"And Then There Were None"

"And Then There Were None" is a detective fiction novel written by Agatha Christie, and it was first published in 1939 under the title "Ten little niggers". It is her best- selling novel, with 100 million sold copies worldwide, and it is therefore the world's best-selling mystery and the seventh most popular book of all time.

In the novel, eight persons are invited to an island mansion off the Devon coast, the Soldier Island. The hosts, a couple named Mr. and Mrs. U.N.Owen are currently away because of compelling circumstances, and the eight guests are therefore taken care of by two servants after their arrival. These ten persons are all strangers to each other, and it turns out that the only thing the ten of them have in common, is that they are all guilty of murders, and none of them was ever charged for their crimes. Their host fails to appear, and as the weather conditions change, the island becomes a sinister and claustrophobic place to be stranded. The first murder occurs before the ten poor little soldiers realize their fate. Haunted by an old nursery rhyme, they are executed one by one, stuck in a death trap they are unable to escape from.