The King of Clubs

Hercule Poirot receives a visit from Prince Paul of Maurania, who wants to marry the dancer Valerie Saintclair, currently under suspicion for the murder of Henry Reedburn, a theatrical impresario. Reedburn was in love with Valerie although his feelings were not reciprocated. Prince Paul and Valerie saw a clairvoyant the previous week, who turned over the king of clubs in her pack of cards and said a man threatened danger to her. The prince is afraid that Valerie interpreted this to mean Reedburn and attacked him.

Poirot and Hastings visit the scene of the crime and the neighbouring Oglander home. Valerie tells them that Reedburn held a secret of hers and threatened her but she did not kill him. She went to his house by prior appointment, and was pleading with him when a man dressed like a tramp attacked him from behind the curtained recess. She fled from the house towards the Oglander home, interrupting the family game of bridge, and has been recuperating there ever since.

Returning to the drawing room, Poirot notices that the king of clubs is missing from the cards on the bridge table. After further investigation, he returns to the Oglander house to assure Mrs Oglander that the police will not find out what happened. He deduces that the four family members (parents, son, daughter) set up the bridge game to provide an alibi for themselves, but left one card in the box by mistake. A male family member had gone with Valerie during her visit to Reedburn, accidentally killed him and moved the body, then carried Valerie back home after she fainted; Poirot determines that the son is the more likely culprit due to the physical strength required for these acts.

Poirot explains to Hastings that Valerie is the Oglanders' estranged daughter, having noted similarities between her appearance and theirs. Despite the breach in the relationship, she turned to them in her moment of need. Her story of the tramp will stand and she is free to marry Prince Paul.