Title: And Then There Were None. (Original title was "Ten Little Indians")
Author: Agatha Christie (1890 - 1976).
Year first published: 1939.
Ten little Soldier boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine little Soldier boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight little Soldier boys traveling in Devon;
One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.
Seven little Soldier boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.
Six little Soldier boys playing with a hive;
A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five little Soldier boys going in for law;
One got in Chancery and then there were four.
Four little Soldier boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three little Soldier boys walking in the zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two Little Soldier boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up and then there was one.
One little Soldier boy left all alone;
He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.
~ Frank Green, 1869
Quote:
'Ten...' Ten strangers are lured to an isolated island mansion off the Devon coast by a mysterious 'U.N.Owen'.
'Nine...' At dinner a recorded message accuses each of them in turn of having a guilty secret, and by the end of the night one of the guests is dead.
'Eight...' Stranded by a violent storm, and haunted by an ancient nursery rhyme counting down one by one... as one by one... they begin to die.
'Seven...' which amongst them is the killer and will any of them survive?
Quote:
'One of the very best, most genuinely bewildering Christies.' Observer
Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in 100 foreign countries. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short stories collections, 19 plays, and 6 novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott. It was Agatha Christie who created the most well-known characters such as the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and the elderly but sharp-witted Miss Jane Marple.
'And Then There Were None' is one of Christie's best whodunit novels where the killer is mostly in the crowd and is not easily revealed until the end of the story when everything starts to unfold, the really curious thing about this case is that all the characters are murdered in the end, who could the killer be then? This is one of the best and clever mystery books that would be a true page-turner for the readers who've enjoyed her works and also for those new to the genre, it's a good-reading which I believe is highly recommendable.
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