Jan. 29th, 2010

meganbmoore: (1930s sleuth)
Written and set 20 years after The Secret Adversary, Tommy and Tuppence are now middle-aged with grown children, and bored silly because the government thinks they’re too old for any fun war contributions. But then Tommy is asked to secretly investigate a potential Fifth Columnist spy who may be hiding in a genteel boardinghouse in the country, and off he goes, feeling at least a little guilty about leaving Tuppence behind. He forgets, though, that Tuppence is, above all else clever, and that her sense of smell is most finely tuned to adventure.

Like The Secret Adversary, Christie relies on buoyant spirits and conspiracy theories and reveals and double reveals and triple reveals and “oh wait, actually…” and does so well. I especially like how Tuppence is Very Put Out that Tommy thought he could successfully leave her behind (not that he tried, because he was ordered to, but because he thought he’d succeed) and their children’s “Mother and Father? But they’re old and boring and it’s so silly the way they talk about how they used to have adventures and isn’t it nauseatingly cute how they hold hands in public?” schtick, though that’s only fun because they’re doing it while Tommy and Tuppence are undercover and looking for Nazi spies.

I’m also amused at how it seems Tommy is always getting kidnapped. Actually, Tuppence gets captured, too, but for much shorter time periods. I can’t help but wonder if Christie just wants him out of the way for a while sometimes.
meganbmoore: (emma: turning brains since 1816)
Hunh.  I forgot there was an episode of Dollhouse left.  Well, it's over now, and i shall pretend Whedon quit TV altogether after Angel ended.  Now, somebody snap up Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjojak pronto.  Preferably in something fun that doesn't glamorize rape fantasies. I maintain that "spies in love who sometimes try to kill each other" is the way to go.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, why did no one tell me that Emma had also been caught up in the "Jane Austen goes supernatural" craze?

Amazon's description:

Beware the howls in the darkness and the light of the full moon. As the ever headstrong Ms. Emma Woodhouse schemes and plots as matchmaker, a dark and deadly terror descends upon Highbury. A series of bestial murders fills the residents with fear as the ever mysterious Mr. Knightley leads a secret life, unknown to all, combating evils not of this Earth. Carnage and destruction reign throughout the land, and though the residents of Highbury try to attend to day-to-day matters as civilly as possible, each cannot help but wonder what lurks in the shadows and if it'll be coming for them next.

I admit to being way curiouser about this and Mansfield Park and Mummies (I just have to read MP before I can read the mummies book) than the better known books that kicked off the craze.

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