Our June selection is a Whodunit duet: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers. And Then There Were None, published in 1939, tells the story of ten people invited to an island, only to find their numbers dwindling as one after the other is mysteriously killed. A combination thriller and detective story, the novel is considered to be Christie’s greatest technical achievement, the book she named as the most difficult to plan and write.
Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers was published in 1923 and introduced gentleman detective Lord Peter Wimsey, a character who went on to be featured in eleven novels and two sets of short stories. More than just a crime writer, Sayers was a poet, playwright, essayist, translator, and student of classical and modern languages.
Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers were contemporaries and founding members of The Detection Club, and their masterful works helped transform the genre.
Count me in. I’m looking forward to reading both books, which is a good thing because I’ve been in such a reading slump that nothing has appealed lately.
I’m looking forward to revisiting Lord Peter and I don’t believe I’ve read the Agatha Christie. We have a huge collection of her lesser known work that my younger son picked up at a library sale, but I don’t think this one is in it.
And Then There Were None is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939 under the title Ten Little N… (can’t put the actual word is as it gets flagged as inappropriate), later edited to Ten Little Indians, and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company in January 1940 under the title And Then There Were None.
The original play and related movie version (which Christie oversaw) go by the name ten little indians and have a different ending
And Then There Were None is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939 under the title Ten Little Something Else, later edited to Ten Little Indians, and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company in January 1940 under the title And Then There Were None.
The original play and related movie version (which Christie oversaw) goes by the name ten little indians and has a different ending.
It had been awhile since I read the Christie book. I downloaded the audio book narrated by Dan Stevens. I started listening last night at bedtime but had to stop and put on the Sayers book. The Christie book got me tense!
I dragged out my carton of Agatha Christies and among the 64 paperbacks, did find the correct book. Interestingly enough, it’s the 1975 printing that apparently was done when the movie came out. The front cover says "Now a Major Motion Picture. Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians. (Formerly entitled And Then There Were None). And drawings of all the characters, presumably portrayed by the movie actors since the back cover promotes the movie. As noted, starring Oliver Reed, Elke Sommer, Richard Attenborough, and Gert Froebe (Goldfinger!) among others, and the voice of Orson Welles.
Started reading the Christie and am sucked way in already. Being in effect a locked-room (locked-island?) mystery during a quarantine situation where I’m housebound makes it pack even a harder punch.
I have a spare of the AC book and can put it in the mail if anyone would like a hard copy. I personally like to read a mix of physical books and e-books. Although, as I struggle with the weight of Middlemarch both literally and figuratively, I’m liking the e-books better each day.
I hadn’t read an ebook in a longtime, but the Agatha Christie was manageable for meals an ebook. I did have to scribble a few notes to sort out the many characters initially.
