Tommy and Tuppence Beresford are the detectives in this third volume of Agatha Christie's collected short fiction. All these tales about this cheerful couple were written in one go (though one of them was published a few years later) and have an overarching plot where Tommy & Tuppence are asked by the secret service to run a detective agency because it's supposed to be a meeting place for foreign agents.
The stories were written in the middle of the 20s and are typical of their time in many ways. But the most remarkable thing about them is that Christie lets each tale be a pastiche of other - at this time - famous mystery novelists.
Because of the overarching plot, the stories are not presented in chronological order but in the order they were published in the first edition of the English collection "Partners in Crime". The first two chapters, "A Fairy in the Flat" and "A Pot of Tea" are pure introductions to the collection and it's only in the second one where our detectives get to use their brain cells. It's a slight story, but a good enough introduction for the reader.
"The Affair of the Pink Pearl" is meatier. In this case, T&T emulate R. Austin Freeman's scientific detective Dr. Thorndyke (though we get a quick reference to Sherlock Holmes at the very beginning). Tommy gets to prove his stuff in this enjoyable story.
In "The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger", the titular character turns up in the detective agency with a somewhat transparent story, and Tommy jumps into a suspected trap with both eyes open. In this story, today's almost forgotten Okewood brothers by Valentine Williams are parodied. Compared to many of the other featured stories, this tale relates more tightly to the overarching plot - which is to its disadvantage since the problem solving parts are put on the backburner.
We leave the adventure genre for a return to something more mystery-like in "Finessing the King". It is Isabel Ostrander's McCarty and Riordan that T&T try to imitate here. After Tommy got to be the hero of the previous stories, Tuppence is the one to make the breakthrough here.
In the following story, "The Case of the Missing Lady", Tommy & Tuppence get to be Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The solution to the mystery that Tuppence finds is probably as surprising to the reader as it is to our problem solvers.
"Blind Man's Buff" is yet again a return to adventure and a return to the overarching plot. Tommy tries to imitate Clinton H. Stagg's blind detective Thornley Colton when he is kidnapped and needs to somehow outwit his abductors.
Father Brown, G. K. Chesterton's gentle detective, should be familiar to the modern reader. He is the one who inspires the solution that Tommy cleverly reaches in "The Man in the Mist".
Christie continues to vacillate between mysteries and adventure stories. We get an example of the latter in "The Crackler" where Tommy is yet again abducted, this time by a gang of forgers. This time, it's Edgar Wallace's "The Busies" who are parodied.
We get one of the best stories of the collection in "The Sunningdale Mystery". Tommy imitates "The Old Man in the Corner", the Baroness Orczy's problem solver, and from a number of newspaper reports he reaches the solution needed to apprehend the villain of the piece.
In "The House of Lurking Death", it is A. E. W. Mason's Inspector Hanaud who is the inspiration for the solution. It is yet again Tuppence who proves herself in one of the more exciting stories in this collection.
Freeman Wills Crofts's Inspector French usually solves cases which involve ironclad alibis, and of course it is he who is emulated by our problem solvers in "The Unbreakable Alibi". The reader needs to be in a tolerant mood to accept the solution Christie presents.
"The Clergyman’s Daughter" uses Anthony Berkeley's detective Roger Sheringham as its model for our problem solvers. Tommy & Tuppence get to go on the usual treasure hunt where they need to interpret clues to reach their target. Again Tuppence gets to show her stuff.
Next is "The Ambassador’s Boots" where the detective Reggie Fortune (by H. C. Bailey) is the guiding star. It's a rather slight story where the plot feels rather random.
The final story "The Man Who Was No. 16" is a return to the adventure thriller genre, and the overarching plot is resolved. Funnily enough, Tommy and Tuppence get to parody Christie's own Hercule Poirot, and for a change Tuppence is the one to get kidnapped. When Tommy has used his little grey cells he finally manages to find her, and that also means that they manage to apprehend the gang of villains who were the original reason for T&T to run their detective agency.
Conclusion
This collection is more enjoyable if the reader has a working knowledge of at least half the detectives that Christie imitates and parodies, because to be honest most stories here are fairly slight. A couple are readable on their own ("Pink Pearl", "The Man in the Mist", "The Sunningdale Mystery" and "The House of Lurking Death"), but those who have a higher tolerance for 20s adventure thrillers will probably enjoy the rest more than I do.
Another drawback, for this project at least, is that there are no impossible crimes in this volume, so I don't get anything new to add. Still, these tales are easy reads and Christie's enthusiasm is apparent throughout the collection. And T&T are always a joy to read about. I'd recommend this book to a Christie fan, but not to someone who's never read her before.
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