Cards on the Table Trivia

1. The novel begins when the mysterious Mr. Shaitana hosts a dinner party and invites four sleuths and four suspects whom he believes have gotten away with murder. During the party, Mr. Shaitana brings up what topic that puts everyone on edge?

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Cards on the Table"

Answer: Different ways to commit murder

Mr. Shaitana slyly works into the dinner conversation various ways in which people might kill other people without being detected. He mentions "accidental" shootings and poisonings among others. He also casually mentions that doctors are in a unique position to kill their patients since no one would doubt their word. This topic unsettles the four guests Shaitana believes are murderers: Major Despard, Mrs. Lorrimer, Anne Meredith and Dr. Roberts. All four of those people, it is later revealed, were involved in a suspicious death that corresponds to one of the methods Shaitana mentioned.

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Cards on the Table"

Answer: He was murdered in front of some of the guests.

Mr. Shaitana was sitting in a room watching the four suspected murderers play bridge. (The four sleuths played in another room.) All four could see him the entire time and no one saw him murdered, which seems impossible given the situation. Poirot deduces that, since Shaitana never left the room, he must have been murdered by a guest right in front of the others during a brief moment when three of them were looking away. After he was stabbed, Shaitana fell in his chair in a way that made it look like he was sleeping, which made it look like he was still alive.

From Quiz Cards On The Table

Answer: Eight

In a demonstration of Mr. Shaitana's warped sense of humor, he invited eight guests to his dangerous dinner party. There were four sleuths: Hercule Poirot (private investigator), Superintendent Battle (Scotland Yard), Colonel Race (Secret Service), and Mrs. Ariadne Oliver (mystery writer). Mrs. Lorrimer, Major Despard, Dr. Roberts, and Miss Anne Meredith were Shaitana's collection of murderers. "Cards On The Table" (1936) was the first book that Poirot and Mrs. Oliver appeared in together.

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Cards on the Table"

Answer: How each of the four suspects played bridge

Poirot was primarily interested in how each suspect played the game. He even took the scorecards as references. Poirot wanted to know how everyone played because he realized that the killer could only have a few seconds to a minute to stab Shaitana, and must have done so when the other three were distracted by the bridge game when it grew competitive. He deduces that the killer must have struck when he or she was the dummy at some point during the night. He also mentions that Major Despard was never dummy at any point. In bridge, the dummy is player who has no control over the play of a hand, and often winds up not doing much during that hand.

From Quiz Cards On The Table

Answer: He was stabbed with a stiletto.

Mr. Shaitana was playing a very dangerous game, indeed. One of his invited murderers, knowing Shaitana's diabolic sense of humor, believed Mr. Shaitana was going to reveal them to the sleuths at the end of the evening. He (or she) stole and hid a long thin dagger with a bejewelled head that Shaitana had displayed on a table. After dinner, the murderer quietly stuck it into Mr. Shaitana while the others had their attention focused on their cards.

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Cards on the Table"

Answer: She believed Anne was the killer and wanted to spare her.

Poirot sees through her fake confession and confronts her about it. Mrs. Lorrimer then tells Poirot that she is dying of cancer and does not have long to live. She had seen Anne approach Mr. Shaitana during one of the games of bridge when Anne was the dummy. Though she did not see Anne kill Shaitana, Mrs. Lorrimer believes that Anne must have done it. She then goes on to say that by taking the blame for what she believed to be Anne's crime, she can redeem herself for killing her husband, and the young Anne would be free to live her life.

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Cards on the Table"

Answer: Her roommate, Rhoda Dawes

Rhoda is Anne's roommate and the two had been friends for a while. However, Rhoda had spoken to mystery author Ariadne Oliver (one of the four sleuths in her first appearance of many in Poirot novels) a few times about Anne's past jobs, especially the time spent with Mrs. Benson. Anne was afraid that Rhoda had revealed too much information about Mrs. Benson's death and pushes her into the river. As Rhoda cannot swim, Anne believes she will drown. However, Anne also cannot swim and also falls into the river. It is at that moment that Major Despard, who has been courting Anne, arrives just in time to save one of them, as he does not have enough time or strength to save both. He saves Rhoda and Anne drowns.

From Quiz Cards On The Table

Answer: Major Despard

Major Despard goes down to Wendon Cottage in Wallingford and tells Anne Meredith that she should hire herself a solicitor. He recommends that she go to his own London solicitor, Mr. Myherne.

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Cards on the Table"

Answer: Dr. Roberts

Poirot actually deduces that Dr. Roberts killed Mrs. Lorrimer before realizing the doctor killed Mr. Shaitana. Poirot already knew that Major Despard was not the murderer of Mr. Shaitana because he was never dummy and thus did not have the opportunity. Moreover, since the major did not kill Professor Luxmore, he would have no reason to kill to cover that murder up. Poirot knows that Dr. Roberts killed Mrs. Lorrimer via the hypodermic needle when he claimed to save her life during the suicide attempt, but has no proof. He has an actor pretend to be a window washer and say he saw Dr. Roberts inject Mrs. Lorrimer with the poisoned needle. Dr. Roberts falls for that and confesses.

From Quiz Cards On The Table

Answer: Despard shot her husband in a fit of jealousy over her.

The very dramatic Mrs. Luxmore had a wonderful time telling Hercule Poirot all about how Major Despard had murdered her husband, because Despard had fallen madly in love with her. The version that Major Despard told Poirot, and the one Poirot was inclined to believe, was a much different tale than Mrs. Luxmore's.

From Quiz Cards On The Table

Answer: She steals two pairs of expensive silk stockings from Poirot.

On the guise of having Anne Meredith pick out six pairs of very expensive silk stockings for Poirot to send to his nieces, Poirot lays a trap for Anne. While he is busy with Rhoda Dawes, Anne does pick out six pairs as Poirot asks, but after she leaves, Poirot counts the stockings. Instead of nineteen pairs, there are only seventeen pairs. Anne had taken two pairs.

From Quiz Agatha Christie's "Cards on the Table"

Answer: Kill Poirot and watch his ghost solve his own murder

Major Despard was apparently very impressed with Poirot when he suggested that. Everyone finds it humorous and laughs except for Poirot who does not find murder funny. Major Despard (who in the future is Colonel Despard) and Rhoda appear in the 1961 Christie novel "The Pale Horse" alongside Ariadne Oliver, but not Poirot. That novel is set 25 years after "Cards on the Table", when the Despards are middle-aged.

From Quiz Cards On The Table

Answer: Anne Meredith

Mrs. Lorrimer tells Poirot that she saw Anne Meredith bending over Mr. Shaitana, and that Anne killed him. Mrs. Lorrimer was wrong. Anne Meredith was not Shaitana's killer.

From Quiz Cards On The Table

Answer: She is murdered by the person who killed Mr. Shaitana.

Mrs. Lorrimer's death is caused by the killer of Mr. Shaitana in order to lay the blame for Shaitana's murder on her. She was injected with a drug called Evipan, which coupled with her regular sleeping medicine, caused her death.

From Quiz Cards On The Table

Answer: Anne Meredith

It backfired, though. Neither Anne nor Rhoda could swim, but when Anne tipped Rhoda into the water, the punt overturned, spilling Anne in, too. Major Despard rescued Rhoda, but Anne drowned before she could be pulled out of the water. Anne did not know that Rhoda had told Mrs. Oliver that there had been a poisoning death in the house where Anne had previously been employed. Anne had been the companion to Mrs. Elton in Devonshire, and Mrs. Elton drank poison that was stored in a Syrup of Figs bottle. Anne was afraid that Rhoda would tell Battle about the incident. Do you remember "The Pale Horse", the wonderful 1961 Christie mystery? It also features Rhoda and Despard, now a married couple. My sincere thanks to raer, a wonderful quizmaker and friend, for this info.

From Quiz Cards On The Table

Answer: Dr. Roberts

Dr. Roberts murdered Mr. Shaitana, because he was afraid that Shaitana would reveal, at the end of the evening, that Dr. Roberts had killed both Mr. and Mrs. Craddock. He had infected Mr. Craddock's shaving brush with anthrax, and had given Mrs. Craddock an injection which caused her to die of a rare type of blood poisoning. Dr. Roberts also murdered Mrs. Lorrimer. He was quite the murdering physician, wasn't he?

From Quiz Cards On The Table

Answer: Three

Mr. Shaitana and Mrs. Lorrimer were murdered by Dr. Roberts, and Anne Meredith accidentally drowned. Actually, three of the nine (counting Shaitana) who were at the dinner party died. Of the four people in Mr. Shaitana's collection of murderers who had gotten away with it, only Major Despard was thought to be not guilty by Hercule Poirot. I hope you have enjoyed my quiz on one of Hercule Poirot's most unusual mysteries.

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