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And Then There Were None : A mystery play script in three acts

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Ten Little Indians is a classic murder mystery novel about ten people caught in a world of paranoia and suspense! Written by world renowned author Agatha Christie, it is also known as And Then There Were None. Ten Little Indians whisks you away to the desolate Indian Island where a group of ten people have all been invited for recreation, relaxation, and a week of fun. However, the fun stops after dinner when a chilling record is played, charging all ten of being involved in murder! After that, one by one, the guests are murdered in the manner described in a child's nursery rhyme. Wits pit against wits as the victims try to find the murderer, and more paranoia ensues when they find out it's one of them! Finally, the last person dies, and then there were none. This classic is full of surprises and keeps you guessing until the end. Another wonderful book by mystery novelist, Agatha Christie.

It is the best Murder Mystery I have ever read. The author keeps the readers fooled until the very end of the book. This is the best Agatha Christie book i've ever read.

In this superlative, three-act, mystery-comedy statuettes of little soldier boys on the mantel of a house on an island off the coast of Devon fall to the floor and break one by one as those in the house succumb to a diabolical avenger. A nursery rhyme tells how each of the ten "soldiers" met his death until there were none. Eight guests who have never met each other or their apparently absent host and hostess are lured to the island and, along with the two house servants, marooned. A mysterious voice accuses each of having gotten away with murder and then one drops dead---poisoned. One down and nine to go! The excitement never lets up in this ideal play for schools, colleges and little theatres.

SPOILER ALERT:

The Ten
Anthony James Marston, a rich, spoiled, good-looking man with a well-proportioned body, crisp hair, tanned face and blue eyes known for his reckless driving. Mr. Owen accused Anthony of running over and killing two children, for which Marston felt no remorse. Marston was the first of Owen's victims, poisoned by potassium cyanide slipped into his drink while gathered in the drawing room with the others.

Mrs. Ethel Rogers, the cook and Mr. Rogers's wife. She is described as a pale-faced, ghostlike woman with shifty light eyes, who is scared easily. Despite her respectability and efficiency, she was obliged to help her domineering husband, Thomas, to kill their former employer, the elderly Miss Jennifer Brady, by withholding her medicine, in order to inherit her money. She was Owen's second victim, dying in her sleep from an overdose of chloral hydrate, which she did not self-administer.

General John MacKenzie, a retired World War I hero, who sent his wife's lover (a younger officer named Arthur Richmond) to his death by assigning him to a suicide mission. MacArthur fatalistically accepts that no one will leave the island alive, which he confides to Vera. Shortly thereafter, he becomes Owen's third victim, his head being crushed in as he sat along the shore.

Thomas Rogers, the butler and Mrs. Rogers's husband. He and his weak-willed wife, whom he dominated, killed their former elderly employer by withholding her medicine, causing the elderly woman to die from heart failure, in order to inherit the money she had left them in her will. He was Owen's fourth victim, being struck in the head with an axe as he cut firewood in the woodshed.

Emily Caroline Brent, a rigid and repressed elderly woman of harsh moralistic principles who uses the Bible to justify her inability to show compassion or understanding for others. She dismissed her maid, Beatrice Taylor, as punishment for becoming pregnant out of wedlock. As a result Beatrice, who had also been rejected by her own family, threw herself into a river and drowned. Miss Brent privately felt incredible guilt though publicly considered that Beatrice's suicide was an even greater sin. She became Owen's fifth victim after being injected with a dose of potassium cyanide into her neck as she sat alone at the dining table after being drugged.

Dr. Edward James Armstrong, a Harley Street surgeon, blamed for the death of his patient, Louisa Clees, while operating under the influence of alcohol. Armstrong became Owen's seventh victim after being pushed off a cliff into the sea. His body goes missing for a while, leading others to think he is the killer, but his corpse washes up at the end of the play, leading to the climax.

William Henry Blore, a retired police inspector and now a private investigator, accused of having an innocent man, James Landor, sentenced to life imprisonment as a scapegoat after having been bribed. The man later died in prison. Blore became Owen's perceived eighth victim, having his skull crushed by a bear-shaped clock, dropped from a window above outside the house.

Philip Lombard, a soldier of fortune. Literally down to his last square meal, he comes to the island with a loaded revolver. Though he is reputed to be a good man in a tight spot, Lombard is accused of causing the deaths of a native African tribe. Unlike the other characters, he admits openly that the accusation against him was true, but feels no remorse for his actions. It is said that he stole food from the tribe, thus causing their starvation and subsequent death. Though not an actual victim of Owen's, Lombard fulfilled the ninth referenced verse of the rhyme, shot to death on the beach by Vera, who at the time believed him to be the murderer.

Vera Elizabeth Claythorne, a young teacher, secretary, and ex-governess, who takes mostly secretarial jobs since her last job as a governess ended in the death of her charge, Cyril Hamilton. She let young Cyril swim out to sea and drown so that his uncle, Hugo Hamilton, could inherit his money and marry her; however, the plan backfired, as Hamilton abandoned her when he suspected what she had done. Of all the "guests" Vera is the one most tormented by latent guilt for her crime, yet is made to suffer the most, being the last survivor. She eventually meets her demise when she walks back to her room after shooting Lombard. There she finds a readied noose, complete with chair beneath it, suspended from her ceiling. Again, not technically a victim of Owen's, but guilt-ridden and delusional, Vera climbs the chair, adjusts the noose round her neck, and kicks the chair away, fulfilling the rhyme's final verse as the tenth and final victim.

Justice Lawrence John Wargrave, a retired judge, well-known as a "hanging judge" for liberally awarding the death penalty in murder cases. He himself is suspected of murder because of his summation and jury directions during the trial of an accused murderer named Edward Seton, despite doubts about Seton's guilt during the trial. Wargrave was thought to be the sixth victim of Owen's in order to fulfill the Chancery verse, but was later revealed to be the murderer, "Mr. Owen", faking his own death with the assistance of Dr. Armstrong in the drawing room. Phillip, who reveals that Vera missed when she tried shooting him, shoots Lawrence, and Vera and Lombard live happily ever after.

Agatha Christie's 1939 story idea captures the imagination. Ten strangers who each, in his or her own way, have gotten away with murder gather by invitation at an isolated mansion. Then their unknown host systematically and mockingly murders them one by one. The idea was adapted into a film in 1945, 1965, 1974, and 1989. Reportedly, there was a 1959 TV adaptation. Variants of the plot are perennials on one TV show or another, from Harry O to Quincy to Remington Steele. As someone who has read all of Christie's work and admires it as running the gamut from diverting to entertaining to inspiring, I had high expectations. Unfortunately, neither Christie nor the filmmakers succeeded in bringing this brilliant but limiting idea to life in a truly fulfilling story.

Occasionally, a mystery plot can be so ingenious and powerful that it can be a satisfying story in itself. Most often, the best that is achieved by plot alone is an amusing but arid puzzle mystery. For the depth and richness to engage, a novel usually needs to develop to some meaningful degree the characters, their backgrounds, their interaction, their dialogue, the setting, the tone, and any larger themes.

The premise of Christie's book is fascinating. As to plot, the book is clever in conception and careful in execution. Compared to the films, the book's assortment of past crimes and depictions of the characters' attitudes toward them are more varied, subtle, and interesting. The book does the best job of presenting the characters in ways in which the reader could actually see them as the murderous host. It is the least sentimental, treating all of them vaguely and suspiciously. This is not necessarily enough to make them convincing killers, but at least it maintains more of a sense of menace, suspense, and purpose than the film versions. The book does the best job of explaining why and how the host carried out the scheme.

Yet, even the plot has definite shortcomings. Once the imaginative premise is established, the story becomes thin and formulaic. There is little plot or character development. The characters in the book engage in less deductive reasoning and survival techniques than in the 1945 film. The only real plot twist creates a major logical problem, which the book tries to overcome by implausibly suggesting that the ploy would either trick or "rattle" the murderer. The guests' murders are designed to follow the nursery rhyme and little more. Aside from some cosmetic frills, the poisoning, stabbing, shooting, and head-bashing that go on in the book show, in themselves, no special cunning, skill, strategic advantage, or plausibility. The killer strikes crudely without detection too effortlessly.

The storytelling seems flat, frigid, and, at times, slow-paced. There is no lead character to care about. Characters are described largely by catch-phrases (the judge's "tortoise-like" appearance; Lombard's "wolfish smile") or hardly at all (Marston, the Rogerses). Their backgrounds and motives are sketched in summary fashion. The past crimes vary widely in originality, depth, and genuineness. Some -- especially Claythorne's and the general's -- are more subtle, interesting, and powerful than others. Some, like Blore's, Dr. Armstrong's, and Lombard's, are utterly trite, unexplored, and ineffective.

However, the book's and films' worst failing is that they have nothing serious to say about the powerful themes that are at the very heart of the story. The story is inherently an observation of human nature in a desperate situation. How do the characters behave? How do they try to reason? How do they try to survive? Also by its very nature -- as the book's last pages acknowledge -- this story is a morality play. How is each of the characters a "criminal"? How is each "beyond the law"? Does each get "justice"? Is justice the point, or simply a "lust" to torture and kill? Is the story about breaking the law or enforcing it, about mistakes or abuses in pursuing justice? None of this is meaningfully addressed.

The films (which I have now seen thanks to Amazon.com and hope to separately review elsewhere on this site), are worse in some respects and better in some respects than the book. Each is worth seeing as an attempt to bring to life a compelling but at the same time confining plot concept. Each, like the book, fails to fully realize that idea as a story.

Briefly, the 1945 film develops the plot better in some ways than the book and is more entertaining. The cast is outstanding, except Mischa Auer. But the film presents the general and his past crime ineffectively and changes others. Its attempts to make the characters entertaining come at the expense of their plausibility as villains and of the story's seriousness. The climactic scene revealing the host's identity, means, and motives is short, sedate, and unsatisfying.

The 1965 film is enjoyable and energetic. But it is not as tightly and richly told, nor as well-acted, as the 1945 version, despite good casting. As in 1945, attempts to make characters comical or appealing sap the suspense. The final scene has more explanation than in 1945, but remains thin and undramatic.

The 1974 film takes a different tone than its predecessors. It captures more of a sense of fear, dread, and suspense. Yet, overall, the movie is less substantial and entertaining than the prior versions. The storytelling is so spare and unartful that it is sterile and uninvolving. Other than Stephane Audran, the outstanding cast is unable to breathe life into the characters. The final scene is less effective than before.

Everything about the 1989 version seems low-budget, from the cast to the script to the set to the production values. The casting of the doctor is even worse than Frank Stallone as Lombard. And not until Donald Pleasance's final moments on screen does he play his character with any coherence. But Herbert Lom is excellent as the general. And it is left to this film to finally present a dramatic end scene.

A masterpiece. I've read loads of Agatha Christie's books but this is definitely the best. It's not just the plot that is involving, but also the style itself captures you and sticks you to the armchair. So, cancel all your appointments, sit down confortably and start reading: you won't be able to close the book until everyone in it is dead. And you'll still have not a clue about the murderer. Don't worry,anyway, cos "good old aunt" Agatha will sort everything out and you'll be astonished by the solution.

Love Agatha Christie. Enjoyed this book. Good character study. Keeps your interest. Ending kind of in the air!! I have enjoyed some of her other books more.

Some people criticise Agatha Christie for the "cosiness" of her crime novels, alleging the characters are too stiff-upper-lip and the plots too neatly wrapped up at the end, with life just going on happily as before. But every so often, Christie took a darker turn and delved into a deep exploration of human evil and guilt. `And Then There Were None' is a classic example of this darker Christie (`Endless Night' is another one). On one level, it is a first class murder mystery that holds its own against anything Agatha Christie has written. But it is also an extraordinary study of the psychological disintegration of the characters, as they are confronted with a combination of their impending murder and their own guilt. At its heart, `And Then There Were None' is a study of sin, guilt, and retribution.

This is the very definition of the "locked room mystery". Ten people are enticed to an island off the English coast by the mysterious Mr U. N. Owen. As they gather in Mr Owen's island house, a recording suddenly springs to life and accuses them all of "murder". All ten are allegedly guilty of killings that the law cannot touch; (a judge condemned an innocent man to death, a drunk doctor botched an operation and killed his patient, a soldier ordered a disliked subordinate into a suicidal position, and so on) and Mr Owen seems intent on dispensing some private justice. The guests soon begin dying one-by-one, in the manner of the nursery rhyme `And Then There Were None', and both the mystery and the mental torture deepen as more and more of them are killed off. Is Mr Owen hidden somewhere on the island? Or is it really one of ten themselves who are responsible?

As I say, in addition to being a clever mystery, `And Then There Were None' also succeeds brilliantly in exploring the stress and torment the characters go through. Christie cleverly allows us inside each of their heads at different times, allowing us to read their thoughts, fears, and doubts. This technique causes us feel a strong empathy with many of them, and despite being "guilty" of killing it can be painful to watch these characters crack under the increasing strain. What is also fascinating is the way different characters react to the prospect of their death; one character seems happily resigned to his fate as a way of taking the guilt and pain away, others try to brazen their way out through bravado, and still others just go to pieces. This psychological breakdown plus the often "impossible" murders gives the book a horrifying, other-worldly feel. It's as if the true murderer is the characters' own guilty consciences taken on a physical form.

The conclusion is very well done, with many of the revelations being surprising but plausible in hindsight. Some may question whether Christie plays fair, but on re-reading the book you'll notice there are several clues that suggest all is not what it seems. A couple of clever and well-placed red herrings, particularly toward the latter part of the book, succeed in distracting us from the identity of the killer, and the characters' increasing paranoia muddies the waters even further.

In all, this a dark psychological thriller just as much as it is an outstanding mystery novel. "Cosy crime" this is not!

I picked up this book looking for a quick read for my reading project. This book was amazing! Who would ever think of a plot like this! Ten people are herded to a deserted island by the Owens. Who would ever suspect that no one would get off alive?

The description does not say this is the play. I needed the novel for my child's class, and thought that was what I ordered. Only after we got it did we realize it is not what we wanted.

Amazon - please update the description which is misleading.

This was the Play. We needed the book for our son's Language Arts class and it was not the book!