Novel Becomes Reality?… 100 People Trapped at Agatha Christie’s Villa

Similar to the Masterpiece 'And Then There Were None', Drawing Attention
Tourists Say "We Actually Enjoyed the Atmosphere While Being Trapped"

More than 100 people were temporarily trapped at the holiday home of famous British mystery novelist Agatha Christie. The situation drew attention as it resembled the setting of the author’s representative work, And Then There Were None.

On the 15th (local time), CNN reported, “Over 100 tourists visiting Christie’s holiday home, Greenway House, in Devon, southwest England, were trapped inside the building due to a storm the previous day.”

The National Trust, the foundation managing Greenway House, announced on its website the previous day, “A large tree fell and blocked the only road leading to the holiday home,” adding, “More than 100 visitors, staff, and volunteers are unable to leave Greenway.”

CNN stated, “As this news spread, people began to draw parallels on social media (SNS) between Christie’s famous work And Then There Were None and the current incident.”

Christie debuted in 1920 with The Mysterious Affair at Styles and rose to global fame with her sixth work, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. She left numerous classics of detective fiction such as Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.

Agatha Christie's Villa Greenway House
[Image source=Captured from Agatha Christie's official website]

Christie’s works have sold over one billion copies in English-speaking countries alone, have been translated into 103 languages, and adapted into films multiple times. Especially, the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and the spinster detective Jane Marple, both created by Christie, remain beloved characters to this day.

And Then There Were None is recognized as one of Christie’s masterpieces with outstanding thrill and suspense. The story involves eight men and women invited to a holiday home on a deserted island, along with the couple serving as the house staff, totaling ten people trapped on the island by a storm, where a series of murders occur?considered a pioneering work of the “locked-room murder” genre.

However, unlike the novel’s plot, the tourists reportedly enjoyed the atmosphere of the holiday home without any particular incidents while trapped, and all left the house on the evening of the 14th after the rescue team cleared the road.

Caroline Heaven, one of the tourists who were trapped, said, “We spent our time leisurely drinking tea in the tearoom or playing croquet on the lawn while waiting for the tree removal work to finish.”

Greenway House was a place where Christie spent holidays with her family after completing her novels during her lifetime. It is also famous as the inspiration for the novel Dead Man’s Folly. Christie and her family were known to stroll along the riverbank, play croquet, and read their latest detective novels to guests visiting the house.

Meanwhile, the National Trust announced that Greenway House will be closed for the time being due to damage caused by the recent storm.