N or M? by Agatha Christie

In book three of the Tommy and Tuppence series, N or M?, the Beresfords are feeling sidelined by their age. It’s spring of 1940. World War II is raging and Tommy is too old for anything but government paper-shuffling jobs. As the story begins, he and Tuppence are reviewing past escapades and wishing they weren’t so “useless” for their country’s present needs. Happily, the opportunity arises for the two of them to become involved in a hunt for fifth columnists.

Aside from giving us a top-notch mystery, Christie also deals with deeper questions such as patriotism and prejudice.  Some of the characters wonder if loyalty to one’s country is worth dying for. Is ANYTHING worth dying for?, they wonder. Others discuss their hatred of the Germans and how it is easy to hate them as a whole, but harder when you think of them as individual mothers and shopkeepers, etc. The story was written in 1941 so I find it interesting that any sympathy for the Germans was expressed at all. 

I loved all the literary and biblical references. One woman is described as having a fiercely determined look like Jael as she drove the stake through Sisera’s brain (Judges 4:21). One of the key plot points is based on the story of King Solomon.

The spy was caught about 2/3 of the way into the book and I wondered how Christie would fill up the rest of it. I needn't have worried! I spent most of my Sunday afternoon listening to the last two and a half hours because I couldn't wait to see what happened. Those final chapters were full of surprises and the closing paragraphs were warm and funny. 

This is another remarkably clever book by Christie. I highly recommend the audio books in this series if you can find them. (They are on YouTube if your library doesn’t have them.) Be forewarned. There is more swearing in this book than in the rest of the series. You can skim over it in print, but not the audio. I linked to the single Kindle volume above, which is $5.99. Unfortunately, I can no longer find the deal of all five books for $1.99. 

Blessings,