many compared the book to her novel "the murder of roger ackroyd" (1926). for instance, an unnamed reviewer in the "toronto daily star" of 16 march 1940 said, "others have written better mysteries than agatha christie, but no one can touch her for ingenious plot and surprise ending. with "and then there were none"... she is at her most ingenious and most surprising... is, indeed, considerably above the standard of her last few works and close to the "roger ackroyd" level."