I am a month behind on my Read Christie 2024, so mid-March means I have picked up the February pick. This was my introduction to Tommy and Tuppence in the written form (I have listened to them as an audio book) and I was very pleasantly surprised as they did not leave much of a mark on me as an audio book.
This, despite having some dark undertones as you would imagine from Christie, is a more light-hearted novel. I think because our characters are younger, with more optimisim and hope as they have come out of World War One. They are also a fantastic pair, bringing the best out of each other as only very dear friends (or more) can do. I found myself having a little smile on my face as I read some of the lines, because Tommy and Tuppence just seem to bring such joy to the story. Even in their darkest moments.
This is a brilliant story of espionage and politics. The world has come out of World War One but there are still threats on the horizon, with an unstable Europe and distrust between the nations. Tommy and Tuppence get drawn into this world, almost accidentally, and embark on a life as private investigators: can they find the missing Jane Finn and the documents she was given to take good care of? They certainly give it a jolly good go, meeting a whole host of suspicious characters along the way, and finding themselves in a number of dangerous situations.
There are some twists and turns along the way, but this is not Christie’s most complicated tale. In fact, you may work some of the plot out, but that does not spoil the reading experience as the fun of reading this story is being on the adventure with Tommy and Tuppence, and rooting for them at every moment.
I am not sure they will replace Poirot in my affections but this is a slightly different reading experience. I certainly won’t be avoiding reading more of Tommy and Tuppence, which I think I have been up until this point, as I like to read Poirot and Miss Marple for comfort reads, which means I have been missing out on some of Christie’s other stories.