The Secret Adversary

The first thing that struck me about The Secret Adversary is how different it was from The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Hastings' narration is very straightforward and very English while the first Tommy and Tuppence story takes its cue from American pulp fiction and moves along at a clip. The writing is chatty and the dialogue humorous and full 1920s slang. This isn't a stayed who-dunnit, but a fast-paced spy thriller.

The plot centres around a vague set of documents that in the wrong hands could DESTROY ENGLAND, and two would be adventurers, who through chance and circumstance, are fated to find a missing girl that will SAVE ENGLAND FROM ANARCHY AND CHOAS. Not precisely original ideas, but Agatha Christie cleverly uses crime story conventions and American cinematic cliches to her advantage making The Secret Adversary an engaging yarn.

Our heroes, Tommy and Tuppence, have recently been relieved of their wartime duties and are looking for work. Pickings are slim, so on a lark they decide to advertise their services as "adventurers" in the 1920s mercenary-blackmailing-jewel-theif sense of the word. Their ad stating that they are "willing to do anything, go anywhere" would have landed them careers in porn in 2010, but instead they end up entangled in a nefarious ring of counter-establishment criminals with bolshevik tendencies led by the enigmatic and titular secret adversary Mr. Brown. No one is to be trusted in this interwar Red Scare tale. In other words, a whole lot of silly fun that should be taken at face value.

I really enjoyed how of its time The Secret Adversary is. The depiction of the general uncertainty in post-WWI England, the vague racism and lingering fears over Germany and Russia, and the "what now" feeling of a newly demilitarized population. The Americans are brash and the good guys are all from the upper classes. Tuppence is the new liberated woman who, because she is a woman, still manages to be incredibly naive and far too trusting. Tommy, a former soldier who seems to crave adventure as much as he wants to leave it behind in the trenches, still trusts that the British sense of decorum will prevail despite having a keener sense of the danger.

My favourite part of the writing is the subtle formality of the narrative voice: it is more often Mr. Beresford and Miss Cowley than Tommy and Tuppence. I look forward to the next story for these two detectives. It will interesting to see how time alters Tommy and Tuppence.

Story: The Secret Adversary

Detectives: Tommy and Tuppence

Observation: First cousins get married? Ew!

Verdict: Great fun! Five stars!

NEXT: The Murder on the Links