Synopses & Reviews
First there were ten--a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unkonwn to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal--and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. And only the dead are above suspicion.
Agatha Christie is the world's best-known mystery writer. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in 44 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare.
Her writing career spanned more than half a century, during which she wrote 80 novels and short story collections, as well as 14 plays, one of which, The Mousetrap, is the longest-running play in history. Two of the characters she created, the brilliant little Belgian Hercule Poirot and the irrepressible and relentless Miss Marple, went on to become world-famous detectives. Both have been widely dramatized in feature films and made-for-TV movies.
Agatha Christie also wrote romantic novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. As well, she wrote four non-fiction books including an autobiography and an entertaining account of the many expeditions she shared with her archaeologist husband, Sir Max Mallowan. Agatha Christie died in 1976.
Among the most famous and widely praised mystery novels ever written, And Then There Were None is as suspenseful today as it was when it first appeared sixty years ago. Agatha Christie produced scores of books during her long career, and this brisk, unique, and intriguing novel is considered one of her masterpieces. Since its initial publication, it has been adapted at least six times for stage and screenincluding a 1944 Broadway play with a script by Christie, as well as several later treatments for television and film, one as recent as 1989.
This novel concerns a group of ten strangers who have all been invited by a Mr. U. N. Owen to spend a brief vacation at a small, somewhat secluded island off the coast of Devon, England. At Indian Island, as their destination is called, the ten individuals are meant to enjoy room and board in Mr. Owens luxurious home, eight of them staying as his guests and the other two as his servants. But matters quickly and permanently worsen when these ten guests reach the island, gather at the Owen mansion, meet one another, and then realize that not one of them has ever seen or communicated with Mr. Owen in person. Who is their mysterious host, and why has he assembled all of them on Indian Island?
Although his identity remains a riddlethe name “U. N. Owen” is merely a code for “Unknown,” as the characters eventually discoverthe hosts reasons for assembling these ten people are made fearfully clear. A message is played on the mansions phonograph (per Mr. Owens earlier, written instructions) in which an eerie, anonymous “high clear voice” methodically, individually, and specifically accuses every one of the newly arrived Indian Island visitors of murder. And then, for the remainder of the narrative, the ten stranded guests are killed by an unknown assassin, one by one. . . .
“One of the most ingenious thrillers in many a day.”Time magazine
“One of the most ingenious thrillers in many a day.”Time
“The whole thing is utterly impossible and utterly fascinating. It is the most baffling mystery that Agatha Christie has ever written, and if any other writer has ever surpassed it for sheer puzzlement the name escapes our memory.”The New York Times
“[This book is] the most colossal achievement of a colossal career . . . Must rank with Christies best [at] the top notch of detection.”The New Statesman and Nation
“Smart as anything . . . youll have to hand it to Miss Christie.”The New Yorker
“Christies masterpiece.”The Spectator
Synopsis
First there were ten--a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unkonwn to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal--and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. And only the dead are above suspicion.
About the Author
Agatha Christie is more than the most popular mystery writer of all time. In a career that spans over half a century, her name is synonymous with brilliant deception, ingenious puzzles, and the surprised denouement. By virtually inventing the modern mystery novel she has earned her title as the Queen of Crime. Curious? Then you're invited to read...
And Then There Were None