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The Secret Adversary  By  cover art

The Secret Adversary

By: Agatha Christie
Narrated by: Penelope Dellaporta
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Editorial reviews

Originally published in 1922, the story finds Tuppence and Tommy reacquainting themselves and grappling with various spies in their first adventure. While neither a very well-known nor very well-respected series, the two are rather cute, and Penelope Dellaporta portrays a sense of this without going over the edge. She gives an enthusiastic narration, and if her rendition of an American accent occasionally becomes distracting, she otherwise bounds happily around this complex story, admirably tackling the many different forces that were part of England between the Wars. She does an especially effective job with the spirited Tuppence, although when the plot falls into the particularly improbable, she is unable to raise it with her narration.

Publisher's summary

In 1919, young couple Tommy Beresford and Tuppence Cowley form a partnership, hiring themselves out as "young adventurers". Their first case, however, is more of an adventure than they expect. It involves finding documents that, if they were known to the general public, would fuel a communist revolution in Britain.

Tommy and Tuppence know that Jane Finn was carrying top secret documents when she disappeared five years ago. What they don't know is that a killer is targeting a sinister older woman because she knows all about Jane. And soon Tommy and Tuppence are themselves in grave danger.

(P)2006 Tantor Media Inc.

What listeners say about The Secret Adversary

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Vintage Intrique Romp

I enjoyed the story and had no problem with the narration. Think of this one as RETRO! Anglophile style. It's also nice to read an early Agatha Christie story.

The story is pleasantly convoluted. The naiveté of the principals is charming.

This is not today's hard-edged mystery.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Terrible Narration!

I had read this years ago I thought it would be a fun and nostalgic listen. The book does suffer from some cringe-producing dialogue (especially with Christie's attempts at American lingo), but listening to the audio version was torturous. If the plot didn't have the usual Christie twists and suspense, I wouldn't have been able to get through it. The narrator does such a terrible job I just can't understand why she was chosen for this project. She sounds like she must be a much older woman and yet all the main characters are young twenty and thirty-somethings. An older woman attempting to sound like young men just comes off as simply ridiculous and really distracts from the story. It would be bad enough if the problem was only with the younger male characters, but she even puts on a false, high-pitched, sing-songey voice for Tuppence! Instead of making Tuppence sound young (which I assume is the intent) it makes her come off like a high strung old lady! It would have been far better if the narrator had just read the book without any attempts to "act" it out.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Great Christy! (Not Great Narration)

The story is typically Christy - interesting and enjoyable! I found the narration annoying, especially Tuppence's loud exclamations and shrill squeaky voice. Ugh.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Don't overlook this book

I loved this book. It was refreshing to hear an Agatha Christie novel that I hadn't ready seen on tv and with new characters. I was kept guessing until the end.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Transporting delight

Introduction to the characters Tommy & Tuppence. Enjoyable to read a still young (32 or younger) Christie’s personality, reflected in these two detectives.

Not one of her great mysteries though, but immersive reading. A fun, cheeky, genuine 1920s story with moments of seriousness that pulls you into another time…IF you like that sort of thing.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Twee

Silly and boring, with milk sop characters doing absolutely preposterous things. The narrator voices the lead female obnoxiously, and most of the accents she does are painful to listen to.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Christie

I find Tommy and Tuppence the most attractive Christie characters. Poirot and Marple are equally or more clever but Not such enjoyable people.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Silly romantic story, noot her best, but reading was really delightful.

I liked the narration a lot, she did a great job relating voices to people, so I usually could tell that different people were speaking, and usually knew who they were. That’s not an easy thing to do.
The story was a disappointment, as it quickly turned into a Victorian romance, below Ms Christy’s usual style. It seemed like a filler between good mysteries. Well, I’m no author, so perhaps my opinion should be taken very lightly. It’s easy to criticize. I enjoyed it generally, and appreciate it.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Terrible squeak!

I loved the story but there was a terrible squeak in the audio that would not go away no matter which device I chose.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Terrible narrator

What made the experience of listening to The Secret Adversary the most enjoyable?

As always, an excellent story from our Queen of Crime, but truly terrible narration. Try to rise above it

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