Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie

 

Title:  Partners in Crime

Author:  Agatha Christie

Narrated by:  Hugh Fraser

Publisher: HarperAudio

Length: Approximately 6 hours and 56 minutes

Source: Checked out with Libby through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

 

Do you have a favorite crime solving or fighting duo?  This was my first Tommy and Tuppence novel, but it won’t be my last.  They were a witty detective duo that I greatly enjoyed.  They reminded me of Nick and Nora from the Thin man movies.

#ReadChristie2023 is focusing on murders and methods in Agatha Christie novels.  The prompt for February was the use of blunt objects and the book pick was Partners in Crime.  In Partners in Crime, Tommy and Tuppence have been asked to take over Blunt's International Detective Agency and they jump at the chance.  The agency has been a cover for spies. They solve the mysteries that come in as they wait for the spymasters to show themselves.  Tommy finds inspiration from the master detectives of history including Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.  I loved his mangled violin playing as he tried to channel Sherlock Holmes.  The book is a series of short story mysteries that the two solve.  They were interesting and hilarious.  I loved the repartee between Tommy and Tuppence.

There are only five Tommy and Tuppence novels and this is the second one.  I was intrigued to learn that Tommy and Tuppence are the only Christie characters that age over time.  They start young with one of her first novels, The Secret Adversary in 1922 and end as an old couple in Postern of Fate in 1973.  This definitely makes me want to read all of these novels.   Partners in Crime came out in 1929 so Tommy and Tuppence are still a young couple.  It was funny to me though that Agatha Christie was already including her creation of Hercule Poirot in the pantheon of great detectives in this book.

My favorite story in this collection was The House of Lurking Death which was a case of poisoning.  The Man in the Mist involved murder with a blunt object as per the prompt for February.  It was a clever case.  I enjoyed all of the stories. 

Hugh Fraser was a good narrator for this audiobook.