And Then There Were None
1939
- roman policier
- french language materials
- français (langue)
- lectures et morceaux choisis
- cyanide poisoning
- chloral hydrate
- potassium cyanide
- scotland yard
- coroners
- message in a bottle
The story
And Then There Were None is a mystery novel by the English writer Agatha Christie, described by her as the most difficult of her books to write. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939, as Ten Little Niggers, after the children's counting rhyme and minstrel song, which serves as a major element of the plot. A US edition was released in January 1940 with the title And Then There Were None, which is taken from the last five words of the song. All successive American reprints and adaptations use that title, except for the Pocket Books paperbacks published between 1964 and 1986, which appeared under the title Ten Little Indians. UK editions continued to use the original title until the current definitive title appeared with a reprint of the 1963 Fontana Paperback in 1985. In 1990 Crime Writers' Association ranked And Then There Were None 19th in their The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list. In 1995 in a similar list Mystery Writers of America ranked the novel 10th. In September 2015, to mark her 125th birthday, And Then There Were None was named the "World's Favourite Christie" in a vote sponsored by the author's estate. In the "Binge!" article of Entertainment Weekly Issue #1343-44 (26 December 2014–3 January 2015), the writers picked And Then There Were None as an "EW favorite" on the list of the "Nine Great Christie Novels". --- Also contained in: - [Five Complete Novels of Murder and Detection](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL471812W) - [Masterpieces of Murder](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL471974W) - [Novels](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL24261345W) - [Oeuvres complètes d'Agatha Christie: Volume VII](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL24710553W) - [Works](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17306242W)
What it’s like
Taut, clipped prose with a cool, controlled voice, and a claustrophobic island setting built from wind, sea fog and bare rooms that a reader can almost feel go colder as the night wears on. The sensory world is spare and gothic-tinged: a grand house on a rocky shore, a dining room with ten figurines on the table, the sound of waves against the rocks and the ticking of a clock. The mood is taut dread edged with grim, dry wit, the kind of cool-headed unease that builds steadily rather than erupting. It suits a late evening alone with the lamp on, a rainy afternoon when you want to be unsettled but not overwhelmed, or a long train journey where the pages can keep pace with your attention. Pacing is brisk, each chapter tightening the screw, and the emotional register stays guarded and rational while the characters, each hiding a past, are picked off one by one and gradually expose their guilt. Intensity is moderate: several deaths, all off the page or brief and undescribed, with poisoning and the threat of violence driving the suspense rather than gore, and no sexual content. Fear is psychological, not graphic. It is for readers who enjoy a locked-room puzzle, a fair-play mystery, and a chilling sense of inevitability.
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