with Poirot's, balance nicely against the two more staid "sleuths" making up the crime-solving foursome in the book (four other characters are the potential murderers).

I suppose that if I knew more about the game of bridge the book would have been even more entertaining, but I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway. Definitely rates 5 stars when compared with other golden age mysteries. ( )

As convoluted as usual, but without excessive plot holes and with varied, mostly interesting characters. Ann Meredith is a nice change of pace--a wishy-washy, fragile girl who actually turns out to be pretty vicious and doesn't get the hero in the end. (And that's not too much of a spoiler since it's established pretty early that all four suspects have already committed a murder in the past. The question is who killed Mr. Shaitana in the present.) ( )

I wish I understood bridge because so many clues landed on the bridge table with the dummy hands. At the beginning of the story, we learn that the killer of Mr. Shaitana rests with one of the four bridge players. Poirot, Colonel Race, Superintendent Battle, and Mrs. Oliver race to determine the killer using their greatest detective skills. Mr. Shaitana a devilish man knows a secret concerning each of the four likely killers: Dr. Roberts, Mrs. Lorrimer, Anne Meredith, and Major Despard. A few of the suspects admit to the killing, but why? Poirot must piece each clue and finally arrive at the correct answer. Two more people die before the killer is discovered. Again, too much bridge for the novice bridge player. ( )

'Cards On The Table' is a sort of twist on the Locked Room mystery only the room wasn't locked but four eminent Christie sleuths (well, three eminent Christie sleuths and one more than slightly tongue-in-cheek crime writer) are sitting outside the only exit and you know exactly who was in the 'locked' room when the man was murdered, you just don't know which of the four people with him did it and why the three who didn't do it, didn't see anything.

This isn't a book that's heavy on authenticity. It's a shameless puzzle box construction that wins you over by being over the top in how it's presented and by having a clever puzzle at its heart.

The guy who gets murdered, the wryly named Mr. Shaitana, gets no sympathy from anybody. He's written off as the instrument of his own destruction. He's shown as a vain foreigner who liked to take on a Mephistophelean persona and play games with people's emotions and who finally played a game where the odds were against him.

The game? To invite four people he suspects of having gotten away with murder and four detectives to a bridge party and waits to see what mischief occurs.

How did he lose? One (or more, you can never take anything for granted with Christie) of the suspected murderers killed him, quietly and efficiently and without being seen or leaving any clues.

This reminded me of one of those comics Marvel used to do back in the day, when they'd assemble teams of heroes and villains with broadly similar powers and throw them at one another to see what happened. Here we have four of Christie's professional and amateur sleuths from earlier novels, Superintendent Battle, Colonel Race, Hercule Poirot, and Ariadne Oliver, facing off against two men and two women who, as well as being suspects in the death of Mr. Shaitana, may have murdered before and gotten away with it.

The premise, while bold, was unapologetically mechanical so I was surprised at how much fun 'Cards On The Table' was. I think I had fun mainly because I think Christie was having fun with it - debunking herself via her crime writing counterpart Ariadne Oliver and trying to see how many times she could squeeze the lemon in this very static murder set-up and managing to mislead me several times.

There was a knowingness to this book that I enjoyed. Christie is almost speaking through the fourth wall via Ariadne Oliver to her readers with a subtext that says 'I know what you expect of a mystery - after all, they're beneath the surface they all have the same plot. it's always the least likely person and I always mislead you about who the least likely person is and you always come back for more'. Her tone is playful. She's a magician showing you how her old tricks worked while dazzling you with new ones. She has fun bouncing her sleuths off one another and takes full advantage of the fact that none of the four suspects seems innocent.

Towards the end of the story, I thought she'd finally gone too far and was ready to rail at her when Poirot produced a convenient window cleaner in support of a theory because it seemed so unlikely and such an obvious cheat and then she turned it into another twist of the lemon that felt like a grin and rescued herself.

The only drag on the fun might have been Poirot and his obsession with how the four suspects played Bridge. If you don't play bridge then this will likely all slide by and most of Poirot's enquiries will seem pointless (thinking about it, I often feel that most of Poirot's enquiries are pointless, so there's no change there). I went through a phase in my late teens when I played bridge obsessively so I recognised some of the behaviours Poirot was looking for that might hint at who carried out the murder and how they could do so unseen. I was the kind of Bridge player who wouldn't have noticed anything about the room the game was played in but would have recalled every bid and every trick. I was always deeply frustrated by players who habitually over-called, especially when they won, as it turned a game of maths and rational decision making into a game of chance and bravado.

I listened to Hugh Fraser doing his usual skilful narration, which was enriched this time because he'd already developed voices for the four sleuths so that I recognised each of them instantly. I do wonder who he based Adriane Oliver's voice on and whether she's forgiven him for it yet.
( )

I found this one fun, with multiple sleuths, one of them a writer of mystery novels, which felt playfully meta. I have absolutely no knowledge of bridge, except to know that it's way more complicated than euchre and therefore not something I'm likely to play well, but that didn't hinder my enjoyment of the novel. ( )

Another enjoyable Agatha Christie mystery. I started reading AC over 40 years ago and her stories never fail to amuse “the little grey cells”. I‘m sure this will not be my last. ( )

4/8/22

"اشتباه کردن جزئی از زندگی انسان هاست"

یک مهمانی با یک میزبان کلکسیونر، ۴ کارآگاه، ۴ مظنون که در گذشته با قتل هایی ارتباط داشته اند، شیطانی میزبان عجیب و غریبی است که علاقه زیادی به جمع آوری وسایل گوناگون داره و در قسمتی از کتاب برای پوآرو این ایده رو مطرح می کنه که دوست داشت آدم هایی که قتل انجام دادند و گناهکار بودند رو هم به کلکسیونش اضافه کنه. شیطانا اطلاعات زیادی در رابطه با گذشته مهمانانش می دونه و همین مساله باعث مرگش در اوایل کتاب می شه. حالا پوآرو، خانم آلیور، کلنل ریس و بازرس بتل از اسکاتلند یارد با هم همکاری می کنن تا از بین ۴ مهمان مظنون، قاتل رو پیدا کنن. من قبلا سریال اقتباسی رو دیده بودم که تفاوت هایی با کتاب داشت. با وجود اینکه قاتل و روش قتل تو هر دو مورد یکی بود، اختلافاتی در مورد گذشته کاراکترها به وجود اومده بود.
داستان کشش زیادی داشت، صداگذاری ها خیلی متنوع بودن و این یکی از نکات خیلی جذاب کتاب صوتی بود. اما بعضا خیلی مصنوعی به نظر میومدن.

"ظاهر یک فرد جنایتکار تفاوتی با مردم عادی نداره. رفتار و کردارش هم کاملا شبیه آدم هاییست که هر روز با اونا سر و کار دارید" ( )

I didn't find the irresistible draw of character here. It was clever and almost textbook - like in its psychological MOs. ( )

This book is successful in a lot of ways. Intriguing set-up for a murder mystery, and feels like classic Christie deductions and solutions to the puzzle. Interesting seeing the styles of the four different sleuths, though I wish we'd got a bit more of Battle's perspective (Race I don't care as much about, and Poirot and Mrs. Oliver both made a good showing). A more believable use of Poirot's methods than most of his appearances, since it felt like the psychological questioning actually shed light on the mystery without giving too much away. Would probably have been easier to understand if I knew how to play bridge! ( )

Mr. Shaitana invites M. Poirot - along with Inspector Battle and Mrs. Oliver (a murder mystery writer) - to a most unconventional dinner party, with the intention of showing off to them his most prized collection: the other four guests are murderers who have all gotten away with their crimes. Of course, by the end of the evening there's a dead body and four suspects. Poirot, Battle and Oliver get to work solving the crime, and of course Hercule wins out in the end.

Although it started out a little slow, by midway through I was 100% caught up in the story and, as always, completely fooled right up to the end. There are way more than just the one murder here to solve, since part of the investigation involves sussing out the crimes each of the suspects had previously committed, and of course there are other murders along the way. Absolutely tons of red herrings, of course. I do so love it when Agatha tricks me like this, bless her. ( )

He was a man of whom nearly everybody was a little afraid. Why this was so can hardly be stated in definite words. There was a feeling, perhaps, that he knew a little too much about everybody. And there was a feeling, too, that his sense of humor was a curious one. People nearly always felt that it would be better not to risk offending Mr. Shaitana. It was his humour this afternoon to bait that ridiculous looking little man, Hercule Poirot.

Not the most well know of Christie's works, but I think it's one of her best. A party where the host promises Pariot will meet murderers who managed to get away with it. The host invites eight people, four suposed murderers and four other who represent law and order, including the wonderful Inspector Battle. The host winds up dead and the four "detectives" join forces to figure out who murdered him. I never guessed the murder. ( )

Cards on the Table is a suspenseful mystery about a murder that takes place during a game of bridge. The four suspects those playing all seem innocent, yet they have secrets deep in their pasts. This novel showcases the intellect, arrogance, and careful reasoning of the detective Hercule Poirot. ( )

excellent ending is good ( )

I read this a few years ago. It is a Poirot mystery. Very good one I thought, an interesting puzzle with a twist at the end as Dame Agatha keeps us guessing between 4 suspects who commit a murder during a game of bridge. I don't recall which edition I read, so I picked the one indicated here because I liked the art on the cover. ( )

“He played the part of the devil too successfully. But he was not the devil. Au fond, he was a stupid man. And so - he died."
"Because he was stupid?"
"It is the sin that is never forgiven and always punished, madame.”

A flamboyant, mysterious host who goes by the impressive name of ‘’Mr. Shaitana’’ invites eight guests. Four sleuths and four people who are possibly capable of murder. Following a rather exciting game of bridge, Mr Shaitana is found dead. Now, each one of our sleuths has to investigate and try to connect the dots, leading to motive and the perpetrator.

Memory, sins of the past, dangerous secrets, and an impressive pile of the finest stockings compose one of the most elaborate and exciting mysteries of Queen Agatha. This is the introduction of Ariadne Oliver, the most impressive, sassy and downright glorious sidekick of our beloved Belgian genius.

“Life is a difficult business,” said Mrs. Lorrimer. “You’ll know that when you come to my age. It needs infinite courage and a lot of endurance. And in the end one wonders: ‘Was it worthwhile?”

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/ ( )