Ten little Indian boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine little Indian boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight little Indian boys travelling in Devon;
One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.
Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in half and then there were six.
Six little Indian boys playing with a hive;
A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five little Indian boys going in for law;
One got in Chancery and then there were four.
Four little Indian boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three little Indian boys walking in the zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two little Indian boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up and then there was one.
One little Indian boy left all alone;
He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.
Any serious mystery fan knows this one by heart:
Ten people, strangers to each other, are summoned to an island. There, a mysterious recording accuses each one of being the cause of another's death, and one by one, murders start cropping up among them, each one executed in a fashion similar to those in the "Ten Little Indians" rhyme. The remaining ones come to the only possible conclusion: the murderer(ess?) must be one of them. Paranoia and suspicion run high, as each person tries to outwit the killer at his or her game. Which one of them cannot be trusted? And how long will it be before the next Indian is offed...?
The ten people are, in alphabetical order:- Dr. Edward Armstrong, a medical doctor. Accused of causing the death of a patient by operating on her while drunk.
- William Blore, a former policeman who tends to be too bold for his good. Accused of causing the death of an innocent man by planting false evidence and landing him in prison where he died.
- Emily Brent, a dour and staunchly religious woman. Accused of causing the death of her maid Beatrice by firing her and turning her out of the household when she became pregnant and thus driving her to suicide.
- Vera Claythorne, a young former governess, now gym teacher and secretary. Accused of causing the death of her lover Hugo's little nephew, Cyril, by encouraging him to swim out to sea alone and drown, so that Hugo could inherit his brother's (Cyril's father's) estate.
- Colonel Philip Lombard, a cool-headed and intelligent man. Accused of causing the death of 21 natives by abandoning them in his brief career as a mercenary in Africa.
- General John MacArthur, a retired World War I general. Accused of causing the death of his wife's lover by sending him on a war mission that virtually guaranteed his death.
- Anthony Marston, a handsome and vain youth with little concern for others. Accused of causing the deaths of two children by accidentally running over them with his car.
- Thomas and Ethel Rogers, the servants who accommodate the other eight guests (Rogers is a butler, his wife a cook). Both accused of causing the death of their former employer, an old and sick American lady, for monetary gain.
- Judge Lawrence Wargrave, a retired Hanging Judge with a no-nonsense attitude. Accused of causing the death of an accused murderer by steering the jury into sentencing him to death, despite evidence supporting his innocence.
Of course, one of them is the killer. But which one?
Written by
Agatha Christie in 1939 and then adapted into a play in 1943 by the author herself, with a
Revised Ending. Several
film versions have been made, most of which use the play's ending rather than that of the book (which makes sense once you know the book's ending). Four English-language films have been produced, in 1945, 1965, 1975, and 1989, the latter three all produced by Harry Alan Towers. A Russian film was produced in 1987, which is notable for being the only major adaptation to use the novel's original ending. There also was a videogame featuring an additional character as an investigator that has
Multiple Endings, one of them the same as the play, as well as the original ending as lockable content after finishing the game.
The novel is known by a number of different titles as a direct result of
Values Dissonance. The original title was actually
Ten Little Niggers, which believe it or not, was not considered racist in 1930s Britain. For the US edition, the title was changed to
And Then There Were None, and later it was published in both countries as
Ten Little Indians. However, that title would come to be seen as racist as well, and so
And Then There Were None has become more or less standardized as the official title.
Trope namer for
Ten Little Murder Victims and
Acquitted Too Late. Partial inspiration for the game and film
Clue.
Also, U.N Owen is not to be confused with
U.N. Owen Was Her?.
The original book contains examples of:
- Acquitted Too Late: The Trope Namer; Judge Wargrave remarks that only the dead are above suspicion. However, it's more of an Invoked Trope here than a straight example; once the "death proves innocence" idea is set in the party's minds, the killer fakes their own death to throw suspicion off themselves.
- Asshole Victim: None of the victims is exactly an innocent, though a few are sympathetic to varying degrees.
- Anyone Can Die: And they do.
- Ax Crazy: Vera, and to a lesser extent Wargrave.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Vera, just...Vera.
- Book 'Em, Danno: U. N. Owen's record. Inverted, as this happens in the beginning of the book.
- Brainless Beauty: Anthony Marston.
- The Butler Did It: Averted; Mr. Rogers is one of the first characters to be killed off.
- Censored Title: Originally titled Ten Little Niggers; later versions were changed to Ten Little Indians or And Then There Were None. Desyat Negrityat
, the Soviet movie version, actually kept the original title and translated it into Russian despite being produced in 1987.- Recent versions have changed the in-world 'ten little Indians' poem to 'ten little soldiers'.
- Chekhov's Gun: The hook on the ceiling in Vera's room. To a lesser extent, the rhyme when it is first introduced may also count.
- In addition, the marble bear clock in Vera's room (briefly mentioned near the beginning), which is later used to kill Blore. Taken further in the game when you pick it up after finding Blore's body and use it to knock the gun out from Steel's hand before Vera is murdered.
- The Chessmaster: The killer, with an elaborate Gambit Roulette.
- Contrived Coincidence: The storm that just happened to show up and prevent any would-be escapee from swimming away from the island.
- Downer Ending: There's a reason why only the Russian movie adaptation uses it. Highlight the spoiler in Anyone Can Die.
- Driven to Suicide: Beatrice Taylor (Emily Brent's 'victim') and also Vera Claythorne.
- In the first movie, Emily's victim is changed to her wayward nephew.
- In the game, Wargrave's victim (Steel's lover) committed suicide after being found guilty in court.
- Empathic Environment: The worsening weather coincides with the worsening situation on the island.
- Fingertip Drug Analysis
- Foregone Conclusion: At first glance, the American title seems like it's just trying to entice the reader by using the last line of the nursery rhyme it follows. In actuality, anyone who's read the book knows that it's actually telling you how many characters will be left at the end.
- For the Evulz: An unusual example, the killer admits that his main motive was that he felt compelled to murder people, but his Knight Templar tendencies mean that he still feels that all of his victims have to be people who deserve it; that is, they had gotten away with murder and if he were their judge, he would have hanged them all.
- Gambit Roulette
- Hanging Judge: Wargrave.
- Haunted Heroine: Vera Claythorne.
- Heroic Sociopath: Philip Lombard, to some degree.
- Also Wargrave, who basically describes himself as someone who likes killing and inflicting pain, but only does so to those he feels they deserve it by law.
- Holier Than Thou: Emily Brent.
- Ironic Nursery Tune
- It's All About Me: Anthony Marston completely fails to understand that the death of John and Lucy Combes was not just about the inconvenience of losing his license.
- Kill 'Em All
- Knight Templar: Wargrave, who was a borderline psychopath, but still retained some morals and preferred to use the law and what he considered justice to get what he wanted.
- Locked Room Mystery: All that is left at the end is a bunch of dead bodies on an island. The times and manners of death are completely contradictory and baffle the police.
- Message in a Bottle: Discovered at the end.
- Mind Rape: The "mundane" version, that is. Every single victim goes through it, thanks to Wargrave, and the one who takes the worst part is Vera Claythorne.
- Murder Suicide: Wargrave commits suicide after arranging the deaths of everyone else, as he feels himself to be no better than his victims.
- Old Dark House: Actually a very nice recently-built house in the novel.
- The Perfect Crime
- Poetic Serial Killer
- Pride: Miss Brent is consumed by it.
- Psychological Thriller: The book has elements of this.
- Red Herring: Referred to in the poem; one character points it out, but with the wrong interpretation.
- Red Herring Mole: While every single character is a suspect (right up until they die), the one who gains the most suspicion in the latter half of the book is Doctor Armstrong, who of course turns out to only have been a pawn in the serial killer's game.
- Serial Killer
- Ten Little Murder Victims: Trope Namer, obviously.
- Thanatos Gambit
- Theme Serial Killer: The deaths were patterned after the "Ten Little Indians" rhyme.
- Uriah Gambit: MacArthur's method of killing his wife Leslie's lover.
- UST: Lombard and Vera, although it's only hinted at in a couple of places and never really goes anywhere.
- Vigilante Execution
- Vigilante Man: U. N. Owen.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Or wasps and bees, in Miss Brent's case.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Played straight with Philip Lombard and Vera Claythorne with disastrous results, as she shoots him to death.
The various adaptations of this book contain examples of:
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