In And Then There Were None ten strangers were brought together to the isolated Soldier Island off the coast of Devon England, by one unknown individual. All with different expectations of work or leisure. Vera Claythrone was offered a job as an assistant, Emily Brent, a 65 year old woman, was lured with promises, “…good plain cooking and a nice old-fashioned type of person. None of this nudity and gramophones half the night.” (8) After dinner a very surprising record is played accusing each of some crime. Then they start dying by way of a nursery rhyme. “One of us…One of us…One of us…” (211) They are on an island with no other houses, so it must be one of them, but who?

I am not a big who done it fan, though I can truly say this is one of the most ingenious stories I have ever read. Agatha Christie takes a very cliché plot line and turns it into something so simple yet so brilliant, twisting together what is meant for a child, a nursery rhyme, into the cruel adult world. She has earned her titled as the queen of mystery after writing this book.

Title:And Then There Were None
Originally Published: Ten Little Indians
Author: Agatha Christie
Publisher: Collins Crime Club
Publication date: November 6,1939
Published in the UK