"The Mouse Trap" and "And Then There Were None": Similar?

Due to the excessive amount I've talked about it and advocated that each and every one of my classmates reads it, it's fairly obvious that Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" is my favorite mystery novel as well as one of my all time favorite books. One of the primary characteristics of this novel that I found so engrossing was that ten strangers gather on an island, and when the killings begin, all of them are trapped due to foul weather and no one can escape their eventual fate of death. After completing this novel, I continued to explore Christie's works in hopes of finding an additional story that contained a similar element of suspense. This search, however, was unyielding to my desires, until I began "The Mousetrap" this afternoon. I began to lose myself in the play within the first 20 pages, an unusual occurence for me. It was around this point that I realized how strikingly similar "The Mouse Trap" and "And then There Were None" are in the aspects of utilizing extreme weather conditions, incorporating nursery rhymes, and motives of the murders.

The initial notion I came across that vaguely reminded me of Christie's famous novel was the reoccurring emphasis on the threatening snowstorm that was likely to prevent any commuting for the characters whatsoever. Similarly, the novel was set on Soldire Island, which is only accessible by boat. Just as the murders begin and the terror is unraveled, a powerful storm obstructs any possibility of a boat landing safely on the island and rescuing the captives. 

Another significant aspect of "And then There Were None" was the nursery rhyme introduced early in the play, "Ten Little Soldire Boys", which ultimately dictated the murders of the characters. In "The Mouse Trap", two poems were mentioned: 

"The Three Blind Mice" and "The North Wind Doth Blow". The former of the two is used as a basis for the number of murders committed as well as the anthem of the murderer, thus developing the play's eerie mood.

Lastly, the motive of the murderers in both the play and the book are quite resembling; the reason for committing the crime being to avenge the death of a person whom the victim caused or allowed. Both murderers view their actions as a way of delivering justice for those who have escaped punishment for their wrongdoings. The issue of the justification of these murders is then subliminally raised, and the reader is then able to pick a side on the ethical validity of the fates of the victims. 

Although the stories had their similarities, they did differ in a few important ways. In "And Then There were None", the murderer succeeds in his master plan and is never caught or thwarted. "The Mouse Trap", however, concludes with the murderer being disrupted and subdued  before he can complete his final killing. However, the overall introduction, many of the themes, the motives of the murders,  as well as just simply the overall structure of the play can be paralleled with Christie's novel. But these similarities did not take away from my enjoyment of the play, as I felt like I was reading another version of a book I so dearly adore.