The Secret Adversary

The Secret Adversary introduces the characters Tommy and Tuppence who feature in three other Christie novels and one collection of short stories. Thomas Beresford and Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley started out as friends in post-World War I Britain. Jobless and penniless, they place an ad in the paper marketing themselves as adventurers, leading to an encounter that starts their career as spies for an unnamed British intelligence agency… 


The Tommy and Tuppence books are: 


The Secret Adversary (1922) 

Partners in Crime (short story collection, 1929) 

N or M? (1941) 

By the Pricking of My Thumbs (1968) 

Postern of Fate (1973) 


Upon publication of the first book edition it was reviewed by The Times Literary Supplement in its edition of 26 January, 1922, which described it as "a whirl of thrilling adventures". The critic for The New York Times Book Review (11 June 1922) was also impressed: "It is safe to assert that unless the reader peers into the last chapter or so of the tale, he will not know who this secret adversary is until the author chooses to reveal him.” Robert Barnard described the novel as "The first and best (no extravagant compliment this) of the Tommy and Tuppence stories. It tells how the dauntless pair foils a plot to foment labour unrest and red revolution in Britain, masterminded by the man behind the Bolshevists. Good reactionary fun, if you're in that mood". 


Some additional blurbs, and used by The Bodley Head for advertising subsequent print runs, regarding the book are as follows: 


"It's an excellent yarn and the reader will find it as impossible as we did to put it aside until the mystery has been fathomed." — Daily Chronicle. 


"We promise our readers an exciting story of adventure, full of hairbreadth escapes, and many disappointments if they try to guess the riddle before the author is ready to give them the clue. An excellent story." — Saturday Review. 


"The atmosphere of the book is admirable and the story will be read with avidity by all. Undoubtedly the book is a success." — East Anglian Daily Times. 


"A book of thrilling adventure. Sensational adventures which make thrilling and gripping reading. Mrs Christie has certainly succeeded in writing a story not only entertaining, but ingenious and amazingly clever." — Irish Independent. 


Like its predecessor, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Secret Adversary was first published as a serialization in The Times weekly edition (aka The Weekly Times) as a complete and unabridged text in seventeen installments from 12 August (Issue #2328) to 2 December 1921 (Issue #2343). Christie was paid £50 for the serialization rights (£1,545 in 2003 currency). 


This edition of The Secret Adversary includes an Agatha Christie image gallery.