I've been thinking about Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None recently.  It goes back to my discussion with Jonathan last week at work.  I was asked why it was a fantastic novel.  I think the answer I gave was because of its plot.  Critics sometimes scoffed at the plots of Agatha Christie--they're either ludicrous, farfetched, or too simple.  If critics thought the plot was too complicated, they resorted to the word "farfetched."  Perhaps in another blog we'll discuss that.

The plot: 10 people guilty of murder (but have never been put on trial) are invited as houseguests on Indian Island, off the coast of Devon. There, systematically one by one, they die: they must pay for the murders they've committed in the past! The murderer is one of the ten, clearly. These other nine individuals must be punished, so thinks our murderer. It's carried out by much planning, thought, and manipulation to get everyone on the island. We later find out how all that is managed. Through bogus invitations and deceipt, one by one the guests arrive to meet strangers there. Then, after a hearty meal, retribution and justice begin.

The first death shocks the guests at the island. Why would Marston--the god-like young man--kill himself? Poison in his glass. Senseless, the other guests agree. Then comes the death of Mrs. Rogers, the hired housekeeper. Dies in her sleep. Serious? Hmmm... There's a problem facing the guests also. A horrendous storm arrives and they are cut off from the coast. They have to survive, keep their wits about them. The men decide to search the entire house and the island. But do they seriously think they'll discover a hiding place for the murderer? Of course not, since the murderer is already among them!

However, there is a problem for the reader of this genius of a novel. There are no more suspects--all ten of the houseguests are dead. The murderer leaves a note behind for the local police. In it, this is written:

"When the sea goes down, there will come from the mainland boats and men. And they will find ten dead bodies and an unsolved problem on Indian Island."

I love that ending! What fascinates me is the plot. Christie must have spent weeks on the idea! She says this about the novel in her autobiography: "I had written the book . . . because it was so difficult to do that the idea had fascinated me. Ten people had to die without it becoming ridiculous or the murderer being obvious. I wrote the book after a tremendous amount of planning, and I was pleased with what I had made of it. It was clear, straightforward, baffling, and yet had a perfectly reasonable explanation."

The novel scares me, because they don't realize the murderer is a guest also. As the novel progresses, thoughts of each of the ten are revealed to the reader. Agatha Christie tells the reader each of their past histories and their secrets. In facts, their deaths and secrets haunted me and stayed with me. I do believe that Christie "plays fair" with the reader and lays out all clues to point to the guilty party. There are, of course, the hidden motives of each of the characters and a few red herrings (misleading clues).

The detectives investigating the island and its house after the storm are baffled. They have two or three solutions, but are dissatisfied with them. One detective states, "There must have been some one else on the island. Someone who tidied up when the whole business was over? But where was he all the time--and where did he go? The Sticklehaven people are absolutely certain that no one could have left the island before the rescue boat got there. But in that case--"

And responds his colleague, "But in that case, who killed them?"

For an excellent analysis, check out Matt Christensen's video blog of And Then There Were None on YouTube (as part of his "Christie in a Year" project):