The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 17 February 2008
by Agatha Christie
Christie, of course, is the global master of mystery writing. Throughout her career, her most famous detective, Hercule Poirot, captured the imagination of her readers as an idiosycratic and brilliant detective of crime and, particularly, murder. In this volume, first published in 1936, Poirot is invited to a weird dinner party by a Mr. Shaitana, a Mephistophelian charlatan who is convinced he is a collector of the perfect criminal artefact, the murderers who have gotten away with it. There are four sleuths gathered at one card table, Poirot, Superintendant Battle of Scotland Yard, Colonel Race of the Secret Service, and Christie's own alter-ego, Ariadne Oliver. At another table, four peculiar individuals with seemingly nothing in common; a young woman, a middle aged woman, a dashing adventurer and a doctor. Shaitana baits them with his dinner conversation of murder, and, when he ends up a victim himself, one of the four bridge players must be the murderer in this version of a locked-room mystery. The most entertaining character here is Ariadne Oliver, who has the most developed personality and who speaks for Christie's writerly voice. She is addicted to apples and complains of the hard work of writing. She is also almost joyously engaged by the mystery at hand. Superintendant Battle and Monsieur Poirot delve into the history of our four suspects, none of whom are as innocent as they'd like us to believe. Mrs. Oliver, though, may have the most important clue at hand. There are entanglements and, near the end, a tumble of plot lines that leads Poirot, once again, to the guilty party. His main lead, throughout, is the bridge-playing character of the suspects. He is convinced that the murderer, having taken such a dramatic opportunity as to murder in a room full of people, must have acted in accordance with a character evident in his or her cardplay. The book, as usual, is light and engaging. The mystery is entertainingly entangled. It isn't necessary to know much about the game of bridge, but it may help.
Also by Christie: [Death in the Air] [Death on the Nile]