And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers: London, 2013.
First published by Collins, The Crime Club, 1939.

Another classic Agatha Christie whodunnit, with an interesting twist. Ten strangers are summoned to an island, where one by one they are killed off because of crimes they have committed some time in their lives. There is constant reference to the nursery rhyme that begins (in this version): "Ten little soldier boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were Nine" (page 31), both in that there are ten people dying off one by one, but also in the manner of their demises - the first to die 'chokes' on his poisoned drink, for example.

The way Christie has structured the novel adds a little more suspense than your average murder mystery, as each suspect is not only trying to solve the mystery of what's going on, but also becoming more and more paranoid as members of their party continue to die. As the numbers dwindle, the killer could almost seem supernatural, if it weren't for our knowledge of Agatha Christie's genre.

If the title potentially leans towards being a spoiler in itself (though it is a much less offensive title than the other title this book has had!), it is also interesting to note that the novel technically ends without anyone solving the case, including the investigators who arrive late in the piece and give more information to the reader - information that makes the events even more confusing. Yet an 'epilogue' lays out the events and reveals the murderer so that we can all read back and debate whether or not we think the whole thing at least plausible. 

Interesting, and nice and twisty for fans of the genre.

Completed 8 May 2021.

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