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    The Secret Adversary (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)
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    The Secret Adversary (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)
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    The Secret Adversary (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)
    Ebook384 pages3 hours

    The Secret Adversary (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)

    By Agatha Christie and Clea Simon

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Two bright young characters of the Jazz Age start out looking for adventure and wind up saving England in Agatha Christie’s The Secret Adversary. Childhood friends Tommy Beresford and Prudence “Tuppence” Crowley have hit hard times. It’s 1920, and the Great War is blessedly over. But the peace has left staid old England in upheaval and the young veteran and the pretty former nurse flat broke.  In the free spirit of the age, the two advertise themselves as “Young Adventurers,” hoping for enjoyable as well as profitable employment. Their first client, a British Army Intelligence officer, promises both when he hires them to find a missing woman, and the charming duo are soon involved in a case of international intrigue, mistaken identities, and, ultimately, romance.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBarnes & Noble
    Release dateSep 1, 2009
    ISBN9781411428256
    Unavailable
    The Secret Adversary (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)
    Author

    Agatha Christie

    Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She died in 1976, after a prolific career spanning six decades.

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    Reviews for The Secret Adversary (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)

    3.5/5

    744 ratings53 reviews

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    • 4/5
      My first Agatha Christie book, and what a proper introduction it was!Thoroughly enjoyed this book. A definite page turner with characters to easily love.
    • 4/5
      It was a great read. I had narrowed down the identity of the villain to two people but could not determine who it was until the identity was revealed in the end. All the characters were likable as well.
    • 4/5
      The first Tommy and Tuppence book. Fun and whimsical.
    • 4/5
      The ending was just a little bit weaker than the rest of the book but overall it was a good novel with a suspense focus rather than a mystery focus. In fact, it's not hard to read it and imagine a young Alfred Hitchcock doing his movie take on the book (and I think it would have been a great one).
    • 4/5
      The author's second novel and my second Agatha Christie book. Simple characters and story, but still had a clever twist.
    • 4/5
      In early May 1915 the British luxury liner Lusitania was struck by two German torpedoes and quickly sank 15km off the western coast of Ireland. The prologue of THE SECRET ADVERSARY begins with an American on the Lusitania who is carrying important papers for the American ambassador in London handing these over to a young American girl to complete his mission. Her name is Jane Finn.The story then jumps to a chance meeting near Picadilly in London early in 1919 between Miss Prudence Cowley (Tuppence) and Major Thomas Beresford (Tommy). Both have been involved in the war effort, but the war ended in late 1918 and so did gainful employment.Tuppence and Tommy were childhood friends and met up briefly in 1916 when Tommy was hospitalised and Tuppence was working as a nurse. Over afternoon tea they decide to form a business partnership trading under the name of the Young Adventurers.They decide to place an advertisement in the daily papers saying they are willing to do anything, go anywhere. After they go their separate ways, Tuppence is walking across St. James' Park when a man, who had overheard their conversation in the tea shop, approaches her with the offer of a job.The next morning Tuppence follows up the job offer even though she doesn't particularly like the man making the offer. Unwilling to give her proper name, she gives the name Jane Finn, a name she had heard Tommy refer to on the previous afternoon, simply as a strange name he'd overheard some people discussing. At that the tone of the interview changes and the interviewer, Mr. Whittington, quickly gives Tuppence a large amount of money and arranges to meet her the next day. When Tommy and Tuppence go to keep the appointment the next day, Mr. Whittington has scarpered. Tommy and Tuppence decide to advertise for information about Jane Finn and so the plot gathers pace.This is Agatha Christie's second novel, and the first featuring Tommy and Tuppence, who feature in four other Christie books and one collection of short stories written throughout her writing career.
    • 3/5
      This is the first Tommy and Tuppence novel, they are not my favourite Christie characters as I do find all the 'old thing' and 'old bean' stuff cliched, but on first release this book sold very well, so it may be that the book has not stood up to the passage of time. It certainly is very much a book of its time and the annoying over exuberance of the characters does reflect a certain post WWI attitude. One nice thing about this book is that Tommy and Tuppence are characterised as equal partners in their adventures, which for 1922 was very progressive.
    • 5/5
      What a great mystery by a great mystery writer. And this is only her second book. I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out who the guilty party was. If you like Kinsey Milhone, you'll love Tupence (pronounced Twopence).
    • 4/5
      Tuppence and Tommy Beresford together for the first time. Good fun as Dame Agatha keeps us guessing.
    • 4/5
      I've never liked the Tommy and Tuppence books as much as the Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries. I tend to prefer cozy mysteries; all the big, vague political conspiracies in mystery fiction fall a bit flat. I generally dislike Christie's political thrillers (Passenger to Frankfurt is a case in point; didn't even finish it)—so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed The Secret Adversary. It's the suspense, the fun characters, and (let's be honest) the exhilaration of giving oneself up to a less-than-highbrow novel that did it. World War I is over and Tommy Beresford and Tuppence Cowley find themselves out of work and with no prospects. The two friends hit upon a scheme that is sure to pay off, advertising themselves as adventurers willing to undertake any task for appropriate pecuniary remuneration. And suddenly they land in an international intrigue involving a stolen treaty that could start a war, a missing woman, an American millionaire, and a bland, elusive criminal mastermind. It is, in short, rather more than they expected. Christie is much wittier than I remembered, and shows off her knack for humor especially in Tuppence's dialogue. And though she uses stereotypes to quickly delineate her characters, somehow they aren't flat. Or at least, the story is engaging enough that any flatness is well disguised. Okay, it's true that Tommy and Tuppence call themselves the "Young Adventurers" (a bit cutesy), and the plot hinges on several highly unlikely coincidences. As a mystery it really doesn't shine, but that needn't interfere with the sheer fun of the story. And there are certainly creative elements that Christie pulls together to draw the reader in. The mysterious "Mr Brown" is a master villain, and though I did eventually suspect the solution, there were enough red herrings along the way to throw me off the scent for quite awhile.Though The Secret Adversary is no heavyweight in mystery fiction, sometimes a fluffy read is just the thing. Quick moving and fun.
    • 4/5
      Interesting premise. On a sinking Lusitania a women is passed government documents for the Allies as women and children were boarding lifeboats first. She disappears in London and Tommy and Tuppence's assignment is to find her and the papers. Tommy and Tuppence's naive reaction to the danger was unrealistic to me.
    • 3/5
      A short and entertaining read-- entertaining as much for its mystery as for the laughable sensationalism of its topic. It was very timely in 1922, stuffed to the brim with breathless observations about Bolsheviks and revolutions and Labour Party members and secret treaties and the Lusitania, and crowned with a hero and heroine full of jolly upper-class Britishness and levity, if not imagination, in tough spots. Very characteristic of an era. The mystery, though constructed out of sensationalistic and dated elements, has an excellent form. We are told quite frankly in the first few chapters that we will meet and actually come to trust the plotting, conniving, almost legendary Bad Guy before we know that he IS the Bad Guy-- and then we spend the rest of the book trying to figure out which of these friendly and sympathetic characters he is. Also, as in all good Christie, everyone's got their fingers in the pot somehow-- it feels active and alive at every moment. Christie manages to keep each character's critical discoveries secret from us until the end, but even though we're lagging far behind most of the characters we don't quite feel stupid because we, as the readers, have our own theories that we don't necessarily want to be spoiled. A very very short one. Read it in an afternoon for a good laugh.
    • 3/5
      This is different from my usual Agatha Christie fare, I've read plenty of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple but none of the Tommy and Tuppence which are more spy novels than detective stories. After the war when London had more people than jobs two old friend meet by chance and form a company “Young Adventurers Ltd.” ‘willing to do anything, go anywhere’, and it lands them in all sorts of trouble.

      The action is fast paced with plenty of twists, if you decide to read this remember it was written in 1922 and the expressions and settings are from that time period so some things may seem weird to you. I enjoyed it, the same style that Miss Christie had for mysteries works well with political intrigue.
    • 4/5
      A little bit too complicated for poor old me, but the Tuppence protagonist is a dear.
    • 2/5
      Book #2 of Agatha Christie's mysteries is completed. I like Tommy and Tuppence and I think it's a shame that they don't appear in more of her books. That said, the plot of this one is so ludicrous, I couldn't stop laughing... but I guess in 1922 it was what passed as literature for the masses.
    • 4/5
      Not so much of a “Whodunit?” this, but more of a “Who is he?” The “he” being an elusive criminal mastermind known by name as Mr Brown but known in person by almost none. I guessed who he was early on in the story!This is also a “Where is she?” as another main plot is the search for a young lady who possesses some important papers. Mr Brown needs these papers, while “The Young Adventures” aim to thwart him.The two main characters are likeable and gel well together. I like Tuppence’s dialogue. She and Tommy are a pair of 22-year-olds yet much of the time they come across as young teenagers. In fact the book on the whole strikes me as a children’s book for adults, if such a thing is possible.The first three-quarters of the book appealed to me more than the last quarter. Somehow he seemed to lose some of the upbeat pace and become anti-climactic. Still, it was a good read nonetheless.
    • 4/5
      I found this Nadia May narration much enhanced my enjoyment of this first Tommy and Tuppence book. Also, my admiration for Christie's writing is greater with this reread as she managed to keep me guessing even though I thought I remembered the solution. Her red herrings were so plausible I kept second-guessing myself thinking I had mis-remembered it!
    • 3/5


      Another good page turner.
      Nice to read about the beginning of Tommy and Tuppence.
    • 4/5
      Synopsis: 'In the Prologue, a man quietly gives important papers to a young American woman, as she is more likely to survive the sinking RMS Lusitania in May 1915.In 1919 London, demobilised soldier Tommy Beresford meets war volunteer Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley. They are both out of work and money. They form "The Young Adventurers, Ltd". Mr Whittington follows Tuppence to offer her work. She uses the alias "Jane Finn", which shocks Whittington. He gives her £50 and then disappears. Curious, they advertise for information regarding Jane Finn.The advertisement yields two replies. The first is from Mr Carter, whom Tommy recognises as a British intelligence leader from his war service; he tells them of Jane Finn aboard the Lusitania when it sank. She received a secret treaty to deliver to the American embassy in London. She survived but no trace has since been found of her or the treaty, the publication of which now would compromise the British government. They agree to work for him, despite his warnings of the dangerous Mr Brown. The second reply is from Julius Hersheimmer, an American multimillionaire and first cousin of Jane Finn, staying at the Ritz Hotel. Intent on finding her, he has already contacted Scotland Yard; Inspector Brown took his only photo of Jane, before a real inspector contacted him. They join forces with Julius, too.'Review: This is the first of the Tommy and Tuppence mysteries and it's a good one.
    • 4/5
      The intrepid young Tommy and his childhood friend known as Tuppence embark on a dangerous journey to find a missing young woman, and trace some important documents. They become involved in a mostly political gang, headed by the unknown and ruthless 'Mr Brown'.... This was Agatha Christie's second published novel, and a thriller more than a mystery. I guessed Mr Brown's identity before I was half-way through, though at first I assumed it was a standard Christie red herring. This made the story all the more tense, although - having finished - I realise it's all somewhat unrealistic. Much of the political discussion went rather over my head, too. However, the main characters are fairly well-rounded, some of the conversation amusing, and the whole an exciting story which I could hardly put down in the final chapters. Recommended if you like light crime fiction from the 1920s.
    • 4/5
      Down-on-their-luck, a young couple hire themselves out as investigators.

      "The Secret Adversary" was Christie’s second novel, coming on the heels of seminal murder mystery "The Mysterious Affair at Styles". It was an unusual choice, combining detective and spy stories with a giddy, light-hearted feel. Most of her thrillers would fail in part for being too dour; those like "The Secret of Chimneys" and "Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?" that allow for some humour tend to succeed – at least, relatively so.

      Tommy Beresford and Prudence “Tuppence” Cowley are delightful and easy-going, suitably young, modern people in post-WWI England. It’s perhaps the best of Christie’s “thrillers”, and certainly the best of Tommy and Tuppence’s canon. Christie would revisit them sporadically over the next fifty years – and they would age along with the real world – but none of their remaining books would shine like this one; a real pity.

      Ultimately, the light-hearted nature of the piece doesn’t destroy the tension, but it certainly muffles it. And whenever Christie tried international intrigue, there was inevitably the feeling that she was making it all up as she went along. Still, "The Secret Adversary" is a lively romp, worthy of a fan’s interest.
    • 2/5
      I am an Agatha Christie fan--honest I am. I can number as favorites And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Death Comes at the End all of which I'd rate at five stars. Even books I don't count as favorites I usually consider a fun read worth the time, but I just couldn't find the plot of this one credible enough to stick it out. This is the first "Tommy and Tuppence" adventure. Christie didn't write as many mysteries with them as Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple, but she did write several, and unlike those detectives they aged--from young twenty-something flappers to aged married partners in a book 50 years later. They're likable together and separately and there's an exuberant young spirit to the book--this is only the second novel she wrote, published in 1922. This is a tale of espionage and secret treaties and far fetched coincidences. And four chapters in, the couple walks into an interview with someone Tommy recognizes as in British intelligence--and without any security clearance or background check at all, without their having any intelligence training or experience as detectives, because they fell into some information regarding a sensitive case they're given classified information and hired. Oh, and it involves a supervillain who is inciting a "Bolshevik Revolution"--in England. Maybe that was a credible plot line in 1922, but in 2011 that flunks the laugh test.I guess this should be taken as just a light-hearted romp, but this story strained my credibility much too far too fast.
    • 2/5
      Unusual Agatha Christie: a spy/chase novel. In her defence it was only her second story, and the amateur spies, Tuppence and Tommy are light-hearted and spiffing. But the sketchy political conspiracy and mad coincidences and instant rapport and trust with total strangers, raised my eyebrows. Silly, aren't -we- charming- English- toffs romp in the mould of The Thirty-Nine Steps.
    • 3/5
      When I was a teenager, I just read whichever Agatha Christie novels I stumbled across, at home or at the library. At first I didn't know that The Secret Adversary, even existed... and then I couldn't find it. (And then I went to university and stopped reading Christie, because there were so many other things to read.)The Secret Adversary is an espionage thriller rather than a murder mystery. It required more suspension of disbelief I remember any of Christie's murder mysteries needing - I'm sure that a real underworld organisation of that ilk would be much more ruthless, and that amateurs investigating would need to be a bit less naive if they were to survive relatively unscathed.I also thought the prose was a bit less - polished. Which would make sense, since this is also one of Christie's earliest novels, and presumably she grew as a writing during the following 50 years.However Tommy and Tuppence are delightfully enthusiastic and they were the reason I kept picking the book back up again."Have you anything to say before you are put to death as a spy?" "Simply lots of things," replied Tommy with the same urbanity as before. "Do you deny that you were listening at the door?" "I I do not. I must really apologise - but your conversation was so interesting that it overcame my scruples."
    • 3/5
      I came close to giving this 4 stars but there are a few things that let me down in the plot. First, the identity of Mr. Brown was obvious from the moment he appears (or maybe it was just that way for me) despite repeated attempts to cast another character for the part. Second, the thrust of the plot is very much a product of its time and seems slightly trivial roughly a century later. Still, it was enjoyable and Agatha Christie here shows all the early signs of what she, at the time, was yet to be... the Queen of Mystery!
    • 5/5
      my copy, only a few years old, is falling apart from use
    • 4/5
      I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie - both Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot but had never read her Tommy and Tuppence series.Even though this series is set back in the earlier part of the 20th century, it was still entertaining and the characters were totally what you expect from Dame Agatha Christie. I am glad that I finally started this classic series and look forward to getting to know these characters as well as Christie's others.
    • 4/5
      Jane Finn, a young woman surviving the sinking of the Lusitania, disappears while holding onto an important document which was slipped to her as she was leaving the ship.

      Tommy & Tuppence form the "Young Adventurers Ltd." and take on the dangerous job of finding the missing Jane Finn & the document before it is used by the government's "Secret Adversary" to create another European war.

      Very suspenseful with many Red Herrings, naivete, & romance.....
    • 4/5
      Considering she is THE bestselling author (only surpassed in copies sold by William Shakespeare and the Bible), it shouldn't be surprising that I have only scratched the surface in reading the work of Agatha Christie. And yet, I found myself a little surprised to stumble upon the adventures of Tommy and Tuppence in her second novel, The Secret Adversary. The pair of adventurers were featured in four novels and a bunch of short stories but they are overshadowed by Christie's mainstays Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Perhaps it was because they felt so different from Christie's other works, but I found myself really drawn into the story and had a lot of fun with this novel.The Secret Adversary is set (mostly) in London shortly after the conclusion of World War One. It begins with a conversation between two friends, Tommy and Prudence (who goes by Tuppence) as they bemoan their lack of fortunes and try to come up with ways to secure themselves financially. On a whim, they decide to take out an advertisement in the paper and hire themselves out as Young Adventurers "willing to do anything, go anywhere." Before the ad has even run, Tuppence is surprised to find herself approached by a strange man who overheard the pair and wants to hire them but who then inexplicably gets angry and fleas when she gives him a false name, Jane Finn. The next day they take out another advertisement regarding Jane Finn and they are quickly flung into a mystery adventure that threatens to topple the British government.The main conflict in the book revolves around post-war political machinations. Specifically, a group of 'Bolshevists' are working a plot to overthrow the current government and seize power. This multinational plot hinges on the existence of an unknown treaty kept safe by a missing young woman named Jane Finn. Tommy and Tuppence are hired to find Jane Finn and recover the treaty before the enemy can use the treaty to expose and topple the government. Not being a strong history buff, I had a hard time deciding just exactly what this treaty could contain that would do all it claimed possible but I set that aside and just let the MacGuffin serve its purpose in giving our heroes and villains something to search for.The plot maneuvered itself around England, thrusting our young adventurers into one problem after another. The threads of the story grew more and more intricate as new locations and characters made their appearance. Christie did an excellent job dropping clues and foreshadowing to help the reader root for the heroes and try to predict the mysterious mastermind behind the struggle. I found myself changing my guesses a couple of times before the solution finally became clear. Even at the very end, the author threw in a couple of twists and turns late in the story to try and lead the reader down one path or another. Sometimes I find misdirection like this annoying. In this book, I felt like they were very well done and felt like a natural progression of events rather than like the author was trying to hide something from us (even though she was, which is the case with any mystery).I had a lot of fun with the main adventure plot but I felt like the real draw of the story was the characters, particularly the interactions between Tommy and Tuppence. At first, they felt a little stereotypical to me (and some aspects of that remains if looked at from a high level) but I enjoyed the way they were fleshed out throughout the story. Their behaviors and motivations were great and felt really well defined. This lead to a great progression of plot where the course of action felt like the logical and natural course for the characters to follow. I especially loved the dialog. The quick witted banter of Tuppence was delightful and the back-and-forth, particularly between she and Tommy, was great fun.On the whole, I really enjoyed this book. The characters felt fresh and fun. The writing was solid and flowed well. The pacing was good at keeping the action going while still slowing down enough for logical exposition and moments of insight to let the reader delve into the mystery themselves. The plot was laid out logically with just enough information withheld to keep the solution at bay while also revealing enough to let the reader feel wise and informed. Reading this makes me want to seek out more adventures of Tommy and Tuppence. Fortunately, there are more to be found.****4 out of 5 stars
    • 5/5
      Rip roaring good yarn!! The master at work, Dame Agatha had me going until the end. I thought I had it all figured out but she got me again.Excellent WWI setting and historical action!