This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater. When slimy collector, Mr. Shaitana, invites Poirot to his home to see a collection of murderers, our little Belgian detective can't resist. Colonel Race (secret service), Ariadne Oliver (mystery writer), and Superintendent Battle (police detective) are also all there as unwitting observers of Shaitana's impressive assembly.

BUT. The plot is marvellous, ridiculous, and audacious, all at the same time. In short: Mr. Shaitana, a "Mephistophelian" man, in addition to being Mephistophelian, is a collector. He collects snuff boxes, various curios... and... murderers. The very best murderers, to be sure, which means, murderers who haven't been caught. Yet. After meeting the great moustachioed detective Hercules Poirot, Shaitana decides to host a party to show off his evil little collection. Well, you can imagine how THAT party goes. Well, how have I missed this one. I don't remember the book or the David Suchet TV version, and yet this was or should I say is, one of my all time favourite Poirot novels. Anne's housemate Rhoda Dawes tells Mrs Oliver in confidence about an incident that Anne has been concealing, when an elderly woman for whom Anne was acting as companion died after mistaking poison for syrup of figs. Mrs Lorrimer's husband had died twenty years earlier, though little is known about that. ...Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, came out in 1920. During her first marriage, Agatha published six novels, a collection of short stories, and a number of short stories in magazines. A cruel globetrotter and art collector named Mr. Shaitana gathers eight people for a party. In hindsight, it turns out that he has invited four sleuths — no less than Hercule Poirot, ditzy mystery writer Ariadne Oliver; Scotland Yard’s finest, Inspector Battle, and spy/troubleshooter for the Empire, Colonel Race. Shaitana has also gathered four people he believed to be people who had gotten away with murder. One of them commits yet another murder, poisoning Shaitana with a shirt stud. (Yes, I had to look it up, too.) That means that Shaitana’s murderer has to be bridge wizard Mrs. Lorimer, successful Dr. Roberts, big-game hunter Major Despard, or pretty sweet young thing Anne Meredith.

Women,” said Mrs. Oliver, “are capable of infinite variation. I should never commit the same type of murder twice running.” This could almost be Poirot thinking. And so, we see the author’s thoughts made concrete, for our entertainment.

Hunt for some of Christie’s most noteworthy clues from her iconic mysteries as well as uncovering objects that pinpoint some of Christie’s real-life adventures and inspirations as you assemble this 1000-piece jigsaw. Cards on the Table is one of my favorites, so it was a lot of fun to hear it with voice actors and sound effects. The youngest of three children of the Miller family. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), called Madge, who was eleven years Agatha's senior, and Louis Montant Miller (1880–1929), called Monty, ten years older than Agatha. All the other players win if the You’re The Murderer!! secret card is revealed. The killer is unmasked and will be held to account for their crime. He existed richly and beautifully in a super flat in Park Lane … and gave wonderful parties – large parties, small parties, macabre parties, respectable parties and definitely “queer” parties.”