Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie
The title ‘Partners in Crime’ has been used as a more
general umbrella term for the Tommy and Tuppence stories for some TV versions.
But this is the original collection - there is a background theme and so the
collection is in some sense canonical. We first met the awful pair in The Secret Adversary (1922),and they are now Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, as they are married. They set up a
detective agency as a cover for some particularly ridiculous counter-espionage (‘if
anyone comes to the office and makes a reference to the number 16, inform me
immediately’) and so they pick up some cases anyway AND they try to solve
crimes in the manner of their favourite fictional detectives. Tommy even
pretends to be Hercule Poirot at one point…
So, for example, there is a Fr
Brown-style story which has a Fr Brown-style solution. Several of the other
featured detectives are now so obscure that I have no idea if T&T do them
justice – though I did in the past connect Christie’s 1923 Murder
on the Links up with this set of short stories. Read the post to find the
important connection and the licorice cigarette papers. Thornley Colton the
Blind Problemist was the creation of Clinton H Stagg, and more or less only survives now in the Christie
story here, Blindman’s Bluff.
There is a story called The Ambassador’s Boots, which
is interesting because Poirot also solves this case during the course of Lord
Edgware Dies.
And final connection – there’s a Poirot short story about a
fancy dress ball, and in
my post I quoted Tuppence on the subject of men who
dwindle into being husbands and refuse to go out any more. In
another post I looked at the bohemian balls of London in that era.
The story here – people in fancy dress going out to a café
- is in chapters called Finessing the King and The
Gentleman Dressed in Newspaper. There is a young woman dressed as the Queen
of Hearts. (This picture from the Library
of Congress)
The stories are easy to read, and quite varied, although
featuring many favourite themes of both Christie and the times in general.
Missing ladyfriends, and in one case a ladyfriend who is in two places at once,
which I suppose is the opposite. The house that must have something of value
hidden in it. Trouble on the golf-course. Strong words from Tuppence that the
era of hatpins is over.
‘She strongly negatived any idea of going to the police’ –
this is one of my favourite non-anachronisms, as I believe anyone writing now
would not put this usage in a 1920s book. It turns up in quite a few Christies.
At the end of the book Tuppence is
SPOILER
...pregnant, soon to
have their first child. One who will be an adult fighting for their
country by the time we get to N
or M? in 1941. Although the book was published 1929, stories date from
1924, but even so…
In the stories there are all kinds of women in brown, women
in teashops, women having a rendezvous – so these two wonderful pictures from
the NYPL seemed just right.
‘Partners in crime’ is a general term, not invented by
Christie , but popularized by her. I use it all the time, for
example here, I find it very useful, and sometimes feel guilty because I am
always quite rude about Tommy and Tuppence.
Men are still suggesting that women should stab attackers with a hatpin. As Tuppence points out, they were out of date in 1924 - 99 years ago.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't Poirot have a weird scene where he describes hatpins, and mimes putting them in a hat?
Delete" women should stab attackers with a hatpin" I was always taught to carry my car keys jutting out between my fingers (but then, I grew up in Detroit).
DeleteOh me too - growing up in Liverpool. But even the Sloane Rangers handbook (1980s, UK poshos) recommends using the keys of the Renault 5....
DeleteI don't dislike Tommy and Tuppence because I see them - or especially her - as being so decorative, which one can't really say of Poirot or Miss Marple. They are silly, however, and I agree that many of their detective affectations are wasted on me because of not knowing some of those classic sleuths. I have always meant to read some Father Brown, at least!
ReplyDeleteRe women in brown - I really dislike that color! I know it just means the women were relatively anonymous but brown is often depressing. The only piece of brown clothing I ever owned and liked was a pleated camel skirt, fairly short. During one move in NYC, the movers left a bag with all my favorite skirts somewhere and that was in it. What a pity.
Yes it's certainly true that you can do much more with costumes for T&T than the others.
DeleteI think you have to chooses your browns carefully - a proper chestnut brown is nice... But I must say I have fewer clothes of that colour than just about any other...
Coincidentally, just reading these for the first time, and really, it is pretty feeble stuff. And surely Tuppence and Tommy were never more irritating. Chrissie
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you agree with me! There are some defenders of them, which is excellent. But Tuppence in particular has an arch tone that annoys me.
DeleteYes, for years I remembered it as Max Carrados, and only found out I was wrong after I said it publicly at a large event for crime fiction fans! (not the place to get a detail wrong...)
ReplyDeleteLove the costume book. When I was a girl I had a lovely book, what we used to call an annual, and it included some pages of very similar costumes - I still miss the book, I've never been able to track it down.
I've been able to find two of the Thorney Colton books online and all I can say is, Clinton Stagg was no Ernest Bramah...they have not aged well.
ReplyDeleteOh great - the rest of us need not bother then!
ReplyDelete