Description

Down on their luck and without any prospect of employment, Tommy Beresford and Tuppence Cowley, the hero and heroine of Agatha Christie’s 1922 mystery novel The Secret Adversary come up with a plan for financial success. No ordinary idea will do, so the young couple decides to form their own detective agency. To their surprise, Tuppence is offered a job right away. To protect her identity, she uses a pseudonym, borrowing a name that she and Tommy had heard at random in a conversation in town. When Tuppence tells her potential employer, Mr. Whittington, that her name is “Jane Finn,” however, he begins acting strangely and makes Tuppence promise to keep a certain mysterious piece of knowledge secret in exchange for money. Tuppence has no idea what this knowledge might be, but clearly there is more to Jane Finn than either she or Tommy ever could have imagined. With a strong appetite for a good mystery, Tommy and Tuppence embark on a quest to figure out just who Jane Finn might be and exactly what top-secret information she might have. The two rookie detectives are in for a wild ride, certainly more than they ever bargained for on their first case. Try to keep up with them as they navigate a newfound world of intrigue, conspiracy, and danger.

About the Author

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is one of the most widely-read mystery writers of all time, with a career that spans decades and dozens of published works. Christie was born in England to an American father and British mother. In childhood she lost her father and was raised by her widowed mother. Christie was educated at home and abroad, in Paris. She married in 1914, and perhaps because she was unhappy in her marriage, she turned to writing as a creative outlet. Christie published her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which introduced the immortal Hercule Poirot, in 1920. Her success as an author was soon established, and Christie continued to turn out novel after novel, even while enduring personal difficulties. In 1930 Christie married for the second time and found happiness traveling the world and writing further mysteries, often with settings inspired by her exotic destinations. Christie died in 1976, having left behind an enormous body of work, full of bizarre twists and turns, chilling crimes, and detectives who were always just too smart for murderous villains.

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Opening Lines (Experimental)

IT was 2 p.m. on the afternoon of May 7, 1915. The Lusitania had been struck by two torpedoes in succession and was sinking rapidly, while the boats were being launched with all possible speed. The women and children were being lined up awaiting their turn. Some still clung desperately to husbands ...