According to some sources, mystery novelist Agatha Christie is the most-published author worldwide.

Her 1952 drama "The Mousetrap" is on the books as having the longest initial run of any play. London's West End production has been going on for almost 55 years.

Yet another of Mrs. Christie's record-breakers, "And Then There Were None," will open tomorrow at McKeesport Little Theater. The author adapted the play from her novel of the same name, which holds the distinction of being the best-selling mystery of all time.

"None" features 10 strangers, all possible murderers, who have accepted an anonymous invitation to a remote island. One by one, they meet their ends according to methods described in a nursery rhyme.

The guests include a governess whose charge drowned, a former soldier, a doctor who is a recovering alcoholic and a "hanging" judge.

Director and Whitehall native Ryan Tierno said McKeesport's production of "None" has what audiences have come to expect from Mrs. Christie.

Aside from the puzzle of the killer's identity, he said, what makes the play interesting is the interaction between character types.

"The play's really about the contrast between characters," Mr. Tierno said. "With ten people, there are so many possible combinations."

The cast of "None" is as varied as the characters' roles. Matt Schonlau, who plays adventurer Captain Lombard, said this is his first McKeesport Little Theater production, but he's been everything from the Poobah in the Pittsburgh Savoyards' "Mikado" to Dracula in "Dracula: The Musical" at Apple Hill Playhouse.

Captain Lombard, said Mr. Schonlau, "loves dangerous situations." He added that the British accent required of the part comes more easily to him than an American one because he is originally from Germany.

Krissy Penn, who plays governess Vera Claythorne, is another Little Theater first-timer.

"This is probably my biggest role so far," said Ms. Penn, who graduated from Community College of Allegheny County's South campus last year. "It really takes work to maintain the audience's suspicions to the end."

Bruce E. Travers was last onstage at McKeesport last March as the greedy Senator Savage in "The Curious Savage." Here, he plays another unlikable sort, Dr. Armstrong, whose drinking caused the death of one of his surgical patients.

But Mr. Travers said he's found hidden depth in Dr. Armstrong. "He's the only one who seems to regret what he's done."

Ms. Penn summed up what makes Mrs. Christie's mysteries so enduring.

"You think you know who did it, and two minutes later you think it's someone else. Then that person dies, and you have to start over. It keeps everyone guessing until the very end."