Tangled Web UK Review January 1999
Cards on the Table by
Agatha Christie
pbk out June 01
(HarperCollins)
at £5.99
This detective puzzle will be appreciated by all connoisseurs of the Golden
Age murder mystery. The concept is brilliantly simple. As Christie explains
in a foreword, the tradition in the classic form is the culprit is an
outsider: "spot the least likely person to have committed the crime and in
nine times out of ten your task is finished." But in this novel, there are
only four starters and any one of them, in the right circumstances, might
have committed the crime. This knocks out the element of surprise, Christie
acknowledges, but there may be compensation in that the deduction "must be
entirely psychological...when all is said and done it is the mind of the
murderer that is of supreme interest."
Now it must be said that Christie's ideas of psychology were in some
respects elementary. Yet here she succeeds wonderfully, not only in playing
fair with the reader but also in offering a gripping whodunit. The
starting point is when Mr Shaitana, a wealthy man "of whom nearly everyone
was a little afraid", tells Hercule Poirot that "a murderer can be an
artist...In my opinion a really successful murderer should be granted a
pension out of public funds and asked out to dinner!" Shaitana is a
collector - of people who have got away with murder. And he invites Poirot
to have a meal with four of them. Poirot warns him that he is playing a
dangerous game, but to no avail. The dinner takes place, and Mr Shaitana is
killed. Poirot is assisted in his inquiries by the detective novelist
Ariadne Oliver, an engaging character who made numerous appearances in
Christie novels and short stories. The twists are contrived with much
cunning and, all in all, the book is a gem.
(
Martin Edwards
- author of the highly acclaimed Harry Devlin Mysteries)
New Books by Agatha Christie at Amazon.co.uk
Secondhand and Out of Print Books by Agatha Christie at Alibris.com
