Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie #ReadChristie23
Title: Partners in Crime Author: Agatha Christie Publication: Dell, paperback, originally published in 1929 Genre: Mystery
Description: Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, first encountered when they were single in The Secret Adversary, are now happily married but Tuppence is bored. Fortunately, Tommy’s boss asks them to go undercover and pretend to be Mr. Blunt and his secretary of the Theodore Blunt International Detective Agency. Scotland Yard has “detained” the real Blunt, giving the Beresfords the opportunity to figure out what he has been up to. Tommy and Tuppence affect the demeanor of various popular detectives of the era to entertain each other as they wait for action. Needless to say, their playacting leads to some very dangerous moments but they always triumph in the end, catching various criminals along the way.
My Impression: Christie wrote five books featuring Tommy and Tuppence, and while the first is my favorite and the third contains the memorable catchphrase, “N or M, song susie,” this, second in the series, is an appealing collection of short stories that fit together better than most. Needing to generate some business for their detective agency, Tuppence creates a missing person situation and solves it for their first case – without alerting her husband in advance. Unfortunately, the joking allusions to famous detectives mostly passed me by despite my fondness for the Golden Age of Detection Fiction. I got the references to Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, and her own Poirot, but I only think of Edgar Wallace in the context of King Kong, and other names did not mean much to me. I can see this compilation would have been very entertaining for Christie’s mystery writer friends, although when she wrote her autobiography she admitted she did not even remember most of these sleuths. Still, to me the appeal is Tommy and Tuppence’s relationship and banter:
“. . . We’re to expect excitements at any minute. The Chief begs you as a favor to go home and stay at home, and not mix yourself up in it any more. Apparently the hornet’s nest we’ve stirred up is bigger than anyone imagined.”
“All that about my going home is nonsense,” said Tuppence decidedly. “Who is going to look after you if I go home? Besides, I like excitement. Business hasn’t been very brisk just lately.”
“Well, one can’t have murders and robberies every day,” said Tommy. “Be reasonable.”
BBC Tommy and Tuppence
Tommy and Tuppence have fun, and it is startling to consider that no matter how successful Poirot and Miss Marple may be they would never be as much fun to spend time with as the Beresfords! I remember really enjoying a BBC miniseries of Partners in Crime long ago because it captured their effervescence as well as some nifty flapper-era clothes for Tuppence. Christie must have been very fond of them because she wrote about them in her second book (1922) and returned to them in her last book, Postern of Fate (1973) (sadly, considered one of her weakest). For those who have only read Christie’s Poirot or Miss Marple books, I suggest starting with the first book about Tommy and Tuppence, The Secret Adversary.
I am very fond of the first three Tommy and Tuppance books, and find them a lot of fun. I am afraid that Christie was starting to loose her focus for the last two, but read as giving insight in the aging process they can prove interesting. These seem to be the only characters Christie created that age in "real time". I like to think of Tuppance as very much inspired by Christie herself (at least the young version) and Tommy as the man she thought Archie was when she married him, or perhaps the man she ought to have married when she was young.
I thought this was fun but, like you, I wasn't familiar with most of the detectives being alluded to. I've still only read the first two Tommy and Tuppence books, so N or M? will be the next one for me.
N or M? has the distinction of being the only Agatha Christie mystery written during the World War II actually set during the war. It isn't really obvious if one isn't looking closely, as there are a lot of post-WWII references and even a flashback or two to the war in post war books, but the Miss Marple and HP books published during WWII aren't set then. Tommy and Tuppance not only age naturally but their books are set in the time they were written.
I found a cheat sheet somewhere explaining all the various fictional detectives from Partners in Crime and made a point of reading at least something about each of them, and I think that Christie did a very good job of fitting them in.
When I read books by Agatha Christie in my teens and twenties, I remember really liking the Tommy and Tuppence mysteries. I did enjoy The Secret Adversary when I read it again after I started blogging, but I did not enjoy Partners in Crime as much, and the parodies of other detectives that I recognized did not work for me. Sometime soon I should try N or M? and see how I like it.
I didn't think the parodies really worked but I do like the concept as well as the idea of Agatha inserting them to amuse her writer friends and (I suppose) some of her more astute readers (clearly not me). One doesn't really think of her as having professional colleagues but she did. I guess when I get around to reading the Lucy Worsley bio I bought myself in November I will know more!
I definitely preferred The Secret Adversary, which is more like my other favorite Christies, The Man in the Brown Suit and They Came to Baghdad.
I am very fond of the first three Tommy and Tuppance books, and find them a lot of fun. I am afraid that Christie was starting to loose her focus for the last two, but read as giving insight in the aging process they can prove interesting. These seem to be the only characters Christie created that age in "real time". I like to think of Tuppance as very much inspired by Christie herself (at least the young version) and Tommy as the man she thought Archie was when she married him, or perhaps the man she ought to have married when she was young.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the reminder review.
I thought this was fun but, like you, I wasn't familiar with most of the detectives being alluded to. I've still only read the first two Tommy and Tuppence books, so N or M? will be the next one for me.
ReplyDeleteN or M? has the distinction of being the only Agatha Christie mystery written during the World War II actually set during the war. It isn't really obvious if one isn't looking closely, as there are a lot of post-WWII references and even a flashback or two to the war in post war books, but the Miss Marple and HP books published during WWII aren't set then. Tommy and Tuppance not only age naturally but their books are set in the time they were written.
ReplyDeleteI found a cheat sheet somewhere explaining all the various fictional detectives from Partners in Crime and made a point of reading at least something about each of them, and I think that Christie did a very good job of fitting them in.
When I read books by Agatha Christie in my teens and twenties, I remember really liking the Tommy and Tuppence mysteries. I did enjoy The Secret Adversary when I read it again after I started blogging, but I did not enjoy Partners in Crime as much, and the parodies of other detectives that I recognized did not work for me. Sometime soon I should try N or M? and see how I like it.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think the parodies really worked but I do like the concept as well as the idea of Agatha inserting them to amuse her writer friends and (I suppose) some of her more astute readers (clearly not me). One doesn't really think of her as having professional colleagues but she did. I guess when I get around to reading the Lucy Worsley bio I bought myself in November I will know more!
ReplyDeleteI definitely preferred The Secret Adversary, which is more like my other favorite Christies, The Man in the Brown Suit and They Came to Baghdad.