Never Won a Major Prize
And Then There Were None
by Agatha Christie
Summary
Ten strangers are lured to an isolated island off the English coast, each carrying a secret guilt, and are killed off one by one in a sequence that follows an ominous nursery rhyme counting down to zero. Christie constructs an airtight closed circle mystery with no detective present to guide the reader, forcing the remaining guests and the audience alike to work out who among them is the killer. It remains the best selling mystery novel of all time and one of the best selling books in any genre.
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Historical Context & Significance
No mystery prize existed yet to honor the novel, since the Edgar Award would not launch until 1946. Christie's staggering commercial success across her career never translated into a major literary prize for any individual title.