Ten strangers are invited to an island mansion by its mysterious owner where, on their first evening, they are each accused of a crime - with no way of leaving the island, they find themselves picked off one-by-one…

This is the first Christie I ever read back when I was 12 or 13, and over 20 years later, I still remember feeling completely mind-blown. It’s the book that kick-started my love for Christie’s mysteries and was my firm favourite going into my Sharky Reads Christie project, so I was actually a little nervous about picking it up - it had a lot to live up to…

Anyway, I’m happy to report that it did stand up to the heavy weight of my expectations - it’s a Christie classic for a reason. Enduringly clever, and even though I’ve read it before several times (but couldn’t quite remember the solution), I did not figure it out. My only minor criticism is that explaining the solution via epilogue feels slightly clumsy, but I also don’t know how else Christie could have done it - bringing detectives in and having them going over everything would rapidly become repetitive in a format that already runs the risk of feeling repetitive (but doesn’t).

There is an excellent Author’s Note (swipe to read), and I agree with Christie - she had every right to be pleased with herself for pulling off such a difficult premise. It is a book to pit your brain against, not one to read for character development. It’s a puzzle, pure and simple, and that’s what I truly love about Christie’s mysteries.

Would I say it’s still my favourite Christie? Well, I’m not sure I can pick a hands-down favourite actually, but a joint-favourite, certainly - it just has to share the top spot with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Murder in Mesopotamia.

The ultimate locked room murder mystery, ingenious yet elegantly simple without being obvious.