Towards Zero

First a novel (1944), then a stage play, then a radio drama, this is Agatha Christie in top form writing about a group of characters festering in an isolated setting. There are, as usual, sordid histories, innuendo, argument, and murder. All of it is shaped by the elderly, infirm Lady Tresselian, who sets the whole thing off by inviting the wrong people for a visit to her seaside summer home, Gull's Point. The actors are expert in their roles. They deliver the subtle psychological tensions of the story while presenting the faade of polite British normality with consummate skill. The mood is enhanced at the proper time by snippets of music, an atonal piano predominating. Another gem in the BBC pantheon. D.R.W. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine