Dear Agatha,
This was the most fun novel of yours I think I've read, at least in quite awhile.
I remember starting a Tommy & Tuppence mystery before, but think I never finished it for some reason, and what little I remember about it made me not as eager to begin The Secret Adversary (I'm also not a big fan of spy / political conspiracy tales) - but I LOVED it!
Did I figure it out? Kind of. I suspected the bad guy... but once again, talked myself out of it only to be surprised in the end that I was right. Really a guess more than improvement of my little gray cells, I'm sure. And I thought the end was coming much earlier than it did, so twisty and turny was your plot.
My favorite scene, I think, wasn't even about the mystery itself, but when Tuppence comes to terms with her feelings for Tommy, after declining a marriage proposal by Julius. For some reason it reminded me of my Christianne:
"Fool," murmured Tuppence at length, making a grimace. "Little fool. Everything you want - everything you've ever hoped for, and you go and bleat out 'no' like an idiotic little sheep. It's your one chance. Why don't you take it? Grab it? Snatch at it? What more do you want?"
As if in answer to her own question, her eyes fell on a small snapshot of Tommy that stood on her dressing-table in a shabby frame. For a moment she struggled for self-control, and then abandoning all pretense, she held it to her lips and burst into a fit of sobbing.
"Oh, Tommy, Tommy," she cried, "I do love you so - and may never see you again..."
At the end of five minutes Tuppence sat up, blew her nose, and pushed back her hair.
"That's that," she observed sternly. "Let's look facts in the face. I seem to have fallen in love - with an idiot of a boy who probably doesn't care two straws about me." Here she paused. "Anyway," she resumed, as though arguing with an unseen opponent, "I don't know that he does. He'd never have dared to say so. I've always jumped on sentiment - and here I am being more sentimental than anybody. What idiots girls are! I've always thought so. I suppose I shall sleep with his photograph under my pillow, and dream about him all night. It's dreadful to feel you've been false to your principles."
This is also the first book in a long time that I've stayed up late to finish, just because it was much fun. And I can't wait to read more from The Young Adventurers.
Admiringly,
Beth
Dear Agatha,
ReplyDeleteI did a free trial of Acorn TV through my Amazon Prime account so that I could watch a 2015 British series called "Partners in Crime," featuring Tommy and Tuppence. What a disappointment! I need to make sure I remember to cancel the free trial before they bill me $5 a month!
Here's what I don't get. If someone presumably likes your work so much that they want to make a movie or remake a TV show about one of your novels, why take so much liberty in the screenplay that the basic premise of your work is unrecognizable? Truly, this bore almost no resemblance to the novel, and as such, I was very disappointed.
The one redeeming aspect is that actress Jessica Raine plays an adorable Tuppence.
Besides watching the three long hours of that series, I have been reading an unenjoyable novel given to me for Christmas. Now that that's out of the way, it's time to get back to Christie with Murder on the Links.
On another note, today is the 40th anniversary of your death. I'm not sure what else to say about that, but I did think it was proper to note it.
Admiringly,
Beth