varingblaarAnd Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
went out to dine
Spoiler warning: If you haven't read And Then There Were None, I suggest you do so before going any further. If this spoils it for you, it's not my fault.You have been warned.
Small update: My edition of the book is from 1972. While researching the series I found the poem in the original book was racially problematic and over the decades adjusted to be more appropriate for modern audiences.
Ten people find themselves invited to a little island that's only accessible by boat. Each of them invited by a friend of a friend or someone they think they've met. The owner of the house, presumably UN Owen, is nowhere but dinner is served. After dinner, a booming voice accuses each of them in turn of directly or indirectly causing the death of one of more people.
The characters are all over the place, and I had a hard time following who's who, but a few stood out to me. Justice Wargrave the judge, took control of the investigation from the start. There's no Poirot or Marple here, so we have to do it ourselves. Miss Claythorne who's accused of letting a boy drown and is racked with guilt over it. Dr Armstrong, mostly because he's actually a doctor and helps with a lot of the early investigating. Although him being a doctor also makes him suspicious. Lombard has a strong personality and is quite opinionated on situations. He also brought an actual gun. Blore, the private investigator and the closest thing we have to a detective. Emily Brent mostly because she annoyed me.
OK, I'm interested. Let's see where this goes.
Everywhere in the mansion, the only building on the island, is displayed the poem of the Ten Little Soldiers. Then people start to die...
Shortly after dinner Marston "choked his little self". Honestly I didn't like him from the beginning, with the car and everything. He seemed the most guilty anyway. Mrs Rogers "overslept" which is a tragedy. She seemed too nice to really do harm and it appeared her involvement in their murder was mostly circumstantial, because she couldn't say no to her husband. MacArthur was already being eaten by penitence. He "said he'd stay" by way of getting hit over the head. By this point we've started seeing the rules of engagement here, especially because the figures on the dining table are counting down. MacArthur made himself as easy a target as possible.
Mr Rogers "chopped himself in halves" but not really. I guess he's the only servant on the island, I can't imagine any of the others would pick up a hatchet as long as he's there... Emily Brent, being stubborn as ever, refused being helped and refused to go with the others. She was left along "a bumblebee stung".
Now things get interesting. Wargrave dies in a judge's costume, "in Chancery" as it were. It's revealed later that this was faked with the help of Dr Armstrong pronouncing him dead. The argument is, that if Wargrave is "dead" he can hunt the killer... But if I were a killer on an island, I'm sure I would notice someone getting killed when it wasn't me killing them... At the time we didn't know Wargrave faked it, this is revealed later.
Armstrong is next because he knows about Wargrave. "A red herring swallowed" him when he was pushed off a cliff. Again, we don't know this now, we find his body in a bit. This one has levels. He died in the sea so swallowed by a fish, but also a red herring is a false clue. Blore saw Armstrong leave and then they couldn't find him, so they thought they'd figured him out. I'm not sure whether Wargrave planned for him to be seen leaving the house, but it worked in his favour.
At this point it could be Armstrong (who disappeared). But either Blore or Lombard could've taken him out while they were searching during the night. Then Blore gets a bear clock to the head. "A big bear hugged" him. Of all the rhymes this one feels the weakest to me. Did the killer really put that clock there so it could be a murder weapon? There's no way they could've planned it this perfectly. I guess once the murder weapon is established, there would be several ways to use the bear clock, one of which is a sneaky lob through an upstairs window...
After finding Armstrong's body, we now "know" that it has to be Lombard or Claythorne. Big confrontation, stolen gun, accidentally shot. Lombard "got frizzled up" which is probably the line I like the least. We've now moved from orchestrated killings to serendipitous happenstance. But it's fine, it's a theme, just go with it.
The happenstance becomes more obvious when the only thing Claythorne could do was hang herself. It's poetic (haha) but she spent several days fighting for her life. Why end it now? I wanted Vera to be the final girl. I guess things were different in the 1930's.
Then the Book Ends. Twice
The first ending is the police showing up. They go through the whole crime scene summarising them, which helps put the whole thing together. At this point we still don't know Wargrave was a hoax, so when the police find his body in his bed with a bullet hole in his forehead it makes sense. But things moved after Claythorne died so someone was here...
And then the final ending. Justice Wargrave's confession as a message in a bottle, explaining how he cleaned up the last few things and then rigged an elastic band to commit suicide with the gun.
Style Over Substance?
Going into the book, I expected the usual attention to detail of a Christie story, knowing there will be details deliberately left out and almost impossible to deduce on first read. About halfway through the story it became clear that the raison d'etre for the story was following the poem and exploring the location. Still a great story, and Agatha Christie's writing is strong as ever, but it wasn't a murder mystery meant to be solved, it was meant as an elaborate escape room. Still highly recommended. Though if you've read this far either you've already read it or it's too late.
