“In the corner of a first-class smoking carriage, Mr. Justice Wargrave, lately retired from the bench, puffed at a cigar and ran an interested eye through the political news in The Times.”

From Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.

Ten strangers have arrived on the mysterious and exclusive Skeleton Island following the invitation or hiring by a Mr. Owen.  There is a butler and a maid, a newly hired secretary, a pious elderly woman, a recently retired judge, a disgraced police detective, a well-known doctor, an old army general, a young man popular in society, and a mercenary back from Africa.  When the guests arrive, they are informed by the butler that the host has been detained, but should arrive the next day.  The house seems to have one common decorating theme and that is the 10 Little Soldiers poem in each bedroom as well as ten soldier figures as the centerpiece of the dining table.  As the guests meet and get to know each other, things are quickly thrown off when a mysterious record plays naming each guest and staff member responsible of murder; the record also sentences each of the ten to death for their crime.  Shortly thereafter as the guests are trying to figure out who invited them to this island to pull such an elaborate prank (because each one claims to be innocent of their accused crime), fear takes over as one by one the guests begin to die.  While the first two are initially considered natural deaths, it quickly becomes apparent that they are murders that match up perfectly with the morbid 10 Little Soldiers poem.  With each murder, one of the soldier figures disappears from the table and those still alive are left fearing for their lives, trying to find out which one of them is the murderer before it is too late.

This book is everything that fans of the mystery genre could ever want; constant twists, unexpected murders, and a constantly elusive murderer.  Christie manages to create a story that will have readers on the edge of their seat until the very last page.  The story is complete and the ending is satisfying, and while there are some clues scattered throughout the book, the revealing of the killer is truly shocking.  And Then There Were None is a story like no other and definitely worth the read!