55. Cards on the Table

Air date: 19/03/2006
Published: 1936

What is it that makes a murder mystery outstanding, or disappointing, for us (assuming we are fans of the 'whodunnit?' genre)?

I guess there are a number of factors: setting, plot, characters, motive and manner of death. Even, perhaps, whether the culprit turns out to be the person we were hoping it would be - or the one we had hoped it wouldn't be!

I don't really like Cards on the Table. I wasn't greatly thrilled by the book; and the TV adaptation is worse. I think, at the end of the day, I don't really like the victim or any of the suspects.

The story opens with Hercule Poirot meeting the curious Mr Shaitana at an exhibition. At several points during the story he is described (both by the author and by characters) as 'Mephistophelian', which seems to have become something of an in-word in the book. Shaitana hints at possessing knowledge about people who have got away with murders - and invites Poirot to a party.

We cut straight to the party. Including Poirot there are eight guests, who are quickly divided into two groups of four. There are the 'sleuths': crime authoress Ariadne Oliver makes her debut (both in the Poirot novels and in the TV adaptations); Superintendent Battle; Colonel Race; and Poirot. Battle had previously appeared in The Secret of Chimneys and The Seven Dials Mystery, and would later appear in Murder is Easy and Towards Zero. Colonel Race had featured in The Man in the Brown Suit. He featured twice alongside Poirot, in this story and in Death on the Nile, and would make his final appearance in Sparkling Cyanide.

Then there are four suspects: Dr Roberts, Mrs Lorrimer, Major Despard, and Miss Meredith. The two groups end up playing bridge in separate rooms. Shaitana sits by the fire in the room of the (eventual) suspects. At the end of the evening it is discovered that he has been stabbed with a stiletto.

And so the investigations begin. Part of the issue is looking into the background of the suspects, to find out who had a 'past' that Shaitana could have known about and had hinted about at the party. The other line of enquiry is Poirot's pyschological approach, exploring what each suspect remembered about the room and about the games of bridge! Was the murder planned, or opportunist?

In time, it seems, all of the suspects have a murderous past! Dr Roberts killed a Mr Craddock and his wife (to cover up an affair with Mrs Craddock); Mrs Lorrimer killed a husband; Miss Meredith poisoned an elderly woman she had been serving as a companion; and Major Despard shot dead a Professor Luxmore while on an expedition (although he may have been intending to wound the professor, to stop him falling into dangerous water!). Miss Meredith and the friend she lives with, Rhoda Dawes, are both smitten by the dashing Despard. Poirot sets a clever trap with silk stockings to prove that Miss Meredith is a thief - and the finger seems to be pointing to her. But then Mrs Lorrimer confesses! Poirot doesn't believe her, and it transpires she believed Miss Meredith killed Shaitana and wants to protect her. Reason? She has a fatal illness with not much life expectancy, and wants to give the younger girl the chance of a future. Soon after she apparently commits suicide, but not before writing to each of the suspects, confessing (again) that she did it and apologising to them all.

However, we continue to believe Miss Meredith is the likely murderer. As the net closes in on her she takes Rhoda rowing and pushes her in. Both girls end up in the water, but Rhoda is saved, by Despard (who else?). Meredith perishes. Presumably she had tried to kill her friend to stop her revealing her murderous past.

In a final twist, though, Poirot reveals it was Dr Roberts who had killed Shaitana. He had also finished off Mrs Lorrimer. But a final twist when you don't care much for any of the suspects is less of a twist than it might have been.

The TV adaptation manages to add considerably more sleaze to the plot. There are a couple of character changes. Colonel Race has become Colonel Hughes (I believe because James Fox, who had already played Race in Death on the Nile, was unavailable); Superintendent Battle is replaced by a Superintendent Wheeler.

The storyline up to the murder follows the book closely, while investigations are, inevitably, truncated a little for the 100-minute production. But, inexplicably, Mrs Lorrimer is now the mother of Ann Meredith. Meredith wasn't responsible for the poisoning of old Mrs Benson; it was in fact Rhoda, who didn't want her friend to be caught for stealing. Mrs Lorrimer doesn't commit suicide (and doesn't have a fatal illness). Major Despard shot Professor Luxmore because the latter had been experimenting with psychodelic drugs and had attacked his own wife. Despard had shot him to save her. In the final boat scene the drama is reversed: Rhoda pushes Meredith in, and it is Rhoda who perishes. Despard saves Meredith and they look likely to become an item, having both been vindicated by the story change. Rhoda isn't smitten by Despard. The reason for her possessive attitude to Meredith isn't altogether clear. Shaitana drugged himself on the evening of the party (prior to being stabbed). Poirot tells us he was tired of life, knew someone would murder him, and wanted to experience it painlessly!

Utterly gratuitously, it transpires that Dr Roberts was involved in a homosexual relationship with Mr Craddock (rather than having an affair with Mrs Craddock). He didn't kill Craddock (in fact he continues to play bridge with him!), but he did infect Mrs Craddock's innoculations before she went to Egypt (where she met Shaitana and, before dying, expressed desire for revenge on the doctor). Bizarrely, Superintendent Wheeler becomes an additional suspect late in the day, due to some incriminating photos Shaitana had taken of him (we are not told exactly the nature of these, but it is clear they are of a dubious sexual nature). Poirot retrieves the photos, gives them to the Superintendent at the end and then belittles him somewhat. Such sordidness is out of place in Poirot. And on this occasion it only served to make a poor story even worse.