Original Airdate: 12 March 1989 Written by: Michael Baker Directed by: Renny Rye Recurring cast: Captain Hastings, Inspector Japp
Tropes
Absence of Evidence: When Poirot investigates the card table where the Oglanders were playing bridge, he realizes that the king of clubs card is missing. It reveals that the bridge game was a sham meant to create an alibi.
Accidental Murder: Henry Reedburn dies after getting pushed by John Oglander Jr during an argument between the former and the latter's sister Valerie, his head hitting the lion's head arm of his seat.
Adaptational Job Change: Valerie Saintclair is a film actress instead of a dancer, and Henry Reedburn is a film studio magnate rather than an impresario in this story.
Asshole Victim: Henry Reedburn is a man so odious that nobody's really sad that he's dead.
Let Off by the Detective: Between the victim being an unpleasant figure as well as the evidence being rather flimsy, Poirot lets the killer off.
Ruritania: Valerie Saintclair's fiancé Prince Paul is from Maurania, a fictional empire whose name evokes Mauritania but is clearly meant to be Eastern European in nature.
