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A review by thaurisil
N or M? by Agatha Christie
4.0
While I read through Agatha Christie's novels with the Appointments with Agatha group, I'm putting a templated synopsis of each novel in my review. It has spoilers!
Book: 30 of Christie's novels, 3 of Tommy & Tuppence novels
Setting: Sans Souci, a hotel in Leahampton, during WWII
Detective and Companions: Tommy and Tuppence
Crime: Tommy, accompanied by Tuppence, is sent to Sans Souci to search for a suspected Fifth Columnist, a British spy working for Germany
Suspects:
- Mrs Perenna, the hotel owner
- Sheila Perenna, Mrs Perenna’s daughter who is in love with Carl
- Carl von Deinim, a German refugee with a supposedly anti-Nazi attitude
- Mrs O’Rourke, a hearty, brash woman
- Mr Cayden, a needy hypochondriac
- Mrs Cayden, Mr Cayden’s wife who is devoted to his needs
- Mrs Sprot, a mother with a 2-year-old daughter Betty
- Major Bletchley, an ex-army general
- Captain Haydock, a golf-loving man living in Leahampton
- An unknown foreign woman loitering in Leahampton
Twists and Turns:
- Because there are spies on both sides and everyone is suspicious of everyone else, it’s difficult to know who is who they say they are and who is just a good actor. Carl von Deinim, for instance, appears to be a convincing German refugee who even gets arrested on the suspicion that he is a German spy, but he turns out to be a British intelligence officer spying on the Germans. Tommy catches him prying in Tuppence’s room, but it’s actually because he was suspicious of Tuppence.
- Captain Haydock claims to have discovered a German spy, denounced him to the police and bought the house. But it was an elaborate plot enabling Haydock to inherit a house containing gadgets without being under suspicion, so that he could mastermind the Germans’ efforts in Britain.
- Mrs Sprot is the least likely suspect as she has a child. When her child Betty is kidnapped by the foreign woman, there are some inconsistencies that make it appear that the kidnapping could have been staged. But eventually, it turns out that Mrs Sprot is indeed the Fifth Column, and she had taken Betty from her mother the foreign woman, who was a Polish refugee.
After writing two Poirot novels of evil and darkness, Agatha Christie finally embraces WWII in her writing, creating a setting firmly based in the war. Despite the grim setting, it is a novel with wit and humour, largely due to Christie’s decision to bring back Tommy and Tuppence. They are now middle-aged, no longer young, but they retain the same adventurous spirit, now combined with maturity. The book has both elements of mystery and espionage, moving a little away from the string of purely mystery novels that Christie produced prior to this.
Book: 30 of Christie's novels, 3 of Tommy & Tuppence novels
Setting: Sans Souci, a hotel in Leahampton, during WWII
Detective and Companions: Tommy and Tuppence
Crime: Tommy, accompanied by Tuppence, is sent to Sans Souci to search for a suspected Fifth Columnist, a British spy working for Germany
Suspects:
- Mrs Perenna, the hotel owner
- Sheila Perenna, Mrs Perenna’s daughter who is in love with Carl
- Carl von Deinim, a German refugee with a supposedly anti-Nazi attitude
- Mrs O’Rourke, a hearty, brash woman
- Mr Cayden, a needy hypochondriac
- Mrs Cayden, Mr Cayden’s wife who is devoted to his needs
- Mrs Sprot, a mother with a 2-year-old daughter Betty
- Major Bletchley, an ex-army general
- Captain Haydock, a golf-loving man living in Leahampton
- An unknown foreign woman loitering in Leahampton
Twists and Turns:
- Because there are spies on both sides and everyone is suspicious of everyone else, it’s difficult to know who is who they say they are and who is just a good actor. Carl von Deinim, for instance, appears to be a convincing German refugee who even gets arrested on the suspicion that he is a German spy, but he turns out to be a British intelligence officer spying on the Germans. Tommy catches him prying in Tuppence’s room, but it’s actually because he was suspicious of Tuppence.
- Captain Haydock claims to have discovered a German spy, denounced him to the police and bought the house. But it was an elaborate plot enabling Haydock to inherit a house containing gadgets without being under suspicion, so that he could mastermind the Germans’ efforts in Britain.
- Mrs Sprot is the least likely suspect as she has a child. When her child Betty is kidnapped by the foreign woman, there are some inconsistencies that make it appear that the kidnapping could have been staged. But eventually, it turns out that Mrs Sprot is indeed the Fifth Column, and she had taken Betty from her mother the foreign woman, who was a Polish refugee.
After writing two Poirot novels of evil and darkness, Agatha Christie finally embraces WWII in her writing, creating a setting firmly based in the war. Despite the grim setting, it is a novel with wit and humour, largely due to Christie’s decision to bring back Tommy and Tuppence. They are now middle-aged, no longer young, but they retain the same adventurous spirit, now combined with maturity. The book has both elements of mystery and espionage, moving a little away from the string of purely mystery novels that Christie produced prior to this.