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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
OK, this book is awesome. I picked it up partly because I've been starting to get into mysteries, and partly because of *cough* that Dr. Who episode with Agatha Christie, which made her seem pretty cool.
The book is a kind of odd cross between a novel and a collection of short stories, but that means it's great for reading in short doses -- I can finish one of the episodes in 5 or 10 minutes. It's also funny, quirky, and full of social commentary and gender politics. I have found it to be unexpectedly feminist, and I really enjoy the relationship between Tommy and Tuppence (the young married couple who do all the crime solving).
The book is a kind of odd cross between a novel and a collection of short stories, but that means it's great for reading in short doses -- I can finish one of the episodes in 5 or 10 minutes. It's also funny, quirky, and full of social commentary and gender politics. I have found it to be unexpectedly feminist, and I really enjoy the relationship between Tommy and Tuppence (the young married couple who do all the crime solving).
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
similarly to parker pryne investigates, calling this a short-story collection would be a misnomer. interconnected cases would be a more accurate description. however, unlike the parker pryne book, this collection was more enjoyable. probably because the two main characters, tommy and tuppence, felt so refreshing defying expectations.
you see, your typical late-20s, early 30s husband-wife relationship would be the husband doing the muscle work and the wife worrying. i'm being charitable with my dates here, we all know this dynamic persists even until today. but, in this book, i was almost shocked to see how equal agatha christie portrayed the main relationship. one case would be solved by tommy, another by tuppence, but mostly by their shared efforts. and no nagging on sight from one party to the other, just a mutual fascination with detective mysteries and a healthy marriage. in 1929! groundbreaking.
moreover, there is something special about two main detectives in a novel obssessed with fictional detectives. every fictional detective has its own gimmick and wanting to copy out these traits is tommy' and tuppence's own. not that it worked out in the end, but still, it made the stories somehow charming. also, the fact that they know about hercule poirot not as a character in their world but a fictional one implies the notion of an agatha christie literary universe within another literary universe-- mind blowing!
you see, your typical late-20s, early 30s husband-wife relationship would be the husband doing the muscle work and the wife worrying. i'm being charitable with my dates here, we all know this dynamic persists even until today. but, in this book, i was almost shocked to see how equal agatha christie portrayed the main relationship. one case would be solved by tommy, another by tuppence, but mostly by their shared efforts. and no nagging on sight from one party to the other, just a mutual fascination with detective mysteries and a healthy marriage. in 1929! groundbreaking.
moreover, there is something special about two main detectives in a novel obssessed with fictional detectives. every fictional detective has its own gimmick and wanting to copy out these traits is tommy' and tuppence's own. not that it worked out in the end, but still, it made the stories somehow charming. also, the fact that they know about hercule poirot not as a character in their world but a fictional one implies the notion of an agatha christie literary universe within another literary universe-- mind blowing!
Unlike the first book in the Tommy and Tuppence series, this book is a bunch of short stories tied together with a background plot. Tommy and Tuppence are asked by the Chief of whatever secret service they worked for in the first book, to impersonate the employees of a detective agency to rout out a Soviet spy ring passing information through the agency. So in between stories where they are dealing with spy ring, they solve bona fide cases brought to the detectives to solve. In each one they pick a famous literary detective (including Agatha Christie's own Poirot) to impersonate and apply the methods of, leading to some hilarious scenes like Tommy scratching a bow across a violin and utterly bewildering a client. I very much like light-hearted mysteries, but I prefer novels to short stories and I kept wanting to get to the bits where they're dealing with the spy ring. I was also a bit disappointed that . Hence, 3*.
Spoiler
Tuppence played almost zero role in the denouement, a bit like the end of the first novel
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
is Hercule Poirot a fictional or real life detective in the Tommy/Tupence world? Him being mentioned alongside Sherlock Holmes kept getting me out of the stories, that aren’t that great of a mystery to start...
A number of short stories, some humor throughout, I was not overly fond.