Eight people are invited to an island called Indian Island to meet two people who go by the names Mr. U.N. Owen and Mrs. U.N. Owen. The names of these people are Vera Claythorne, Anthony Marston, Justice Lawrence Wargrave, Phillip Lombard, an ex-Inspector of Scotland Yard named William Henry Blore disguised as a South African, and General Macarthur, Dr. Armstrong, and Emily Brent. A man named Fred Narracot takes them to the island. There, they meet the servants, Mr. and Mrs. Rogers. Mr. Owen was not there at the time. They each went to there rooms. Each of them saw the children’s nursery rhyme, Ten Little Indians. It goes like this (big hint)
Ten little Indians went out to dine
One choked his little self and then there were nine nine
Nine little Indians stayed up very late
One overslept and then there were eight
Eight little Indians traveling through Devon
One said he would stay and then there were seven
Seven little Indians chopping up sticks
One chopped himself in halves and then there were six
Six little Indians played with a hive
A bee stung and then there were five
Five little Indians going for law
One got in Chancery and then there were four
Fpur little Indians going out to sea
A red herring swallowed one and then there were three
Three little Indians going to a zoo
A bear hugged one and then there were two
Two little Indians sitting in the Sun
One shriveled up and then there was one
One little Indian all alone
That night, they were having dinner and found out everyone had a copy of the poem in there rooms. They saw 10 china Indians on the table as they ate. They suddenly heard a record accusing each of them with murder. They were all spooked. Mrs. Rogers fainted. Rogers said he started the record because Mr. Owen told him to. They asked him what this Mr. Owen even looked like. He told them that he had never me him. Mrs. Rogers came to and Dr. Armstrong gave her some sleeping pills. They started to want to investigate who this guy was anyway. Justice Wargrave asked everyone about the murders they were accused with and how they even got invited. They all got the stories from each other. They also learned Blore’s true name because the record said William Henry Blore and there was no Blore among them and that he was hired by Owen to watch the others. All the murders seemed accidental and/or coincidental in exception for the one for which Phillip Lombard was accused. They also said the invitations they got were either from Una Nancy Owen or Ulick Norman Owen, both U.N. Owens. After examining the pronunciations of the names, they found that U.N. Owen sounded like UNKNOWN. They deduced that there was no Mr. Owen and that a homicidal lunatic had lured them to the island. Anthony Marston said he was ready to investigate. He drank something in a toast and his face became purple; he choked, and then died. The doctor found some traces of Potassium Cyanide in the cup that Marston had drunk from. They thought it might have been suicide because everyone else’s drinks weren’t poisoned. However, they all thought it was hard to believe because he was so young and so full of life. They decided they would leave the island with Fred Narracott when he came tomorrow to deliver bread and milk. They all went to their rooms. Rogers stayed behind to clean up. He saw 9 china Indians on the table instead of 10 while he was cleaning. That struck him as odd. Upstairs, in her locked room, Vera Claythorne examined the poem in her room and said that this terrible murder was just like how the first Indian disappeared.
The next day, Rogers woke up Dr. Armstrong and told him that his wife wasn’t waking up no matter what he did. Armstrong examined her and declared that she was dead. Rogers told him that she hadn’t been sleeping well and that she hadn’t taken any pills except the ones that he had given her. He said she might have either done suicide or had cardiac problems. They started walking to the beach. They found out from the others who were already there that Narracott hadn’t arrived yet. Rogers said that was strange because he normally came quite early and he would send his brother if he was sick. Rogers went into the house, and came back and told Dr. Armstrong about last nights disappearing china Indian and said now there were only 8 of them on the table.
After that, the guests who slept longer came to the beach. It was breakfast time and everyone but General MacArthur went inside to eat. He decided he wasn’t going to leave the island . . . ever. After breakfast, Lombard, Blore, and Armstrong decided to see if anyone was on the island except themselves. While investigating, they passed General MacArthur. He seemed . . . strange. His eyes were out of focus and he seemed to be daydreaming. They went to see if there were any caves in the cliff on the side of the island. Blore said he had seen Lombard with a revolver. Lombard told him that he was really hired to watch the 10 people on the island. Blore went to get some rope for a little while. Lombard went for a few minutes to test a theory, which was incorrect. When Blore came back, Armstrong went down and saw no caves. He deduced no one but their 10 selves were on the island. While they were doing that, Vera Claythorne and Emily Brent were taking a short walk together. Emily told Vera about the murder she was accused of. She said that a girl who seemed nice came to her house but she turned out to be a sinner. Emily kicked her out of her house and the girl threw herself into a river. Vera seemed afraid of Emily now. The gong soon sounded for lunch. They all went to the house. They noticed General MacArthur wasn’t there. Armstrong went to fetch him. Soon, he ran back and exclaimed the MacArthur was dead. Rogers ran to the table but Vera told him what he suspected had already happened. There were only 7 china Indians.
They were all afraid now. Armstrong said that MacArthur was hit by something like a life preserver. Rogers said that someone had stole bathroom curtains and Emily said someone had stolen her wool. They ate lunch. Then Wargrave told everyone that the murderer had to be of them and that they had to be careful and that no one could be eliminated from the suspects list. They told each other what they had been doing. They learned from Rogers Fred Narracott still hadn’t arrived. That night, after dinner, they each locked their doors and slept.
The morning, Lombard woke up Blore and told him Rogers hadn’t come by yet. They woke up the rest and started looking for Rogers. They couldn’t find him. The fire wasn’t lit, the tea hadn’t been made and Rogers hadn’t woken them up. They made their own breakfast and saw that there were only 6 china Indians now. After breakfast, they found Rogers. He had been the tool shed chopping up firewood with the small cleaver when some one Must have snuck up on him and hit him with the big cleaver. Now Rogers was dead. They wondered who would be next.
That afternoon, they ate lunch. They finished and Emily said she would wash the dishes. Everyone else went to the drawing room. Wargrave stepped out for a second. In the kitchen, Miss Brent was getting drowsy. A bee stung her. She was dead. After a long time, everyone went to see how Emily was doing. She looked fine, but didn’t notice them. When they saw her face, her lips were blue and blood covered he face. They saw a bee on the site. There were only 5 china Indians.
Well, that’s the half - point. Oh, by the way, there are 2 - 3 versions of the endings. This is the end of my summary.
Who is the murderer?
Why have they killed these people?
Why does this homicidal maniac love his nursery rhyme so much?
Read this book and you’ll find the answers and more.
(Okay, okay, that last one might not be answered)
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