I loved this mystery story as a novel, and I really expected the play to be every bit as good as the novel. Agatha Christie wrote both of these works, she streamlined the plot for the play so that it would work better on stage than the dramatizations that people were trying to do of her novel, so it seems like it should have been wonderful. Maybe it's just something you have to see performed, but I didn't care for the play version of this work much at all.Ten murders is a lot to cover in the course of a three act play. You have to have characters dropping dead constantly, and that really doesn't lead to much build up of suspense, anxiety, or tension, and it doesn't give the reader much time to study the characters or to form pet theories about whodunit. There simply was no time for the reader to get involved, or edgy, because the murders were practically back to back. For me, reading this was like reading a slasher play, and I'm pretty sure that's not the effect Dame Agatha was trying to achieve. Although, what do I know? Maybe she liked slasher stuff just as much as the next Dame.