One by One by Ruth Ware

ONE BY ONE by Ruth Ware is a modern-day version of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.  This new mystery is set in the Alps where nine current and former members of a tech start-up (called Snoop), along with their lawyer, have come to ski and conduct some tense business negotiations involving a potential sale for millions of pounds. Told with alternating chapters, readers learn the action from Erin, one of the luxurious resort’s employees dealing with her own past trauma, and Liz, a socially awkward guest who used to work for Snoop and who controls the deciding two percent of stock. The first death is an apparent accident on the ski slopes in the midst of a ferocious blizzard. An avalanche isolates their chalet and then more guests die “one by one;” entitlement and privilege are increasingly questioned; paranoia sets in; and the action really kicks into high gear. Receiving starred review from both Booklist and Library Journal (“fans will devour this in a sitting”), Ruth Ware’s ONE BY ONE also appeared on the LibraryReads Hall of Fame for September 2020; others in that list included new novels Anxious People by Fredrik Backman, The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult (review forthcoming) and A Deadly Education, another dark fantasy by Naomi Novik.  

I SAW HIM DIE by Andrew Wilson is another mystery with Agatha Christie connections – this time as a character. Here, Christie has been asked to protect the life of a former English intelligence officer now living at an estate on Scotland’s Isle of Skye. A huge house party is involved and, of course, a death ensues. The description and pace, however, seemed quite slow to me. Much hypothesizing occurs (as does some fairly obnoxious misogynist behavior even for the 1930 setting), but with little action early on. I would recommend instead other works (all can be read as standalones) in this series like A Talent for Murder.