Fridge / And Then There Were None

This page will contain unmarked spoilers. If you have not read or seen And Then There Were None and wish to go in unspoiled, turn back now. You have been warned.

Fridge Brilliance

• Even if there'd been a last survivor, the killer might still have gotten their way. Whomever was left behind on the island would naturally be blamed for the murders, and hanged for them. (Technically that wouldn't match the poem's suicide, but it could be Metaphorically True that they'd put themselves into the noose by committing their original crime, and then coming to the island in the first place!)
• "Ladies and gentlemen! Silence, please! You are charged with the following indictments..." You know what that sounds like? A judge reading out the charges.
• The judge turning out to be the killer is a pretty good twist for several reasons.
  • Nobody would ever suspect a judge, a man who is supposed to be reasonable and intelligent, to be capable of murder. In others, he's the one you'd least suspect.
  • Also U.N. Owen's plan would require a tremendous degree of planning, intricate knowledge of crime and murder, and an understanding of the human psyche to pull off. A judge as old as Wargrave, who presided over numerous murder cases, would have that kind of knowledge of criminal behavior to pull off this kind of scheme.
• Reread the first section of the book. The one narrated by Wargrave. Christie is an evil genius.
  Constance Culmington, he reflected to himself, was exactly the kind of woman who would buy an island and surround herself in mystery. Nodding in gentle approval of his logic, Lawrence Wargrave allowed himself to drift to sleep.
• Vera's reactions to her mates' crimes are influenced by her own situation: she feels sorry for Beatrice, the pregnant maid who sinned "for love" just like her, and doesn't particularly care for the Africans, who were "a burden" just like Cyril.
• There's a perfectly valid Doylist reason why Narracott shouldn't have been alone while discovering the bodies. No, he obviously wouldn't have become a suspect, but the only piece of evidence that disqualifies Vera Claythorne from being U.N. Owen in the eyes of the police is that the chair she was standing on during the suicide was neatly put up against the wall. If there had been nobody to observe Narracott, the conclusion would have probably been that it had been him who moved the chair and then for some reason lied or genuinely forgot it.
• Emily Brent having sympathy for the natives that Lombard betrayed makes sense for a few reasons.
  • While Emily was definitely cruel to her maid, she wasn't the person who pulled the trigger. You don't need to be religious to hate murder, but Emily Brent would view any kind of murder as a violation of God's will.
  • While the record of missionaries in British colonies was...mixed, most of them insisted they were helping the natives by providing a higher level of civilization for their converts, as well as saving their souls. Emily Brent might also have believed in the idea that black men could be "redeemed" through faith, which was a pretty enlightened view for the time. But this view also showcases Brent's hypocrisy, since she treated her own maid as damaged goods, contradicting her supposed belief in forgiveness and mercy.

Fridge Horror

• What exactly did Fred Narracott do to deserve being the man who found the dead bodies? Also, the bodies of Marston and Mrs. Rogers would have been starting to stink by the time Narracott got there. Not to mention that Rogers (hacked up with a hatchet) and Blore (brains literally bashed in / stabbed with a carving knife) would have had very gory deaths, as well. I'm pretty sure that in the book, Blore was simply left lying in plain sight with brains leaking out all over the terrace, since neither Lombard or Vera were in any state (or had any time) to put his body in his room.
• Hugo had to break up with his psycho girlfriend knowing (or at least suspecting) she had no problems killing a child to get her way. The poor guy probably feared for his life, wondering how she would react to a rejection: we can hardly blame him for ghosting her as soon as the inquest ended - or for trying to drown his sorrows in alcohol. And how did he react on learning that he himself unwittingly set U.N. Owen on her track? He said point blank that he still cared about her.

Fridge Logic

• In addition to the three clues acknowledged by the killer, there are additional reasons not mentioned that would lead an investigator to the killer. The investigators consider that U.N. Owen must be one of the ten dead people. The murderer, who is terminally ill should come under suspicion as one willing to commit suicide.
  • On the idea of clues, it seems all of the victims prior to Armstrong were put in their beds with sheets over them. In his confession, Wargrave makes no mention of jury rigging his suicide so that the sheet falls over his face, and it would seem problematic for the elastic-on-the-gun trick to work properly if he did. Perhaps the lack of a sheet might be a further tip off to the police?
  • How would you know Wargrave were terminally ill though? No electronic medical records, a private doctor - and one who would need a subpoena before revealing medical documents which are confidential.
    • the illness would probably be detected in an autopsy, especially since the killer was too far advanced for treatment (and possibly the most socially prominent of the victims). Not to mention, an appeal to the public for information would prompt even a private doctor to contact the police - patient confidentiality doesn't outlive the patient.
    • Don't forget, this was an autopsy done in 1939, not present day. I doubt Wargrave's autopsy would be anything more than cursory. He has a bullet wound in his forehead, and there are diary entries saying he was shot in the head. Wargrave's cause of death is pretty obvious. Why would the coroner go digging, especially when there were other victims with less-apparent causes of death to go through.
  • Although the book mentions that the purchaser of Indian Island covered up the financial tracks, an investigation of the victim's accounts should reveal suddenly missing money invested in dummy corporations.
    • And what will it prove? The police already know who technically purchased the island and already guessed "that death of Morris' is a damned sight too opportune". Maybe you meant the murderer's accounts?
    • Talk of dummy corporations is anachronistic. How would the police know the difference? No such thing as financial forensic analysts in the 20s.
  • And indeed the murderer would have to be someone wealthy enough to buy an island. That rules out nearly all of them.
    • That was the defining clue for me. Out of all of them, the only ones who could possibly secure the funds were Marston, Armstrong, Brent, and Wargrave. None of the others could acquire anywhere close to that much money, and we have no clue how much the playboy and old lady actually have.
  • Also, as mentioned on the Headscratchers page, despite the diaries' evidence the police must have only found Wargrave's blood in his room, not in the parlor, where he presumably was killed. While the absence of the blood in the parlor might be explained away with mere cleaning that was not deemed important enough to be mentioned in the diaries, the amount of blood in the room might be more suspicious.
    • Wargrave is unconcerned about how much blood they find in his room. He notes in his confession letter that the police will find him in his bed, shot through the head, in accordance with the diary entries. That indicates the diaries just mentioned he was dead, not where he was found. His only concern, as he states in the letter, is that the authorities find his body in his bead with the gunshot wound to the head.
      • It doesn't mean that the diaries didn't say he was murdered in the parlor - it only means that he will be found in the bed where he's supposed to be when everything's over. Actually, given how the police are not too brilliant in Agatha Christie's books, to put it mildly, I see no problem at all with suggestion that they just missed the significance of this detail.
• Judge Wargrave sending himself a letter of invitation to the island is a pretty slick move, since it could be used as cover later if the group members try to establish their legitimacy by showing that they too were invited by the murderer. However, in his first scene, Wargrave clearly reads the letter to himself as if he's never seen it before, recalls the woman who supposedly sent it to him, and takes a few minutes to wonder about the identity of the island's mysterious owner. None of these things make sense if Wargrave orchestrated the murder plot.
  • He was remembering what's been written about the island in the newspapers and re-reading the letter, to make sure it was plausible, e.g. that Constance would buy an island and send him an invitation like that.
  • He knows the narrator is hovering over his shoulder and describing his actions, and is deliberately pretending to wonder and re-read, just to throw it off the scent.
    • Maybe he's just getting into character for his role?
  • By the way, it's strange that the police don't mention Constance at all...
  • Reread it.
  Constance Culmington, he reflected to himself, was exactly the kind of woman who would buy an island and surround herself in mystery. Nodding in gentle approval of his logic, Lawrence Wargrave allowed himself to drift to sleep.
  • Exactly. He is simply passing time on the train by admiring his work.
• Why did U.N. Owen give clear instructions as to which guest should stay in which room? At least to ensure that 1) Vera gets a room which is upstairs and contains some seaweed (or how did this whole seaweed prank work?) Possibly having the bear clock specifically in Vera's room also mattered - to throw suspicion on her having arranged it as a trap in her own room); 2) Wargrave gets a room downstairs which he is most likely to enter and exit unnoticed at night, and so that his suicide gun contraption would work exactly as practiced beforehand (since it was probably tailored to the specific room layout, by the look of things). Not sure if other locations had any significance though.
  • All the guest rooms were upstairs. Wargrave's was the first room at the top of the stairs, as Legge and Maine note that the revolver was found just inside the door of the room at the top of the stairs-Wargrave's room. I don't recall any significance to room placement being discussed in the book. Maybe Wargrave did it since the "Owens" left exacting instructions for the Rogers', and felt that one of the things they'd be exacting about was a list of each room for each guest.
  • Vera might also have been assigned that specific room due to the hook in the ceiling, since we don't know if any other room had that.