Summary
Ten people receive invitations to stay in a house on an
island. Once there, they hear a recorded voice accusing
each one of them of having committed a crime in the past
for which they have not been punished by law. They are
then murdered one by one, in ways that mirror a poem
about little soldiers that is on the wall in their bedrooms.
Each murder is followed by the disappearance of little
soldier models from the dining-room. When the police
discover ten dead bodies on the island they are initially
mystified. A letter is then delivered to the police station,
written by the murderer. The murderer was one of the
guests, a judge, who had always wanted to commit the
perfect unsolvable crime. He had faked his own death
whilst with the group, and then, after the other nine were
dead, had shot himself.
Chapters 1–2: A group of people, most of whom don’t
know each other, are travelling to a mysterious island
called Soldier Island. Mr Justice Wargrave has been invited
to the island by a woman he met eight years ago. Vera
Claythorne, a sports teacher in a school, had received
a letter offering her a holiday job on the island. Philip
Lombard, possibly a criminal, has also been offered work,
but work of a dubious nature. Emily Brent, a mature lady,
has been invited to stay on the island by somebody she
thinks she remembers. General Macarthur has received an
invitation from somebody he doesn’t know. Dr Armstrong
has been asked to come to the island to examine the
sick wife of a man called Owen. Anthony Marston, a
playboy type, thinks he is going to the island to attend
Mr Owen’s party. Finally, Mr Blore, is going to the island
for unexplained reasons. They arrive at the only house on
the island and are greeted by the servants, Mr and Mrs
Rogers. A frightened looking Mrs Rogers shows Vera her
room. On the wall there is a children’s poem about ten
little soldiers describing how they all died, one by one, in
strange circumstances. All the guests have the same poem
in their rooms. The guests are suspicious of each other,
and puzzled as to why their host, Mr Owen, is not on the
island with them.
Chapters 3–4: After dinner, Marston notices ten little
model soldiers on a plate on the table. Suddenly, they hear
a voice accusing all of them individually of past crimes.
The source of the voice is record player in the next room.
Justice Wargrave takes control of the situation and asks
them all why they have come to the island. Blore tells
them he is a detective and has been sent to guard the
paintings of Mr Owen’s wife. The judge concludes that
Mr Owen doesn’t exist, and that the person responsible
for the record and inviting them to the island has used a
cryptic name, ‘Unknown’, and that he knows a lot about
all of them. They then begin to defend themselves against
the accusations on the record. The judge condemned a
man to death, but the man was a murderer. Vera says that
the drowning of a boy in her care was an accident. General
Macarthur says he didn’t send an officer to his death as
it was a consequence of war. Anthony Marston says he couldn’t have avoided killing two children who ran in
front of his car. Mr Rogers declares he and his wife didn’t
kill an elderly lady. Blore denies giving false evidence
in court in return for promotion, and Dr Armstrong
pretends he can’t remember the patient he is supposed to
have killed whilst drunk. Emily Brent says she doesn’t have
to defend herself because didn’t commit any crime. Then
Marston takes a drink and falls down dead. He has drunk
poison. The group speculate as to whether he has killed
himself or been murdered.
Chapters 5–6: The next morning, Mrs Rogers is
discovered dead in her bed. Mr Blore puts forward the
theory that Mr Rogers has killed his wife because he feared
she would tell the others about the old lady they had
murdered. Later, Mr Rogers tells Armstrong that two of
the ten little soldiers are missing. Vera and Emily go for a
walk and Emily reveals that she had sometime in the past
dismissed a servant girl, who was pregnant, and that the
girl had subsequently drowned herself in a river. She is not
sorry for what happened. Lombard and Armstrong agree
that Rogers might have killed his wife but can’t believe
that Marston killed himself. Lombard believes somebody
killed him. Lombard reveals he has a gun and they decide
to search the island for Mr Owen. They come across
General Macarthur who is clearly in a deranged state of
mind. They find no sign of Owen and decide he must be
in the house.
Chapters 7–8: Armstrong goes outside to call General
Macarthur to lunch, but the General is dead. Somebody
has hit him on the head with an object. Vera notices
that there are now only seven soldiers on the table. The
judge believes that all the deaths were the work of a
murderer and that the murderer is one of the group. The
atmosphere becomes heated when accusations are made
that some people in the group had the opportunity to
kill the three deceased members. The next day, Vera
notices that another soldier is missing, leaving only six.
Rogers is discovered dead outside with a cut in the back of
his head. At breakfast the group appear calm but they are
all thinking about who will be the next victim, and about
the mysterious disappearance of some grey wool and a red
curtain the previous day.
Chapters 9–10: Emily Brent is sitting alone in the diningroom.
She is sleepy and thinks she hears the sound of a
bee in the room. Then she feels a sting on her neck. She is discovered dead a short time afterwards. She has died as a
result of being injected with poison from a needle. They
look for the doctor’s needle but it has disappeared and so
has Lombard’s gun. They find the needle near the diningroom
window. Vera feels unwell and goes to her room. She
panics when the smell of the sea reminds her of something
in her past and she screams. The others come to her aid
with the exception of the judge. They look for him and
find his dead body dressed in a red curtain and with grey
wool on his head. He has been shot in the head. Later
that night, Lombard finds his gun in his cupboard. Blore
sees someone stealthily leaving the house and assumes it
is Doctor Armstrong. Blore and Lombard go in search of
Armstrong without success.
Chapters 11–12: Blore tells Vera that he thinks Lombard
is the killer, but she insists it is Armstrong. Then, they
find Blore dead, killed by a falling stone clock from an
upstairs window. They then find Armstrong’s drowned
body washed up on some rocks by the sea. Vera and
Lombard are the only two left. Lombard wants to kill Vera
but she has taken his gun. She shoots him dead. Later,
she goes to her room where she sees a chair placed under
a rope. Tortured by guilt she hangs herself. The police are
baffled when they find ten dead bodies. The mystery is
explained when they receive a letter from Justice Wargrave.
The letter explains how and why he killed all the guests.
He had faked his own death with the help of Doctor
Armstrong, and then had shot himself at the end in the
manner the police believe he had done it, according to the
notes left by some of the guests.
