Agatha Christie's masterpiece, and the best-selling murder mystery book of all time, celebrates its 80th birthday with this gorgeous hardback Special Edition.

'We're not going to leave the island. None of us will ever leave. It's the end, you see - the end of everything...'

1939. Europe teeters on the brink of war. Ten strangers are invited to Soldier Island, an isolated rock near the Devon coast. Cut off from the mainland, with their generous hosts Mr and Mrs U.N. Owen mysteriously absent, they are each accused of a terrible crime. When one of the party dies suddenly they realise they may be harbouring a murderer among their number.

The 10 strangers include a reckless playboy, a troubled Harley Street doctor, a formidable judge, an uncouth detective, an unscrupulous mercenary, a God-fearing spinster, two restless servants, a highly decorated general and an anxious secretary. One by one they are picked off. Who will survive? And who is the killer? Copies of an ominous nursery rhyme hang in each room, the murders mimicking the awful fates of its 'Ten Little Soldier Boys'.

About the Author

Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written towards the end of the First World War, introduced us to Hercule Poirot, who was to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. She is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 30 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott.

Reviews

'Agatha Christie's masterpiece.'
Spectator

'One of the very best, most genuinely bewildering Christies.'
Observer

'The most astonishingly impudent, ingenious and altogether successful mystery story since The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.'
Daily Herald

'One of the most ingenious thrillers in many a day.'
Time Magazine

'There is no doubt that this is a highly ingenious jigsaw by a master of puzzling.'
Books

'There is no cheating; the reader is just bamboozled in a straightforward way from first to last... The most colossal achievement of a colossal career. The book must rank with Mrs Christie's previous best - on the top notch of detection.'
New Statesman

'The whole thing is utterly impossible and utterly fascinating. It is the most baffling mystery Agatha Christie has ever written.'
New York Times

Book Information
ISBN 9780008328924
Author Agatha Christie
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint HarperCollins
Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
Weight(grams) 320g
Dimensions(mm) 222mm * 141mm * 24mm