And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

As difficult as it is for me to believe, I have never read anything by Agatha Christie. Given that she wrote sixty-six novels and fourteen short story collections, it's a mystery how I have thus far missed out on them. I assure you it was unintentional. That all changed this week with my first Christie novel, And Then There Were None. In this murder mystery we meet ten characters who are all invited to a mansion on a prestigious island. These ten people appear to have nothing in common, and yet the reader learns of just one quality they all have very much alike. They all have a terrible secret and one by one they each will die for their secret. But who could be the killer? Only the dead can be assured of their innocence.

Christie wrote this book in 1940 and I couldn't help but think of the similarities to Clue. It was fun trying to guess who could be the killer, but the book wasn't as intriguing as I had hoped it would be. This was a very fast read, but a fun one. This would make an excellent vacation read or for a time you might not want to concentrate too much. Christie herself says at the beginning of the version I read how very pleased she is with the novel because only she knows how complicated it was to write with all the twists and turns and red herrings. I didn't love this book and I don't know if I'll rush right out to read more Christie, but I can certainly see its value as a novel. I would be open to more.