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1936 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

Cards on the Table is a detective fiction novel by the English author Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 2 November 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00. The first victim of the case
Hercule Poirot – Belgian private detective. A guest at Shaitana's dinner party
Ariadne Oliver – Crime fiction writer, and Poirot's friend. A guest at Shaitana's dinner party
Superintendent Battle – Detective from Scotland Yard. A guest at Shaitana's dinner party
Colonel Race – Secret Service agent. A guest at Shaitana's dinner party
Dr Geoffrey Roberts – Physician. A guest at Shaitana's dinner party who may have killed one of his own patients
Mrs Lorrimer – Widow and expert bridge player. A guest at Shaitana's dinner party who may have killed her husband. The second victim of the case
Major John Despard – Explorer and hunter. A guest at Shaitana's dinner party who may have shot and killed someone while on an expedition
Anne Meredith – A young woman, formerly a personal companion. A guest at Shaitana's dinner party who may have killed one of her employers. She dies from drowning during the case
Rhoda Dawes – Anne's wealthy friend and flatmate
Mrs Luxmore – A widow whose husband died in suspicious circumstances in South America, not an attendee of Shaitana's dinner party

The novel contains a foreword by the author in which she explains that the novel has only four suspects and that since any of them, given the right circumstances, might have committed the crime, the deduction must be "entirely psychological". She notes that the book is no less interesting for that since "when all is said and done it is the mind of the murderer that is of supreme interest".

The Times Literary Supplement (14 November 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." In The New York Times Book Review (28 February 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." In The Observers issue of 15 November 1936, in a review section entitled Supreme de Poirot, "Torquemada" (Edward Powys Mathers) wrote, "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 Scotsman (19 November 1936) wrote: "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." E. R. Punshon of The Guardian reviewed the novel in the 20 November 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." Robert Barnard said, "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." Charles Osborne said, "Cards on the Table is one of Agatha Christie's finest and most original pieces of crime fiction: even though the murderer is, as the author has promised, one of the four bridge players, the ending is positively brilliant and a complete surprise."

The book was adapted as a stage play in 1981, although without Poirot. It opened at London's Vaudeville Theatre on 9 December 1981 with Gordon Jackson as Superintendent Battle and a cast that included Derek Waring, Belinda Carroll, Mary Tamm and Patricia Driscoll.

ITV adapted the story into a television programme in the series Agatha Christie's Poirot, starring David Suchet as Hercule Poirot and Zoë Wanamaker as Ariadne Oliver. The adaptation – with significant differences from the novel – was written by Nick Dear and aired in the US on A&E Network in December 2005 and in the UK on ITV1 in March 2006. The novel was also adapted as a 2014 episode of the French television series Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie.

In 2016 a Bengali film Chorabali was released based on the storyline of the Cards on the Table. Barun Chanda played the role of Poirot.

Cards on the Table was adapted for radio by Michael Bakewell for BBC Radio 4, featuring John Moffatt as Hercule Poirot, Donald Sinden as Colonel Johnny Race, and Stephanie Cole as Ariadne Oliver.