Agatha Christie's "Cards on the Table" Quiz

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.

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.

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.

Answer: Mrs. Lorrimer was accused of killing her baby son.

It is not revealed until near the end of the novel that Mrs. Lorrimer killed her husband. Not much detail is given about the circumstances involved.

Mr. Shaitana believed that Major Despard had shot and killed Mr. Luxmore, a prominent botanist who was on an expedition at the time. There were (unconfirmed) rumors that Major Despard was having an affair with Mrs. Luxmore. What actually happened was that Professor Luxmore developed a fever that drove him insane, and he was shot by Mrs. Luxmore. Major Despard then came up with a story about how the professor died from just the fever to protect Mrs. Luxmore.

Dr. Roberts is discovered to have killed Mrs. Craddock, a patient of his, along with her husband, by introducing anthrax to them. He killed Mr. Craddock by infecting a shaving brush with anthrax and then Mrs. Craddock with a syringe filled with what she thought was a vaccine. He killed them to protect his license, as he was having affairs with his patients, Mrs. Craddock included.

Anne Meredith worked for a Mrs. Benson who one day drank hat paint in what appeared to be an accident. However, Anne had actually killed Mrs. Benson after the woman discovered Anne had stolen money from her.

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.

Answer: Mrs. Lorrimer

Mrs. Lorrimer is found dead the morning following her conversation with Poirot. Dr. Roberts is the one who found her, and he claims that Mrs. Lorrimer sent him a confession that said she would commit suicide. Roberts raced over to Mrs. Lorrimer's home in a failed attempt to save her. Poirot notices a puncture wound from a hypodermic needle on her arm and suspects murder, not suicide.

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.

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.

Answer: Superintendent Battle and Colonel Race

Superintendent Battle appeared in four other novels written by Christie besides this one. However, this is his only appearance with Poirot. Some of this other novels are "The Secret of Chimneys" and "Towards Zero".

Colonel Race made his first appearance with Poirot in this novel. He would later team up with Poirot again in "Death on the Nile". He also appears in two stand alone novels: "Sparkling Cyanide" and "The Man in the Brown Suit".

Captain Hastings, Inspector Japp, Miss Marple, Raymond West and the Beresfords are all Christie character as well, but are not included among the four sleuths of this novel.

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.