REVIEW: Cards on the Table

 Cards on the Table
Author: Agatha Christie

Cards on the Table has a very interesting and intriguing plot. 

As I listened to the story unfold, I kept imagining what it would be like to be in the same situation. What if a powerful, wealthy man boasts to me that he knows a murderer's secret. He hosts a dinner party to see if detectives can ferret out the killer among the guests. On the guest list are four investigators and four potential killers. 

Which one is a murderer?

When their dinner host turns up dead -- in the same room as the guests -- the investigation is no longer just about who committed a murder in the past. It also expands into who killed someone within easy sight of 7 other people! Cheeky!! 

I'm not sure given the cast of characters involved that I would have been able to figure this out without the keen assistance of Hercule Poirot, Superintendent Battle, and Colonel Race. 

I liked the fact that this story included not only Poirot, but also two other Christie detectives -- Battle and Race! Another of Christie's side characters appears as well -- Ariadne Oliver, a mystery writer. This is Ariadne's first appearance in one of Christie's books, but not her debut. She first appeared in a short story, The Case of the Discontented Soldier. I'm not counting her as a detective though....as she's a bit bumbling and silly. Likable, but silly. 

I listened to the audio book version of this novel. The audio is six hours long, and narrated by Hugh Fraser. I enjoy Fraser as a narrator, not only because he played Hastings in the Poirot television show, but because his voice is pleasant and he's an excellent voice actor. He did an excellent job of narrating this book. 

I really didn't care about the Bridge/card playing references in this novel. I've played Bridge a few times, but found it to be a game that makes players fight with each other. I never enjoyed it as it was rather more tedious than fun. But, a game that makes players angry makes a perfect background for murder, right? 

 Christie works the theme of playing out your cards into the story multiple times, tying into the title of the book quite nicely. The detectives talk about putting their cards on the table as they share their ideas of the killer's identity with each other. And they also ask the suspects to lay their cards out and admit the truth about their past and present behavior. 

The ending was an interesting surprise. It kept me guessing until the final reveal! 

 Cards on the Table was first serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in 1936. It was published as a novel in the UK later that same year. US publication followed in 1937. 

The story has been adapted for film, stage or radio several times. A stage adaptation opened in London in 1981. Agatha Christie's Poirot had an episode based on the book (Series 10, episode 2) in 2005. A French television show adapted it as an episode in 2014. And BBC Radio aired a dramatization of the story in May 2002. 

You can find the BBC Radio dramatization (and many other Agatha Christie dramatizations) here: https://fourble.co.uk/podcast/bbcradio7

Poirot episode: This episode is available on BritBox. I watched it as I always follow up a Poirot novel with any adaptations I can find. There are some changes to the characters and plot. Superintendent Battle is replaced by a Superintendent Wheeler. And Colonel Race is changed to a Colonel Hughes (the actor who played Race in other episodes was unavailable so the part was changed to another character).

The change from Battle to Wheeler itself isn't a problem as Battle was never featured in the show (I wonder why?). Unfortunately, this switch was used to add a plot tangent that I hated. Not going to elaborate much, as I'm trying to avoid spoilers. There were also changes in character motivations/bask stories and events that I felt totally unnecessary.

So.....(Warning: rant ahead) Agatha Christie's novel had a perfect plot and was wonderfully written -- to go off script and add stupid tangents and ridiculous changes was just a dumb move on the writer's part. Yuck. I ended up talking to the screen as the episode played. "What? You dare change the Queen of Mystery's plot to add this? Shame on you!" Double Yuck! Leave the plot alone!! The additions/changes (major and minor) are pure crap IMHO (and even offensive in a couple places), especially several changes to the end of the story. Just pure crap!! It made little to no sense. The original was SO much better. So annoying!!! (Ok...rant over)

Another thing I noticed is that the theme song changed for series 10. I had no idea until I watched this episode and missed that haunting lovely theme that started each episode previously. I found the theme online, paused the video, and let the music play before I watched the rest. I don't like the music change - Christopher Gunning's theme is the one I think fits the character/show the best!!

Other than that, I like the casting of the episode and the adaptation is mostly good (except for the ridiculous plot tangents and character changes - humph!) David Suchet shines as Poirot as usual! And, Zoe Wanamaker makes Ariadne Oliver a lovely character in the show. She still has her quirks and her lines are mostly straight from the book, but the character seems creative and in her own head a lot of the time, rather than bumbling and annoying. 

BBC Radio dramatization: This audio drama was wonderful as usual, although some plot points were condensed for time. I highly recommend these radio plays to anyone who loves Christie's books!

I'm reading Agatha Christie's books/stories in publication order, so now I'm moving on to a book of short stories: Murder in the Mews & Other Stories [Published as Dead Man's Mirror in the US]! :)