Next to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, probably one of the best known writers of mysteries was Agatha Christie. Although her characters Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot may be a tad less well known than Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, still there is no denying that the lady had a lasting impact on the genre. While almost every Holmes story has been adapted to film, Christie is probably close in the number of movies which have used her characters or the plots of her stories (sometimes with only the title remaining unchanged by screenwriters and directors, feeling they knew better). My late mother was an avid reader of Christie and for a number of years I would try to buy her a new collection of Christie's short-stories or novels for Christmas.

I'm sure that somewhere along the line I've read a tale or two by Dame Agatha, but I can't really swear to it. As part of my new plan to read some classics, I felt that I would finally pick up one of her most famous novels (and probably the story most ripped off and adapted), namely AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (also known as TEN LITTLE INDIANS). A quick search of the Internet Movie Database (IMDB.com) shows at least ten movies with those titles, and probably there a few others which have stolen the plot but changed the title, for obvious reasons. I do know that I've seen at least a few adaptations of this novel and the concept has been stol...er, borrowed by dozens of writers especially those writing for television detective shows. Face it, how many episodes of MURDER, SHE WROTE, or the later Perry Mason TV-movies used the idea of folks being invited to a place only to be killed off, one by one?

I don't want to write a review of the novel since I'm sure many of you have already read the book or know the plot even though you haven't. It is, after all, close to being a mystery clicheé. The only things I did want to mention were how fascinating I found the book and what a quick read it was. Once I started it I couldn't put it down, reading it over this past weekend. Also, I can see why some of the screen adaptations probably had to change the story, especially the ending, to make it more palatable to audiences. Not exactly your typical movie happy ending.

If you are not already familiar with the plot, here's a basic summary:

Eight people, who have never met, are invited for a weekend to an island seemingly by an acquaintance of each. When they arrive they are greeted by the two servants (man and wife) and are they informed that their host, a Mr. U. N. Own (think about the name) isn't on the island but is expected. After dinner a recording is played, that accuses every one of them (including the two servants) of murder. The "guests" soon learn that they have all been tricked into coming, by someone very familiar with each of them. Before long the first of them is dead and each suspects the others of secretly being responsible. One by one the list of suspects shrinks as the body count mounts.

If you haven't already read the book, I really do want to encourage you to pick it up. Be warned that certain expressions and racial terms used in the book may be offensive. In fact the book was initially published as "Ten Little N*****s", which was later changed to the better known "Ten Little Indians" until some folks objected to that, hence the title which you'll find on most new editions of the book. However, as my ex used to say, you can't blame somebody for not being ahead of their time.

A check of IMDB.com will show that some film adaptations were known by two or more of the book's titles, depending on where and when they were released. I was surprised to find that the original title was actually used for a made-for-TV film released in 1949. An interesting note about this film is that one of the actors was Arthur Wontner, well known in England for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in five films, but later overshadowed by Basil Rathbone who assumed the role in the American made movies.