Review by Nick Fuller
4/5
This early Christie collection is easily the best book in which Tommy and Tuppence appear, because, instead of sinister spies (Bolshevist, Fascist or amorphous entities who operate for some reason unknown to both author and reader) and hairbreadth escapes, it is detection. Or, rather, detectives. Christie's aim in writing the book was to poke fun at the detectives of other authors: some still celebrated today, such as Dr. Thorndyke in "The Affair of the Pink Pearl," Sherlock Holmes in "The Case of the Missing Lady," Father Brown in "The Man in the Mist," the Old Man in the Corner in "The Sunningdale Mystery," Hanaud in "The House of Lurking Death," Inspector French in "The Unbreakable Alibi," Roger Sheringham in "The Clergyman's Daughter," Mr. Fortune in "The Ambassador's Boots," and ... Hercule Poirot himself, in "The Man Who Was No. 16," which principally parodies The Big Four (charitable readers will read this novel as a parody of the thriller rather than as a convoluted, plotless mess). Other authors, such as Valentine Williams, Isabel Ostrander and Clinton H .Stagg (an imitator of Ernest Bramah?), have long since been forgotten, so that these parodies lose their edge. Some of the tales are principally farce: "The Case of the Missing Lady" turns Lady Frances Carfax on her head with a dose of "The Yellow Face"; and "The Unbreakable Alibi" is a parody of Crofts as dull as that author at his all-too-frequent worst, without even the saving grace of a decent solution. Other parodies bear little resemblance to the original: "The Clergyman's Daughter" is intended as an homage to The Silk Stocking Murders, but the rest of the story bears little resemblance to anything by A.B. Cox under any name. Several of these satires, however, are very clever: "Finessing the King" is a more logical variant on "The Affair at the Victory Ball"; "The Man in the Mist" is a delicious parody of Chesterton's "The Invisible Man" and "The Man in the Passage". The two best tales in the collection are the Orczy satire, "The Sunningdale Mystery," which shows Christie's versatility at constructing clues and plots, and "The House of Lurking Death," an effective parody of the melodramatic Mason.
Comments (1)
Jon said
at 8:42 am on Jan 27, 2010
Blurb: This delightfully witty book will come as a pleasant surprise to all admirers of these ingenious detective thrillers for which Agatha Christie is famous. It tells the story of the amazing adventures of two amateur detectives—Tommy, a remarkable young man of thirty-two, and his equally remarkable wife, Tuppence—who follow the methods of famous detective heroes, such as Sherlock Holmes, Inspector French, Roger Sheringham, Bulldog Drummond, Father Brown and even Monsieur Poirot himself. Problem after problem comes before them for solution, and the account of their endeavours to live up to their slogan, “Blunt’s Brilliant Detectives! Any case solved in twenty-four hours!” makes delicious reading.
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