A couple have a slightly spooky edge – something Christie always does well. Some are humorous, some more serious, up to and including murder. The cases themselves are quite slight and vary in quality and style. ….“If you must be Sherlock Holmes,” she observed, “I’ll get you a nice little syringe and a bottle labelled Cocaine, but for God’s sake leave that violin alone.” Agatha Christie ….As the visitor left the office, Tuppence grabbed the violin and putting it in the cupboard turned the key in the lock. Holmes, of course, and Christie even includes Poirot himself! She doesn’t go overboard with the references – she name-checks the ‘tecs and makes a few amusing observations about their style or mannerisms, but when the cases get underway Tommy and Tuppence revert to being themselves. Inspector French is there, and Inspector Hanaud, Father Brown, The Old Man in the Corner, Roger Sheringham, Dr Thorndyke, Reggie Fortune, Edgar Wallace, and a few I still don’t recognise.
But after being steeped in Golden Age mysteries for the last few years, I now realise they’re all real – well, real in the sense that they are all based on fictional detectives or on the style of authors who would have been well known to Christie’s contemporary readers. I’m pretty sure when I first read this long, long ago, I’d have recognised a couple of the most famous, and assumed all the rest of the fictional ‘tecs were simply names made up by Christie. Tommy and Tuppence, having no experience of detecting, decide to learn the craft from the masters, so in each case they take on the personas of a different fictional detective and his sidekick. The book is in the form of short stories, each an individual case, with the background espionage plot only really appearing once or twice throughout. This is a bit of light-hearted fun from Christie, in which she shows her love for the mystery fiction world of which she was such a shining light. “I can look after her all right, sir,” said Tommy, at exactly the same minute as Tuppence said, “I can take care of myself.” While they wait to be contacted by the spy ring, they investigate the various cases brought to them by troubled clients…
Thus Tommy becomes Mr Blunt of Blunt’s Brilliant Detectives and, having no intention of being left out, Tuppence is transformed into Miss Robinson, his confidential secretary. The owner has been arrested and Mr Carter wants Tommy to impersonate him and pass on information about any odd contacts he gets.
Mr Carter believes a private detective agency is being used to pass messages in some kind of shady espionage plot. Elementary, my dear Tuppence… 😀 😀 😀 😀Īlthough very happily married to Tommy, Tuppence Beresford is finding life rather monotonous, so when their old friend Mr Carter of the Intelligence Services puts a proposition to them, the young couple jump at the chance.
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