It's a Mystery

I am not generally a big fan of murder mysteries, but, since Agatha Christie is considered the Queen of the genre, I decided to give one of her novels a try.  Several years ago, before my move to Mexico, I read "Halloween Party".  I was not very impressed, but I later learned that it was considered one of her lesser works, written late in her life.  I gave the author another try. I picked up one of her most famous mysteries, "And Then There Were None", to put on my bookshelf in the apartment and to read in the future.  I started it a week ago, and at 300 pages in fairly large type it was finished quickly.

The mystery revolves around ten people at a mansion on a small island off the coast of England.  Two of them were servants hired by the mysterious owner of the island and the other eight were invited to spend the weekend there.  One by one the ten people are found dead.  There is no way for them to get off of the island.  The survivors thoroughly search the island and the house for the murderer.  When they find no one they assume that the killer is one of them.  Although there is nothing spectacular about Christie's prose, she weaves an ingenious mystery that leaves one guessing until the very end.  The author said that it was her most difficult novel. 

The story is pleasurable reading, but it does reflect the prejudices of the era in which it was written.   The original title was "Ten Little N*****s" after the name of a 19th century minstrel song.  For a while it was published as "Ten Little Indians", and now its title is "And Then There Were None".  One glaring bit of prejudice that remains is a minor character (not one of the ten on the island) who is referred to as "a dirty Jew".  Beyond that reference, which could easily be edited out, it was an entertaining book.