The Secret Adversary

This masterful print of the Classic book by Agatha Christie has been published in perfect format to bring to you the resounding words of Agatha Chrsitie. This is not a facsimile of the original, it is a professional typed book. Plot summary In the Prologue, a man aboard the RMS Lusitania on 7 May 1915 quietly gives important papers to a young American woman, as she is more likely to survive the sinking ship. In 1919 London, demobilised soldier Tommy Beresford meets war volunteer Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley, both out of work and money. They form the "The Young Adventurers, Ltd", planning to hire themselves out with "no unreasonable offer refused." They are overheard by a Mr Whittington who follows Tuppence to offer her a position. He is shocked when she gives her name as "Jane Finn". Whittington sends her away with some money, then disappears without a trace. They advertise for information regarding Jane Finn. The advertisement yields two immediate replies. They first meet with Mr Carter, whom Tommy recognizes as a leader in British intelligence from his war service. Mr Carter tells the story of Jane Finn, an American heading for Paris on the RMS Lusitania when it sank in 1915. She received a secret treaty to deliver to the American embassy in London. She survived, but the government has found neither Jane Finn nor the draft treaty since. Publication of the treaty now would compromise the British government. Tommy and Tuppence agree to work for Carter. He warns them this is a dangerous mission, because of the elusive and merciless figure known as Mr Brown. Next they meet with Julius Hersheimmer, an American man who is the first cousin of Jane Finn and a multimillionaire, staying at the Ritz Hotel. He is intent on finding her. He has already contacted Scotland Yard; an Inspector named Brown took his only photo of Jane, before a real inspector contacted him. Tommy and Tuppence join forces with Julius. Whittington mentioned the name Rita to Tuppence. Tommy and Tuppence find her among the surviving passengers of the Lusitania, Mrs Marguerite Vandemeyer. Whittington and Boris Ivanovitch leave Rita's flat before Tommy and Tuppence have left the building. Tommy follows them, phoning Julius to aid him. Tommy follows Boris through London to a house in Soho, while Julius trails Whittington on the train to Bournemouth. Boris leads Tommy into a meeting of Bolshevist conspirators, where he is caught. Claiming he has knowledge regarding the missing treaty, he delays his execution. Tuppence secures the co-operation of Albert, the lift boy at Mrs Vandemeyer's residence, and obtains a job as Rita's maid. A conversation between Rita and Boris confirms that Tuppence is on the trail of Mr Brown. 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." The review gave something of a backhanded compliment when it said that Christie "gives a sense of plausibility to the most preposterous situations and developments." Nevertheless it conceded that, "Miss Christie has a clever prattling style that shifts easily into amusing dialogue and so aids the pleasure of the reader as he tears along with Tommy and Tuppence on the trail of the mysterious Mr. Brown. Many of the situations are a bit moth-eaten from frequent usage by other writers, but at that Miss Christie manages to invest them with a new sense of individuality that renders them rather absorbing." 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 labor unrest and red revolution in Britain, masterminded by the man behind the Bolshevists. Good reactionary fun, if you're in that mood".