|
|
Post by novastar6 on Mar 21, 2017 16:59:31 GMT
Spoiler alert.
How many people here when they first read the book had the judge pegged as the killer? It's been so many years since I first read the book I can't even remember why I thought it was him but I just KNEW it, and then what always happens happens, the rug's pulled out, and then at the end we realize we were right all along.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Mar 21, 2017 18:00:29 GMT
Spoiler alert. How many people here when they first read the book had the judge pegged as the killer? It's been so many years since I first read the book I can't even remember why I thought it was him but I just KNEW it, and then what always happens happens, the rug's pulled out, and then at the end we realize we were right all along.
Great idea for a post, novastar6. Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None remains one of my favorite Christies, so many years after I first read it. I find it has the sticking power that even many of her best books do not, because she takes the time to characterize everyone in a great deal of detail, so that the ending (like those of Death on the Nile, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and Endless Night) are genuinely shocking not only at a plot level but at a character level. (This last element, unfortunately, is what I feel no film adaptation that I've seen has been able to achieve: I've not yet seen either the Russian movie or last year's BBC adaptation, which both supposedly keep the book's original ending.)
It may help, by necessity, that it's not a detective story (i.e., no detective work, unless one counts those two policemen who appear in--what?--the last chapter, before the murderer's confession note is read?). We're not seeing through the detective's eyes, then, and the characters are more rounded and more real.
Interestingly enough, to answer your question (how I digress, as Prufrock said!), my chief suspect the first time I read it was Vera. Since she was the last on the island, I was sure that she was indeed the murderer (er--murderess). The book was depressing enough that I thought making the nominal heroine the killer would be an apt way to cap it! I didn't suspect the judge, but--oh!--what a brilliant piece of deception it is! (By the way, "PatienceKiller" on this now-sadly-defunct forum came up with the interesting exercise of who the murderer would be in ATTWN if different authors--John Dickson Carr, G.K. Chesterton, Raymond Chandler--had written it. Some of the "solutions" definitely made me laugh.)
|
|
|
|
Post by louise on Mar 21, 2017 18:17:15 GMT
i've never read it because i know how it turns out, and i just can't get interested in it for that reason, I quite enjoyed the old film version, but the more recent Tv one was bizarre.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
@Deleted
Posts: 0
Likes:
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2017 1:52:18 GMT
When I was at school someone saw the play and told me the killer faked his death which practically ruined it because I figured it out who it would be when reading it. Still an ace book, if you get past the original racism. |
|
persephone
Freshman
It's a perfect night for mystery and horror. The air itself is filled with monsters.
@persephone
Posts: 97
Likes: 30
 
|
Post by persephone on Mar 25, 2017 8:10:03 GMT
I have always loved the book and the 1940's movie. I had the killer pegged from the start but, I am an Agatha Christie fan and I feel that if you read enough of her books you are able to figure out the killers pretty easily.
|
|
|
|
Post by theravenking on Apr 2, 2017 21:51:04 GMT
The judge was my prime suspect too, simply because I figured who else would know about unconvicted criminals but someone who worked in the justice system himself?
|
|
|
|
Post by moviebuffbrad on Apr 24, 2017 22:59:45 GMT
I considered the judge, but my main suspect was Blore.
|
|
|
|
Post by Marv on Apr 25, 2017 13:09:46 GMT
I liked the book but I can't recall who I suspected initially.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Apr 25, 2017 13:15:33 GMT
Oh, boy. Am I the only one who didn't suspect the Judge?! |
|
|
|
Post by tarathian123 on Apr 25, 2017 14:21:04 GMT
One wonders how much Dame Agatha was influenced by Conan Doyle's 'A Study in Scarlet' (the book, not the filmed adaptations), when writing 'Ten Little Indians' (this being not the original title of course).
|
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Apr 25, 2017 14:25:45 GMT
One wonders how much Dame Agatha was influenced by Conan Doyle's 'A Study in Scarlet' (the book, not the filmed adaptations), when writing 'Ten Little Indians' (this being not the original title of course). Hm. Could you explain the influence, Al? I always thought A Study in Scarlet more directly inspired Ellery Queen's ("Barnaby Ross's") The Tragedy of X. |
|
|
|
Post by tarathian123 on Apr 25, 2017 14:55:17 GMT
Mainly the use of the nursery rhyme. This isn't shown in most film and TV adaptations of 'A Study in Scarlet'. Agatha uses nursery rhymes in a number of her books. Just a minor point, but Agatha also got inspiration from other strange places. For example in 'The Mirror Cracks...' there is definite allusion to the tragedy surrounding Gene Tierney.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Apr 25, 2017 17:18:55 GMT
I wonder if, in the case of A Study in Scarlet, you may be thinking of the 1933 picture of the same name with Reginald Owen and Anna May Wong. It's been ages since I've seen it (I actually rather liked it, though most Holmes fans don't), but I remember the murders in it were committed according to a nursery rhyme. I ask because Doyle's book doesn't involve a nursery rhyme, as far as I remember. The main murder is committed in an abandoned house in London, with the German word "Rache" scratched on the wall, and Holmes, after some very clever deductions, traces the motive back to the Mormons in Utah, the tale of which takes up the second half of the book ("In the Country of the Saints"). The murderer's identity--he's the cab-driver who brought the victim to the abandoned house--is rather surprising. It's the first Holmes story, so Doyle is still getting his bearings, but it's good fun. Yes, the Gene Tierney story is ingeniously worked into The Mirror Crack'd. That's the cleverest part of the book, in my opinion. As far as AC's inspiration for Ten Little Indians, I've always wondered if it were Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning's The Invisible Host, which I've never read but which was made into an excellent little picture, The Ninth Guest, in 1934. As far as nursery rhymes and patterns in detective stories, I don't know how far back it goes. I do know, though, that S.S. Van Dine was praised for using one in The Bishop Murder Case (1928), which is still probably his best and most enduring book. |
|
|
|
Post by Marv on Apr 25, 2017 18:16:55 GMT
I just read A study in Scarlet for the first time a few months ago. I really enjoyed it. I read the second Holmes story immediately after...A Sign of Four I think. Also good. Although I preferred Scarlet.
|
|
|
|
Post by tarathian123 on Apr 25, 2017 18:25:30 GMT
Yes :-) Apologies.
Re: The Bishop Murder Case (1928), I have that on computer and ready to go. Haven't read it yet.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Apr 25, 2017 18:38:07 GMT
I just read A study in Scarlet for the first time a few months ago. I really enjoyed it. I read the second Holmes story immediately after...A Sign of Four I think. Also good. Although I preferred Scarlet. Interesting, Marv! I like Scarlet, but I actually prefer The Sign of the Four. It's not as good as a mystery, but it's more fun (IMO) as a novel, very adventurous and fast-paced. The only faithful (cinematic) adaptation of Scarlet I know was made for the '60s television series with Peter Cushing. Probably, the reason it's so infrequently filmed is because Doyle is very anti-Mormon in the book. There are two good adaptations of Sign, though: the Jeremy Brett version and the Ian Richardson version. Fun, light, and fast-moving. I'm a huge fan of those kinds of adventure novels. |
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Apr 25, 2017 18:39:43 GMT
Yes :-) Apologies. Re: The Bishop Murder Case (1928), I have that on computer and ready to go. Haven't read it yet.[Oh, gosh, no need to apologize!] As for Van Dine--uhh... I don't know if you know Philo Vance, Van Dine's detective, but he's a bit much to take if you aren't used to him already. I like those books, but more for the '20s-'30s New York atmosphere than for the mysteries (which are usually pretty obvious). |
|
|
|
Post by Marv on Apr 25, 2017 18:46:29 GMT
I just read A study in Scarlet for the first time a few months ago. I really enjoyed it. I read the second Holmes story immediately after...A Sign of Four I think. Also good. Although I preferred Scarlet. Interesting, Melvin! I actually prefer The Sign of the Four--not as great as a mystery, but more fun (IMO) as a novel, very adventurous and fast-paced. The only faithful (cinematic) adaptation of Scarlet I know was made for the '60s television series with Peter Cushing. Probably, the reason it's so infrequently filmed is because Doyle is very anti-Mormon in the book. There are two good adaptations of Sign, though: the Jeremy Brett version and the Ian Richardson version. Fun, light, and fast-moving. I'm a huge fan of those kinds of adventure novels. I am very fond of films and such set in the American West, so the entire Mormon segment, even tho it was slow, read very interesting to me. And I found the ultimate culprits story to be a fascinating one. Sign of Four was still enjoyable tho and I did like that Holmes and Watsons banter was fully realized rather than the getting to know you' stage of Scarlet. I have the entire Holmes collection...but I've halted on reading the next story for now so that I didn't get burned out on them. |
|
|
|
Post by Nalkarj on Apr 25, 2017 19:03:30 GMT
Oh, I agree with you about the Mormon segment, actually, Marv. That whole period and setting interests me too, and I preferred that flashback to Sign's, though on the whole I find Sign the superior work. I agree about the Homes-Watson banter too (I thought that, on the whole, the characters were better realized in Sign). So I suppose you've moved on to the short stories, then? Yes, might as well take the stories slowly: you can get burned out on them. I started off with the short stories when I was young because my grandfather liked Holmes. |
|
|
|
Post by Marv on Apr 25, 2017 19:15:19 GMT
I actually switched gears entirely and started Mr Mercedes by Stephen King. Good so far. About a retired cop chasing a serial killer type.
I'm a big King fan tho.
|
|
