Cards on the table

Mr. Shaitan, a very rich and at the same time too strange person. He is interested in murders and collects killers. Once he invites eight people to his house: Hercule Poirot, Ariadne Oliver, Colonel Reis, Inspector Battle, Major Despard, Dr. Roberts, Anne Meredith and Mrs. Lorrimer. During dinner, he begins a conversation about the killings and says that most of the killings were never solved. Then he seats the guests behind the bridge . Four detectives in one room and four others in another. He sits by the fireplace.

When the game ends, the guests find Mr. Shaitana stiletto stabbed in the heart. Four detectives led by Poirot set to investigate. It is clear that one of those four killed Shaitanu.

Interestingly, a significant role in the investigation conducted by Poirot is played by the analysis of the course of the game.

Detectives:

• Hercule Poirot is a Belgian detective.
• Ariadne Oliver is a detective writer.
• Superintendent Battle is a Scotland Yard policeman.
• Colonel Reis is a secret service colonel.

Suspected:

• Ann Meredith is a young girl, a former thief and killer. Has its own "skeleton in the closet." Her mistress dies through her fault.
• Madame Lorrimer is a smart widow who killed her husband.
• Major Despard is an attractive major, in love with Roda. In the past, by an unfortunate coincidence, he was involved in the death of a professor, the leader of the expedition.
• Dr. Roberts is a doctor from Harley Street. His medical biography is not perfect.

Other characters:

• Roda Dawes - Ann Rich Housewife and Friend
• Mrs. Laxmore - whose husband died under suspicious circumstances
• Miss Burgess - Dr. Roberts' Loyal Secretary

Victim:

• Mr. Shaitan is a collector of all the rare things, including killers. Very rich and mysterious.

The novel was filmed in the series Poirot Agatha Christie in 2006 (starring David Suchet ), but with many changes.

• Superintendent Battle in the series changed to Inspector Wheeler, and Colonel Reis to Colonel Hughes.
• Many characters have their background changed. Shaytana becomes a drug addict and wants to be killed. In the novel, he is simply a rich and eccentric man. In addition, he turns out to be homosexual, having a romantic relationship with Inspector Wheeler.
• Inspector Wheeler turns out to be a man with a dark past. After that, he was photographed in incriminating poses during sex with him. Because of what, he is also suspected of murder.
• The motive of the killer has been radically changed. In the novel, Dr. Roberts killed Shaitana and Mrs. Lorrimer for money, while in the film he only kills Shaitana so that he does not reveal his homosexuality and that he had sexual relations with men, including with his patients. In the past, he dealt with Mrs. Craddock, who threatened to reveal his secret. After which he killed her and continued to date her husband.
• Mrs. Lorrimer remains alive, and in the novel she dies from sleeping pills. She also becomes the mother of Ann Meredith.
• Anne Meredith does not die like in a novel; Rhoda Despard dies instead. Because of what, not Rod becomes the chosen one of Major Despard, but Anne. Anne has cleared the past, she is not a brutal killer.

• Major Despard also appears in the novel White Horse Villa , where Roda (one of the heroines) is his wife and cousin of the protagonist.
• Ann Meredith knows Poirot from Alphabetical Murders .
• Anne Meredith says she read Ariadne Oliver's novel, The Body in the Library . Later A. Christie writes a novel about Miss Marple with that name.
• Poirot mentions his investigation on the Orient Express (novel “ Murder on the Orient Express ”).

• "Cards on the table" on agatachristie.ru (inaccessible link)

1. ↑ Agatha Christie. Selected works. - Novosibirsk: Hermes, 1993.V.6. S.197. ISBN 5-86750-008-X