Henry Reedburn is the main antagonist of "The King of Clubs", a short story which was included in Dame Agatha Christie's 1974 short story collection, Poirot's Early Cases.
He is also the primary victim of the short story, but later he is revealed to be not only a victim of accident, but also an unscrupulous man who attempted to have sexual affair with Valerie Saintclair through blackmail and coerce.
He was portrayed by the late David Swift in Agatha Christie's Poirot.
Overview[]
Henry Reedburn is a theatrical impresario who attempted to court the dancer Valerie Saintclair in an unrequited love relationship between them. He had discovered that Valerie was secretly the estranged daughter of the Oglander family and attempted to blackmail her with it, forcing her into marrying him. To protect his half-sister, Ronnie Oglander arrived to confront Reedburn, but then they began to fight. During the fight, Ronnie punched Reedburn in the face, but in the process, he accidentally hit Reedburn's head on the lion-shaped arms of his family's marble chair, killing him.
The Oglanders immediately played the bridge in order to set up an alibi, but they left the king of clubs card in the card box by accident, in order to secure Valerie and her marriage to Prince Paul of Maurania. Valerie also lied to Poirot that Reedburn was murdered by a tramp.
Later, after Poirot revealed the truth to Hastings, he resolved to let Valerie and the Oglanders to go free since the death was caused by an accident. Reedburn's death was immediately pinned upon the fabricated tramp.
