And Then There Were Nine

So we've had our first death!

Tony Marsten bit the big one. He drank a form of cyanide and died almost instantly. It was a bit of an ironic twist really; the youngest, fittest of them being the first to die. And probably the least remorseful too. His murderous past included nothing more sinister than a hit and run, which was certainly not premeditated as all the other seem to be. They all believe it to be suicide, which it obviously isn't. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to see through it or not. It's not like the people of Agatha Christie's era had CSI, and CSI Miami, and CSI Special Victims Unit, and Law and Order, and Bones to teach them about forensics. They suppose he must have killed himself because the whiskey and the soda were both cyanide free but I think it was most likely already in the glass. It was probably in powder form that got mixed when the drink was poured, so the first death could really have been any one of them.

My money is currently on Mrs. Roberts, though she might be a red herring. She was the only one not in the room when Tony Marsten died. See, there are three logical possibilities among the group. The mysterious Mr. Owen could have been either Mr. Roberts, Mrs. Roberts (or I supposed both of them together), or Mr. Bore, as they are the only ones that did not have to be tricked into coming to the island. However, I can now rule out Mr. Roberts due to the end of this most recent chapter. On the dining room table there had been ten little china soldiers. However, after the Tony's death, he was surprised to find, in an aside not shared with the rest of the group, that there were now only nine little soldiers. He is officially off my list of suspects.

The game is afoot!


I should probably mention the few things I've learned so far about the murders lurking in the guests' pasts. Vera Claythorn may have been responsible for drowning a child. Or rather, of letting a child drown so that her lover, Hugo, might gain the family inheritance instead of the small boy. Since he is no longer in the picture, you can probably imagine how that ended. The General truly is guilty of sending his wife's lover into a hopeless mission where he was sure to be killed. There really doesn't seem to be much more to it than that. Justice Wargreave is accused of allowing an innocent man to be executed. He described the case as being nearly won by the defense until he gave his summation. I have no idea why he would do it yet, but I'm getting the over all impression that he did it because he enjoyed the power of it. In other words...I think he sent that man to death because he knew he could.