There's something about Tommy and Tuppence that makes you want to be in their company time and time again. Agatha Christie must have loved them too because she wrote quite a few books with them.
We are introduced to them right at the beginning in Book #2, The Secret Adversary and are given a hint at what the content is going to be like with Agatha's dedication:
"To all those who lead monotonous lives in the hope that they experience at second hand the delights and dangers of adventure".
The Secret Adversary is a classic adventure mystery story with intrigue, spies, conspiracy theories, abductions, koshings on the head and mysterious notes, all wrapped up into one book. I feel as though it is an indulgent book by Agatha Christie, not so serious as her Hercule Poirot books or Miss Marple books, but one that she has had fun with, while also exploring some more serious themes, such as the sinking of the Lusitania, which in it's day was as cataclysmic as the sinking of the Titanic, except it happened in wartime and was torpedoed by a German submarine, but many innocent lives were lost.
I read that the passengers were warned before buying tickets for the voyage that sailing during wartime was an extremely dangerous thing to do and there was always the chance they could get hit. The Captain was warned about German submarine activity in the area that day and advised to take evasive action, such as zig-zagging, but the captain chose to ignore the warning. 1,198 people died.
What I love about The Secret Adversary is the introduction to Mr Carter and to Albert who are both recurring characters in the Tommy and Tuppence books.
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| raw by Ernest Akers, published by The Bodley Head |
You can watch the full 1983 adaptation of the movie version (which is very close to the original story) on YouTube for free. I do not recommend the modern version, it is a travesty!
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