The Secret Adversary

[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with POSTERN OF FATE.]--When we first meet detectives Tommy Beresford and Tuppence Cowley, it's just after WWI, and they're hiring themselves out as "young adventurers." Their first case, finding the mysterious Jane Finn, is classic Christie with its twists, turns, and a final surprise. In POSTERN OF FATE, we meet Tommy and Tuppence much later (they're now married) as they uncover an old mystery in the home they've selected for their retirement. Samatha Bond, whose voice will be familiar to those who enjoy British television mysteries featuring Inspector Morse and Hercule Poirot, does a top-notch job with these stories. Her pacing is perfect, and her ability to switch from American to British to Russian-inflected accents astonishing. Bond's enthusiastic reading allows listeners to suspend their disbelief over Christie's more amazing plot twists and enjoy her stories for what they are: the foundation of the modern mystery. J.C.G. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

Alex Jennings sounds just like Tommy AND just like Tuppence. And his American characters have a recognizable Midwestern speech pattern--which isn't bad for an English narrator who began his career at the Old Vic. Jennings reads with a panache that highlights the breezy, adventuresome good humor of this first of Agatha Christie's few mysteries that featured the clever young couple, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. In this one, it's 1922; the two demobbed, jobless friends join forces to become the Young Adventurers, who advertise that "no unreasonable offer" will be rejected. Instantly, they're investigating a complicated plot involving the sinking of the LUSITANIA, secret treaties, kidnapping, and Communists. Wonderful fun that is wonderfully read. A.C.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Popular narrator Nadia May has great fun reading Agatha Christie's second book, the first of five featuring the husband-and-wife detective team of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. A lighthearted thriller that reads well even today, the book highlights Tommy and Tuppence, not yet married, as they thwart a malevolent plot to paralyze Great Britain through closely manipulated labor unrest. Nadia May reads with her usual charging enthusiasm, her British voice changing its pitch and cadence for male and female characters alike. She enlivens the repartee between the two leads, relishes the other characters and enjoys herself immensely. D.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Originally published in 1922, the story finds Tuppence and Tommy reacquainting themselves and grappling with various spies in their first adventure. While neither a very well-known nor very well-respected series, the two are rather cute, and Penelope Dellaporta portrays a sense of this without going over the edge. She gives an enthusiastic reading, and if her rendition of an American accent occasionally becomes distracting, she otherwise bounds happily around this complex story, admirably tackling the many different forces that were part of England between the Wars. She does an especially effective job with the spirited Tuppence, although when the plot falls into the particularly improbable, she is unable to raise it with her narration. S.F. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine

In this audio version of Agatha Christie's second novel, listeners are transported to London directly after the Great War. Tommy Beresford and Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley have set themselves up as the Young Adventurers Ltd. Alison Larkin's crisp, clear narration, with her precise English accent, sets the scene and helps to conjure up the feeling of a bygone era when the class system was at the core of British society. Larkin's portrayals help bring the characters alive. She voices Tuppence with girlish tones, highlighting her impulsive and flighty nature, while Tommy's subdued tones emphasize his steadier character. Larkin's range of accents--Cockney, upper-class English, and American--demonstrates convincing authenticity. The result is an easy listen of a classic tale of detection. K.J.P. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine