Agatha Christie Playing Cards

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Interestingly, “Shaitana” is a Hindi word, meaning “Devil”. Mr. Shaitana does seem to be universally disliked:

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. A cruel globetrotter and art collector named Mr. Shaitana gathers eight people for a party. In hindsight, it turns out that he has invited four sleuths — no less than Hercule Poirot, ditzy mystery writer Ariadne Oliver; Scotland Yard’s finest, Inspector Battle, and spy/troubleshooter for the Empire, Colonel Race. Shaitana has also gathered four people he believed to be people who had gotten away with murder. One of them commits yet another murder, poisoning Shaitana with a shirt stud. (Yes, I had to look it up, too.) That means that Shaitana’s murderer has to be bridge wizard Mrs. Lorimer, successful Dr. Roberts, big-game hunter Major Despard, or pretty sweet young thing Anne Meredith. The four detectives agree to take one each of the other four guests, to investigate as the possible murderer one-to-one. Since each happens to suspect a different guest, the allocation of guests is straightforward. As Ariadne Oliver herself remarks:All the other players win if the You’re The Murderer!! secret card is revealed. The killer is unmasked and will be held to account for their crime. Hello, to my goodreads friends. September turned out to be a busy month with holidays and work, so busy in fact that I didn’t open a book for a week and a half. With only a little over three months to go in the year, I am beginning to experience 2020 burnout, as I’m sure others have at various times throughout the year. Like so many times during this year, Agatha Christie has been there for me. The Queen of Crime with her cases featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple has kept my little gray cells active in an otherwise mentally draining year. In my busiest of times, I’ve turned to Dame Christie again, this time in an unique case featuring four of her sleuths. The Publisher Says: It was the match-up of the century: four sleuths--Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard; Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, famed writer of detective stories; Col. Race of His Majesty's Secret Service; and the incomparable Hercule Poirot - invited to play bridge with four specially invited guests, each of whom had gotten away with murder! But before the first rubber was completed, the host was dead.

Agatha Christie had warned us in her foreword that the novel has only four suspects and the deduction must be purely psychological. Amusingly, she also said that this was one of the favourite cases of Hercule Poirot, while his friend Captain Hastings found it very dull. She then wonders how her readers will feel. The guests retire to play bridge, the crime professionals playing in one room while the others play in a second room where Shaitana relaxes by the fire. As the party breaks up, Shaitana is found to be dead – stabbed in the chest with a stiletto from his own collection.

Agatha Christie Playing Cards

Such a thought can be fervently echoed by millions of fans of the diminutive Belgian detective, Monsieur Hercule Poirot, worldwide. The 1936 novel, Cards on the Table, is the fifteenth novel by Agatha Christie to feature her perennially popular detective, and Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard is the investigator with a brain to (almost) match Poirot’s own. He existed richly and beautifully in a super flat in Park Lane … and gave wonderful parties – large parties, small parties, macabre parties, respectable parties and definitely “queer” parties.” Is this because of his extravagant sense of style? Or his supreme confidence? Or is there perhaps a touch of envy in those who know him?: The fact that this is a quote in the book absolutely delights me. That it’s played with multiple times after the quote makes it even better. On the other side of the table are four seemingly respectable guests - Dr. Geoffrey Roberts, Mrs. Lorrimer, Major John Despard, & Anne Meredith.