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    The Secret Adversary: A Tommy and Tuppence Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition
    The Secret Adversary: A Tommy and Tuppence Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition
    The Secret Adversary: A Tommy and Tuppence Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Secret Adversary: A Tommy and Tuppence Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition

    Written by Agatha Christie

    Narrated by Hugh Fraser

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    From the brilliant pen of Agatha Christie comes the first novel in her Tommy and Tuppence mystery series featuring the beloved sleuthing duo—now a movie on both Acorn TV and PBS.

    Tommy and Tuppence are young, in love… and flat broke. Restless for excitement, they decide to embark on a daring business scheme: Young Adventurers Ltd.—""willing to do anything, go anywhere."" But they get more than they bargained for when their first assignment for the sinister Mr. Whittington draws them into a diabolical conspiracy.

    It isn’t long before they find themselves plunged into more danger than they ever could have imagined—a danger that could put an abrupt end to their business…and their lives.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJul 3, 2012
    ISBN9780062233820
    Author

    Agatha Christie

    Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in over 70 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 20 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.

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    Reviews for The Secret Adversary

    3.5/5

    1,070 ratings67 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This was the second novel Christie wrote, after her unexpected success with The Mysterious Affair at Styles. In the forward to this book, she said she thought she would try a spy novel instead of a detective story. The novel is set in 1920 – five years after the sinking of the Lusitania, and after the end of The Great War (WW I). Unemployment is high and many young people who had served in some capacity during the war are descending on London to try to find work. Among them are Thomas Beresford (Tommy), who was a soldier in the war, and Miss Prudence Cowley (Tuppence), who was a nurse’s aide in a hospital treating wounded soldiers. The two have been friends since childhood, and come across one another at the train station. Commiserating on their lack of funds and employment they decide to place an ad in the paper offering their services as adventurers. And the story begins …This one has a lot of twists and turns, and the characters include the usual assortment of good guys and bad guys and those we’re not sure of till the end. I was positive I had it figured out about half-way through, and then about three-fourths of the way I began to doubt my choice. A few pages later I was sure, once again, that I had been correct … or maybe not. The story line is very obviously dated, but it wasn’t really written as an historical piece, so Christie doesn’t explain a lot of things that would have been relatively fresh and familiar to her readers when this was published. Today’s reader really needs to keep the time and place in mind to fully enjoy the work. Also, spy novels were not Christie’s strong suit. Delaportia’s narration is pretty good, though she has a large cast of characters to try to differentiate and her “foreign” accents (American, French, Russian) are somewhat laughable. All in all … this is an entertaining read, but doesn’t have the genius of Christie’s detective stories.
    • 3/5


      Another good page turner.
      Nice to read about the beginning of Tommy and Tuppence.
    • 2/5
      Dreadful. The mystery itself is far from mysterious—I had it figured out very early on—but the tone in which it is written is what really sinks this book. The unions and “common people” distrust the government only because they are manipulated into it by criminals, the government itself is filled with kind and upstanding men, and the criminals are cowards who enjoy writing grand declarations of their dastardly ways. Pah!
      The only saving grace to the book is the pair of Tuppence and Tommy, although even their charms fade by the overly pat ending.
    • 3/5
      A short and entertaining read-- entertaining as much for its mystery as for the laughable sensationalism of its topic. Very timely for 1922-- all about Bolsheviks and revolutions and Labour Party members and secret treaties, 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 sensationalist and dated elements, has an excellent form. We are told quite frankly in the first few chapters that we will meet the 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 the characters he is. Very good, in that regard. Also, as in all good Christie, everyone's got their fingers in the pot somehow-- she 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 feel stupid because we, as the readers, have our own theories that we don't necessarily want to be spoiled.
    • 4/5
      I'm used to my favorite Poirot novels, so this was a bit dry and confusing in the beginning, but I really got into it a third of the way through.
    • 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.
    • 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
      Liked this a LOT more than Affair at Styles
    • 4/5
      The Great War has ended and Tommy Beresford and Prudence 'Tuppence' Cowley are broke. Wanting excitement they decide to form the 'Young Adventureres Ltd' - will do anything and go anywhere as their slogan. Before long they find themselves embroiled in an adventure, a deadly adventure. But who can they trust.
      An enjoyable story, a good start to the series.
      First published in 1922
    • 3/5
      Diverting entertainment, especially when read aloud as this recorded version was. However unbelievable two amateur, bright young things are as government agents, nevertheless, Dame Agatha pulls it off. Definitely NOT a murder mystery. Yes, there is a murder, but it occurs late in the novel and the identity of the perp is never really a mystery. Plus, the story isn't about the victim's murder; it's about a secret treaty that has disappeared. One, if it should fall into the wrong hands, could spell disaster for England's fragile democracy post-WW I when the economy was tottering and labor unrest was being stirred up by agents of communism.Christie manages to conceal, better -- swath -- her Evil Mastermind behind his forgettability in spite of his power to reduce his "gang" to quivering blobs of fear at the mention of his name. Yet, once again ignorance proves to operate in bliss as Tommy and Tuppence undertake a Joint Venture to become sleuths who will do any job, providing the money's right.Why His Majesty's government should choose to put its trust into such a pair of tyros is unfathomable. But it does. In spite of many warnings of the dangerous nature of their work and the deviousness of their adversary, the pair plunge in, fully expecting their own success where, they've been told, many professionals of great experience have failed. Determination and blissful ignorance united with a capacity for improvisation seems to be the magic formula because succeed they do.Plenty of well drawn characters to cloud the solution with misleading action, plenty of mistakes to prolong the outcome, and plenty of light humor to dispel impatience with the eventual resolution. Surprisingly, as read aloud, the book has aged well because it suggests in this reader's mind a radio play. Read it for the fun of it. Do you really need another reason to pick up any book?
    • 5/5
      Miss Prudence Cowley, known as Tuppence to her friends, and Thomas Beresford, known as Tommy, have been friends since childhood. It is just after the end of the Great War. They run into each other and take time to get caught up, finding that they are both currently looking for work and finances are on the slim side.Tuppence comes up with the idea of forming their own service, The Young Adventurers Ltd. They will take on any job and be willing to go anywhere. Before they can put an ad in the “Times,” Tuppence is approached with an offer to locate a girl named Jane Finn. Their conversation had been overheard by a man sitting nearby.Tommy and Tuppence find themselves involved in an espionage case. It seems Jane Finn has some secret papers that certain parties want. The problem is no one knows what Jane Finn looks like or where she might be.There are some instances that involve close calls for both lead characters. Other characters give such impressions that you are not sure if they are good or bad or even whose side they are on.This is the first of the Tommy and Tuppence series written by Agatha Christie. It isn’t anywhere the length of the Poirot or Marple series, but it is an enjoyable read.
    • 3/5
      A chance encounter on the London Underground sees childhood friends Thomas 'Tommy' Beresford and Prudence 'Tuppence' Cowley set up in business together, Young Adventurers Ltd, since times are hard after the First World War and they both find themselves broke and unemployed. Quite optimistically they announce that they will take on anything that pays well, but they could not have dreamt of finding themselves in the middle of an international espionage drama.I can't say that I thought much of the plot or the characterisations, owing to the similarities with threepenny detective novels that Albert loves so much or one of the spy movies that Tuppence refers to at some point. It is crammed full with hair-raising coincidences, the characters are portrayed with rather broad brush strokes and you can spot the villain from a mile away; the language, too, appears quite dated now, which I've never noticed to this degree with other Agatha Christie novels or short stories. It does, however, stand up as a reflection of the general public mood at the time, and I believe later espionage novels in the Tommy & Tuppence series are more successful.
    • 2/5
      After watching a PBS special about Agatha Christie, I resolved to start reading Christie’s books in order. I had already read The Mysterious Affair at Styles, so I jumped into The Secret Adversary. This is a series that features Tommy and Tuppence, two young adventurers looking for a livelihood after World War I. The majority of the book features dialogue, and I prefer more description of the setting and characters. Tommy seems slow-witted and easily confused, while Tuppence forges ahead with speed and determination. I am not sure that this series warrants another journey. Remember, this is after the war and money and jobs are scarce, but Tommy and Tuppence stay at the Ritz and dine lavishly. Yes, they are receiving wages, but if you do not know if you will have another job in the future, why splurge on fancy food.
    • 3/5
      After a chance encounter outside an Underground station, two old friends — Tommy Beresford and Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley — decide to make the most of their unemployed status by going into business as "The Young Adventurers." No sooner do they do so then a case falls into Tuppence's lap, as she is approached by a stranger to go on a mission. The two soon find themselves battling a group of sinister conspirators led by a master criminal, who are seeking wartime documents that threaten the very foundations of the country itself. Yet the conspirators have not reckoned with the plucky determination and dogged persistence of the Young Adventurers, who with a little assistance work to locate the documents before it is too late.While I was long familiar with Agatha Christie's mystery novels, until I picked up this book I was unaware of her works outside of her Miss Marple & Hercule Poirot series of stories. This made discovering her Tommy and Tuppence series a real pleasure. While Christie's attempt at an espionage novel isn't quite as good as her famous mysteries (her stab at politics in it is simplistic and crude), her main characters are delightful and the plot is never less than entertaining. It's unfortunate that she never persisted further with espionage novels than she did, as had she done so she might have become as dominant a figure in it as she was in the mystery genre.
    • 3/5
      A lot of running around to track down a traitor.
    • 5/5
      If one was feeling jocular, one might say jolly good book. This is one of Christie's earlier works. Although there are serious moments, even those are revealed in a jocular manner. One gets the impression the author is laughing at her readers through out this book. Clues are tossed about like josh sticks.
    • 5/5
      The Secret Adversary (1922) (Tommy & Tuppence #1) by Agatha Christie. The first and the best of the Tommy & Tuppence stories, this book features a truly secret adversary in the form of Mr. Brown. Throughout the tale our young, intrepid heroes must overcome a heinous cadre of evil doers in order to protect England, and the common worker, from the horrors of Labour unrest and red communism. And there is a nifty opening act set aboard the doomed Lusitania.There are Bolshevists and American Millionaires (as we know all Americans are) toting guns and threatening to use them. Spies seem to lurk in every shadow and a top secret document is at the center of all the intrigue.Tommy andTuppence themselves are a reflection of the young adult of the time, but a bit more footloose than normal. Back from the Great War they are bored and restless and looking for adventure.Man do they find it.A nice bit of escapist mystery telling with a bang-up ending that will have you wondering til the final pages. If you haven’t read this part of Christie’s oeuvre it is time to do so.
    • 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
      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
    • 4/5
      The Secret Adversary is cleverly written, with a lot of suspense, but it drags on if you have early figured out whothe mysterious Mr. Brown actually is. It also offers a fairy tale ending with little to suggest a sequel.
    • 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.
    • 3/5
      More of a spy thriller than a traditional cozy whodunit from Christie, this is the first of the short Tommy and Tuppence series and deals with efforts to recover some diplomatic papers that were lost during WWI and which could cause all sorts of problems for England if they fall into the wrong hands in 1919 (when the story takes place). Not a bad effort, but a major table-setting plot point pushes suspension of disbelief to its limits, and the main red herring here was so obvious that it almost served as an anti-herring. Unless one was willing to believe that the person involved was beyond stupid, which I was not inclined to do.
    • 3/5
      This was the first Agatha Christie novel featuring Tommy and Tuppence as sleuths (of only four such, plus a collection of short stories). This was her second ever novel, published in 1922, and is redolent of the atmosphere of the time. To the modern reader, Tommy and Tuppence sound like 1920s stereotypes with their hyper-enthusiastic dialogue. The social mores feel only just post-Great War, with Tuppence being at the forefront of a generation of more assertive women, having done front line nursing during the war (I must record one comment on Tuppence's dress which is hilarious by modern standards, "her extremely short and rather shabby skirt revealed a pair of uncommonly dainty ankles"). The plot concerns some top secret diplomatic papers supposedly passed onto a survivor of the Lusitania by a secret agent who drowned in the sinking of the torpedoed ship, and the attempt by the authorities and others to locate them now the war is over to avoid unpleasant consequences. The hostiles attempting to seize the papers are a mixture of a mysterious "Mr Brown", Germans and Russian Bolsheviks, the latter of whom are allegedly using the British Labour Party in order to foment revolution in Britain (shades of the infamous forged "Zinoviev letter" published by the Daily Mail on the eve of the 1924 general election, which was held - though not necessarily accurately - to be the main reason why that election saw the defeat of the first minority Labour government). The way this hangs together is not convincing, but the novel is the usual page turner, with red herrings along the way as to the identity of "Mr Brown" (which I didn't find plausible). Not one of Christie's stronger novels.
    • 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.
    • 5/5
      my copy, only a few years old, is falling apart from use
    • 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!
    • 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."
    • 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!
    • 2/5
      This is the first “Tommy and Tuppence” book written by Christie. My mind wandered too much to really get the gist of the plot. I do know that multiple people went missing at various points throughout the book. Christie's books really vary for me, and it seems audio may not be the way to go (I listened to this one). I know some people love Tommy and Tuppence, but I'm thinking I won't try anymore with these characters. I will likely only read one or two more books by Christie (any that are already on my tbr), but then leave it at that. There have only been a couple by her that really stood out for me.