I'd read a few short stories about them previously, but this is the first of their books I've read. And it's the first book Agatha Christie wrote about them, so I guess it was a good place to start. I am now on the hunt for the rest of the series. Can't decide if I want to track them down one by one or just buy a boxed set.
Anyway! The Secret Adversary is actually almost more a spy novel than a mystery. It's all about trying to find a female passenger of the Lusitania who disappeared while carrying very important diplomatic papers. Those papers are still vitally important even though the war was over, as Soviet Communists are trying to find and use them to take down the British government.
Tommy Beresford and Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley are two young adults who are kind of at loose ends now that the Great War has ended. They decide to become Adventurers, and end up trying to find this missing woman, rescue each other from various predicaments, and save Great Britain. And gradually realize they may have a future together as more than good friends, too. Honestly, the understated but realistic unfolding of their romance was one of my favorite things about the whole book. We readers could see they loved each other, but it took them until nearly the end of the book to each independently realize they loved the other person, and make their feelings plain. Really good stuff.
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for threats of torture, some violence, and lots of perilous situations. I think there were also a few mild cuss words.
This is my 9th book read and reviewed for my fifth Classics Club list.
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