And Then There Were None

If you're one of the few who haven't experienced the genius of Agatha Christie, this novel is a stellar starting point. - David Baldacci, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

An exclusive authorized edition of the most famous and beloved stories from the Queen of Mystery. Ten people, each with something to hide and something to fear, are invited to an isolated mansion on Indian Island by a host who, surprisingly, fails to appear. On the island they are cut off from everything but each other and the inescapable shadows of their own past lives. One by one, the guests share the darkest secrets of their wicked pasts. And one by one, they die...

Which among them is the killer and will any of them survive?

Agatha Christie is the gateway drug to crime fiction both for readers and for writers . . . Just one book is never enough. -VAL MCDERMID, Internationally Bestselling Author

1. Talk about the characters-are any of them likable? Do you develop sympathy for anyone in particular: put another way, are some more sympathetic than others? Why might Christie have put together such an unpleasant cast of characters?

2. Was there any one individual you originally suspected? What about Dr. Armstrong, who goes off alone to find General Macarthur?

3. Locate the various clues Christie leaves along the way... 1) clues designed to lead us off the path, as in a red herring, and 2) clues that point to the real culprit.

4. What is the point of the poem "Ten Little Soldiers" and the fact that after each death one of the figurines on the dining room table goes missing? How do both poems and figurines function in the story? Why might Christie have used such a symbol?

5. Why does Emily Brent write in her diary the name Beatrice Taylor as the murderer? Does Brent feel guilt for what she had done...or not? Do any of the guests come to regret their past actions?

6. Talk about class and gender distinctions. Do you find it strange that Rogers continues to serve the guests despite the death of his wife? Or that women are in charge of meals and clean-up? What about the anti-semitic references?

7. Talk about the motive behind the murders of all the guests-which then might lead you into a discussion of legal justice vs. philosophical justice. Each of the guests is guilty of a crime, but not one that could be prosecuted in a court of law. Does each receive his/her just deserts? In other words, has true justice been accomplished by the end of the novel? Is the murderer insane as all the guests claim? Or is he/she acting with clear-headed logic and rationality?

8. Is the ending satisfying? Were you surprised by the identity of the murderer? Would you have preferred the final victim to discover who the killer was before dying? Why might Christie have withheld that information from readers, as well, until the epilogue?

9. Have you read any other Agatha Christie novels? Which ones...and how does this compare? Print Discussion Questions

'The whole thing is utterly impossible and utterly fascinating. It is the most baffling mystery Agatha Christie has ever written.' -New York Times

'One of the most ingenious thrillers in many a day.' -Time magazine

'One of the very best, most genuinely bewildering Christies.' -The Observer (UK)

'There is no cheating; the reader is just bamboozled in a straightforward way from first to last... .The most colossal achievement of a colossal career. The book must rank with Mrs. Christie's previous best"

-on the top notch of detection.' -New Statesman (UK)

'The most astonishingly impudent, ingenious and altogether successful mystery story since The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.' -Daily Herald (UK)

'What Agatha Christie taught me was all about the delicate placement of the red herring. She was the ultimate genius behind 'by indirections shall we find directions out.u2019 ' -Elizabeth George, New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Lynley novels