And Then There Were None

And Then There Were None is a mystery novel by the English writer Agatha Christie, described by her as the most difficult of her books to write. This is not the original title that it was published under and has since been changed for its use of a derogatory slur, though it retains the same meaning as it uses the final line of the poem for which it was originally named rather than either of its known titles.

There were ten people—a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a little private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common are their wicked pasts they're unwilling to reveal—and a secret that will seal their fate. Each has been marked for murder, following the plot of a famous nursery rhyme. When they realize that murders are occurring as described in the rhyme, terror mounts. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. Who has choreographed this dastardly scheme? And who will be left to tell the tale? Only the dead are above suspicion.