After introducing Hercule Poirot in her debut novel, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles,” Agatha Christie wanted to try something different for her second book. Something fun. Something easy to write, because plotting a mystery took a lot out of her. Plus, the family needed money, and even though she earned only £25 for “Styles,” the reviews and sales were good.
So she created Tommy and Tuppence, longtime friends who went their separate way during the war. He served in the Intelligence of the army and was wounded a couple of times. She volunteered at a hospital, drove a truck, cleaned wards, and did her part.
Broke and looking for work, they decided to advertise themselves as “Young Adventurers, Ltd.,” willing to do anything for a price. Soon, they find themselves hired by the British government to hunt for Jane Finn, a woman who was on the R.M.S. Lusitania who might be carrying a draft treaty whose release could cause the downfall of the government and revolution in the streets!
Can Tommy and Tuppence defeat the enemies of the British Empire — Bolshevists, Sinn Feiners, Germans and labour union leaders — recover the treaty and prevent anarchy in the U.K.? (Note, this is not a joke. Why they were enemies of the state is explained in the book.)
What’s Inside
The standard edition contains:
* Number of footnotes: More than 500
* Eight essays: (“Bolsheviks, Feinians and Labourites”; “Negotiating British Currency”; “When Tommy Comes Marching Home”; “Tuppence’s World”; “Revolutionaries, Saboteurs, and Spies”; “Let’s Be Adventurers! The Creation of Tommy and Tuppence”; “If I Made More, They’d Take More” Christie’s Struggles with the Tax Man; “”The Mystery of the Missing Christie”
* Illustrations: Maps of England and central London.
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In the Deluxe edition, you learn that Tommy and Tuppence appeared in three French comic movies. Tres droll!