THE SECRET ADVERSARY Agatha Christie

by Agatha Christie, Agatha Christie Mysteries Collection, The Secret Adversary, The Secret Adversary Agatha Christie

Overview

Set in 1919 London and various other outlying locales throughout Britain, young couple Tommy Beresford and Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley, out of work and money, form the "The Young Adventurers, Ltd." planning to hiring themselves out as "adventurers ... [w]illing to do anything, go anywhere ... [n]o unreasonable offer refused."[4][5] Being overheard by Mr. Whittington, Tuppence is offered a comfortable position, only to be rejected after she gives her name as "Jane Finn", a name Tommy overheard when he and Tuppence earlier entered Lyons for tea and a bite and were walking to their table ("funny scraps one does overhear").[4][5] Lyons was the same restaurant at which Whittington overheard Tommy and Tuppence's plan for their new "joint venture." Whittington becomes suspicious of Tuppence, believing her to be blackmailing him. The meeting ends abruptly with Tuppence receiving money with the understanding that she will refrain from using her, albeit nonexistent, knowledge. Convinced that they can get further money out of Whittington if they play their cards right, Tommy and Tuppence prepare to shadow him, only to discover that he has closed his office and disappeared without a trace. His behaviour indicates to them that there is another angle to the story. To find out, they place an advertisement, asking for information regarding Jane Finn.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940013106093
Publisher:	Granto Classic Books
Publication date:	07/26/2011
Series:	Agatha Christie , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	251 KB

About the Author

Agatha Christie, DBE, (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 80 detective novels—especially those featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple—and her successful West End theatre plays.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Christie is the best-selling writer of books of all time and, with William Shakespeare, the best-selling author of any type. She has sold roughly four billion copies of her novels.[1] According to Index Translationum, Christie is the most translated individual author, with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her.[2] Her books have been translated into at least 103 languages.[3]

Christie's stage play The Mousetrap holds the record for the longest initial run: it opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on 25 November 1952 and as of 2011 is still running after more than 24,000 performances. In 1955, Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's highest honour, the Grand Master Award, and in the same year Witness for the Prosecution was given an Edgar Award by the MWA for Best Play. Most of her books and short stories have been filmed, some many times over (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and 4.50 From Paddington for instance), and many have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics.

In 1968, Booker Books, a subsidiary of the agri-industrial conglomerate Booker-McConnell, bought a 51 percent stake in Agatha Christie Limited, the private company that Christie had set up for tax purposes. Booker later increased its stake to 64 percent. In 1998, Booker sold its shares to Chorion, a company whose portfolio also includes the literary estates of Enid Blyton and Dennis Wheatley.[4]

In 2004, a 5,000-word story entitled The Incident of the Dog's Ball was found in the attic of the author's daughter. This story was the original version of the novel Dumb Witness. It was published in Britain in September 2009 in John Curran's Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years Of Mysteries, alongside another newly discovered Poirot story called The Capture of Cerberus (a story with the same title, but a different plot, to that published in The Labours Of Hercules).[5] On 10 November 2009, Reuters announced that The Incident of the Dog's

Date of Birth:

September 15, 1890

Date of Death:

January 12, 1976

Place of Birth:

Torquay, Devon, England

Education:

Home schooling

Website:

http://www.agathachristie.com