The Secret Adversary
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The Secret Adversary (published in 1922) is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie. It introduces the characters of Tommy and Tuppence.
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[edit] Plot Details
Set in London and some British towns in 1919, young couple Tommy Beresford and Tuppence Cowley, out of work and money, form the "The Young Adventurers, Ltd." partnership, and plan on hiring themselves out. Being overheard by Mr. Whittesford, Tuppence is offered a comfortable position, only to be rejected after she gives her name as "Jane Finn", a name Tommy had overheard on the road. Mr. Whittesford becomes suspicious of Tuppence, and the meeting ends with Tuppence receiving money with the understanding that she will refrain from using her (non-existing) knowledge. Convinced that they can get further money out of Mr. 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 indicated to them that there is another angle to the story. To find out, they place an advertisement, asking for information regarding Jane Finn.
One response is by Mr. Carter, a leading figure in an unnamed British intelligence agency, who provides the background to Jane Finn. She was a passenger on the Lusitania, when a messenger entrusted her with a secret treaty shortly before the ship was sunk. Since then, neither Jane Finn nor the treaty have been found. At the same time, publication of the treaty would compromise the current British government, potentially leading to a bolshevist coup. Tommy and Tuppence agree to work for Mr. Carter on an unofficial basis, with the aim of recovering the treaty and foiling the bolshevists and especially their elusive leader. Mr. Brown. The second response is by the US-American Julius Hersheimmer, cousin of Jane Finn and millionaire. He is intent on finding her, and had already contacted the police for assistance. His only photograph of Jane Finn, however, was picked up by a false Inspector Brown, making the task of finding her even more difficult. Tommy and Tuppence take him into their confidence, and they agree to join forces. All three take residence at the Ritz hotel.
The only hint they can go by at this time is a name, "Rita", uttered my Mr. Whittington in Tuppence's presence in connection with Jane Finn. Tommy and Tuppence decide to search for a Rita under the surviving passengers of the Lusitania, and locate Margaret Vandemeyer. Their luck persists as Mr. Whittington and a second person (Boris Ivanovitch) leave Mrs. Vandemeyer's flat while they are around. At this point the plot separates into three threads: Tommy is able to contact Julius, before Boris and Mr. Whittington separate. While Tommy traces Boris through London into a house in Soho, Julius follows Mr. Whittington on the train to Bournemouth, and Tuppence takes her chance to find employment at Mrs. Vandemeyer's.
Boris leads Tommy right into a meeting of bolshevist conspirators, where is is caught. Pretending he has knowledge regarding Jane Finn, his life is spared for a while.
After Tommy's departure, Tuppence secures the cooperation of Albert, the lift boy of Mrs. Vandemeyer's residence, and enters the following day into Mrs. Vandemeyer's service. There, she has the chance to overhear a conversation between Mrs. Vandemeyer and Boris. The next visitor is Sir James Peel Edgerton, a lawyer serving as King's Counsel, who upon leaving makes an opaque remark regarding the suitability of Tuppence's current place of employment.
In the afternoon, Tuppence meets Julius after his return from Bournemouth. Juluis had followed Mr. Whittington to a private nursing home, where Mr. Whittington was meeting with a nurse. Unfortunately, before Julius could act, both Whittington and the nurse left, the latter with a female patient, while Julius was detected by Dr. Hall, the owner of the nursing home.
After a couple of uneventful days, Tuppence persuades Julius to seek advice from James Edgerton, based on his previous remark towards her. They share their concern regarding Tommy's disappearance with Sir James, who suggests to use his acquaintance with Mrs. Vandemeyer to obtain information. The plan is for Sir James to visit Mrs. Vandemeyer later in the evening. Tuppence, however, upon returning early to the flat, interrupts her mistress preparations to go into hiding, and manages to overwhelm her. In the ensuing conversation, Tuppence is able to obtain the promise of information regarding Jane Finn, Tommy and the mysterious Mr. Brown in exchange for a substantial amount of money out of Julius' long purse. Upon the arrival of Julius and Sir James, however, she faints, is revived by some brandy and dies soon after due to poisoning.
After this dead end, the three decide to contact Dr. Hull, the only person who might shed light on Mr. Whittington's whereabouts. It turns out that Jane Finn had been admitted to his nursing home under the name Janet Vandemeyer, and she was in his care because she suffered a complete loss of memory after the sinking of the Lusitania. On the evening of Whittington's visit, Jane Finn was brought back to London, to an unknown place. With no trail left to follow, Sir James announces his intent to start his planned vacation, with some hint that he may try to work behind the scenes, and a veiled hint to Tuppence not to trust Julius.
Julius, being convinced of the futility of their search, is ready to give up, and proposes that Tuppence marry him. She, however, leaves him a note declining the offer, and rushes out, after receiving a telegram signed by Tommy.
In the meantime, Tommy remained imprisoned in the conspirator's house, being served food by a young woman named Annette. After a few days of waiting, Tommy's bluff is called, and he is tied up to be brought away to be killed. During this time one of the conspirators refers to the Ritz as Tommy's previous place of residence, indicating that they know now more about him. His situation improves, however, when Annette arranges his escape but refuses to come along.
Upon returning to the Ritz, Tommy and Julius recognize the telegram to Tuppence as a means of getting her out of the way. They retrieve the telegram, and but fail to find any trace of her at the address given.
However, in the meantime Sir James has discovered Jane Finn, who has recovered her memory after an accident. Tommy, Julius and James get directions to the place where she hid the treaty. When they arrive, the package contains only a message from Mr. Brown. Realizing that the conspirators are now in possession of the treaty, Tommy rushes to London to alert Mr. Carter. There, Tommy learns another bad news: Pieces of Tuppence's clothing have been found at the seashore.
At his lowest, Tommy returns to the Ritz, with the intent of getting even with Mr. Brown over Tuppence's fate. He and Julius find themselves in a personal row, which Julius resolves by leaving the hotel. Tommy then decides to decline an offer offer by Sir James, at one of his farms in Argentina, and while searching for paper in Julius' drawer comes across a photograph of Annette. This chance find offers a new clue to the case, and Tommy concludes that the Jane Finn was they had found was planted by their enemies, in order to convince them that the game was over. Thus, he believes that they are closer to the solution than they believe, and notifies Mr. Carter that he believes Tuppence's pieces of clothing were fakes. He thinks that the conspirators will free the real Jane Finn, under the assumption that she will lead them to the hidden treaty.
Tommy then requests from Mr. Carter an original copy of the telegram sent to Tuppence, and finds out that the telegram was altered after Tuppence had read it, to throw him onto the wrong track. Thus, with the lift boy Albert, he proceeds to Tuppence's place of imprisonment, but leaves a false message for Julius, indicating that he left for Argentina.
Julius, still intent on finding his cousin, decides to use force, and kidnaps Mr. Kramenin, a known Bolshevik sympathizer and suspected conspirator. Kramenin, at gunpoint, agrees to lead Julius to the place of Jane's and Tuppence's confinement. At the house, Kramenin bluff his way to get both women released, whereupon all of them rush of in Julius' car. The bluff is called then, and they are followed. During the ensuing flight it becomes clear that Jane Finn and Annette are the same person, and that Jane had all the time pretended to suffer from amnesia. As well, it turns out that Tommy had been around and managed to jump onto the car. In a surprise development, he snatches Julius' weapon, and sends Tuppence and Jane via train to Sir James in London, while he stays behind with the unwilling Julius.
During the return to London, both women are wary of being followed, but with some tricks manage to reach Sir James' residence. Here, Jane confides her story: After having received the package, she got suspicious of Mrs. Vandemeyer. Concealing her fear, she replaced the treaty in the parcel with a blank sheet, carrying the treaty hidden inside a magazine. Then, during the train ride to London, she got mugged and woke up in an unknown location. Upon overhearing that their captors were not sure about the meaning of the empty sheet in the packet, and their intent of torturing her to gain information, Jane decided to pretend amnesia and started to converse in French only. During the night, she hid the treaty in the back of some pictures in her room. On the odd chance that she might recover her memory, she was kept from that moment under Mrs. Vandemeyer's care. Then, after a number of years, she was brought back to London, to serve on Tommy during his imprisonment.
Upon this information, Sir James suggests they immediately retrieve the treaty. He is convinced that Tuppence and Jane have been traced, and that the desperate Mr. Brown will follow them further to obtain the treaty. He plans to capture him, and expects that the conspirators without their leader are bound to fail. Furthermore, Tuppence confides in Sir James her suspicion that Julius is Mr. Brown, that he killed the real Julius and also Mrs. Vandemeyer. Sir James confirms her suspicions, and suggests they rush to get the treaty, lest Julius overpower Tommy and outwit them again.
In the house, the treaty is finally recovered. However, Jane and Tuppence are confronted by a Sir James who identifies himself as the head of the conspirators, who plans to kill them, wound himself, and blame it all on the elusive Mr. Brown. At this pivotal moment, Julius and Tommy, who were hidden in the room and had guessed the location of the treaty and Mr. Brown's identity, overwhelm Sir James. The latter manages to commit suicide.
A party given by Julius serves as a final meeting of all parties involved, and a general recapitulation of events, hints and conclusions. The novel concludes with Julius and Jane as well as Tommy and Tuppence joining in matrimony.
[edit] Plot Devices
The novel utilizes character cliches extensively: An obvious villain is immediately identified when Tuppence "[...] disliked and distrusted him instinctively" (on first seeing Mr. Whittington, Ch. 2) or could "feel [...] something hard and menacing" (on first meeting Vandemeyer, Ch. 9). Tommy's first impressions of Boris ("He was fair, with a weak, unpleasant face, and Tommy put him down as being either a Russian or a Pole", Ch. 7) and an unnamed conspirator ("The low beetling brows, and the criminal jaw, the bestiality of the whole countenance", Ch. 8) are equally superficial. Even places are attributed such attributes: The meeting place of the conspirators is described as "a particularly evil-looking house" (Ch. 7).
The rank and file members of the organization form a "sinister gathering" drawn from various enemies to the British establishment: "The common criminal, the well-bred Irish gentleman (Sinn Fein), the pale Russian (Bolshevik), and the efficient German master of the ceremonies!" (Ch. 8). The British Labour Party and Trade Unions, on the other hand, are portraied as being overall honest, but used by the conspirators for their own ends.
The two serious candidates for the main villain, Mr. Brown, on the other hand, are less obvious to read. Both's Julius' and Sir James' characters are developed more extensively, and both cannot easily be placed.
The plot develops through a series of coincidences (Tuppence gives her name as "Jane Finn", which starts the whole affair; Tommy guesses the Password "Mr. Brown" ).
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
- Adapted for television in 1985, but also in 1928 in Germany as "Adventure, Inc."
[edit] Public domain status
Published in 1922 as Christie's second novel, it is one of two of her books that are in the public domain in the U.S.. The copyright on the book will not expire in many Western countries before 2047.
[edit] External link
- The Secret Adversary, available at Project Gutenberg.
