The Secret Adversary is the second published mystery novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in January 1922 in the United Kingdom by John Lane at The Bodley Head and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company later in that same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6)

The critic for The New York Times Book Review (11 June 1922) was also impressed: "It is safe to assert that unless the reader peers into the last chapter or so of the tale, he will not know who this secret adversary is until the author chooses to reveal him." The review gave something of a backhanded compliment when it said that Christie "gives a sense of plausibility to the most preposterous situations and developments." Nevertheless it conceded that<blockquote>Miss Christie has a clever prattling style that shifts easily into amusing dialogue and so aids the pleasure of the reader as he tears along with Tommy and Tuppence on the trail of the mysterious Mr Brown. Many of the situations are a bit moth-eaten from frequent usage by other writers, but at that Miss Christie manages to invest them with a new sense of individuality that renders them rather absorbing.</blockquote>

Robert Barnard described the novel as "The first and best (no extravagant compliment this) of the Tommy and Tuppence stories. It tells how the dauntless pair foils a plot to foment labour unrest and red revolution in Britain, masterminded by the man behind the Bolshevists. Good reactionary fun, if you're in that mood."

Some additional blurbs regarding the book, and used by The Bodley Head for advertising subsequent print runs, were:

  • "It's an excellent yarn and the reader will find it as impossible as we did to put it aside until the mystery has been fathomed." — Daily Chronicle
  • "We promise our readers an exciting story of adventure, full of hairbreadth escapes, and many disappointments if they try to guess the riddle before the author is ready to give them the clue. — An excellent story." — Saturday Review.

Television

The novel was adapted twice for television, in 1983 and in 2014 (aired July–August 2015 in the UK).

The book was adapted by London Weekend Television as a 115-minute drama, and transmitted on Sunday, 9 October 1983. It acted as an introduction to a ten-part adaptation of Partners in Crime, made with the same stars, which began transmission one week later under the title Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime.

In February 2014, the BBC announced it had commissioned the TV series Partners in Crime, with three episodes as an adaptation of The Secret Adversary, written by Zinnie Harris. It aired in July/August 2015, marking the 125th anniversary of Dame Agatha Christie's birth. It is not set in the post-Great War period, so Tommy and Tuppence are not the young things of that era, are married and have a son sent off to school. It is instead set in 1952, with references made to the Cold War against Stalin.

Graphic novel adaptation

The Secret Adversary was released by HarperCollins as a graphic novel adaptation on 20 May 2008, adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Frank Leclercq (). This was translated from the edition first published in France by Emmanuel Proust éditions in 2003 under the title of Mister Brown.

Stage

Agatha Christie’s The Secret Adversary was presented for the stage for the first time in 2015 as a Watermill Theatre production, adapted from the Christie novel by Sarah Punshon and Johann Hari for a company of seven actors. A play in two acts, it was described in the publicity as being "shot through with fast-paced action, comedy, live music and a dash of romance". The live music was performed by the cast. Tuppence was played by Emerald O’Hanrahan, and Tommy by Garmon Rhys. It opened and ran at The Watermill Theatre, West Berkshire Playhouse from Thursday 12 February to Saturday 21 March, and then toured until Saturday 9 May, ending its run at the Rose Theatre, Kingston.

On 16 February 2016, Great Lakes Theater debuted a 70-minute stage adaptation as part of their educational programming. Adapted by David Hansen, this production is performed by a cast of five (3 men, 2 women) with most performers playing more than one role.

Publication history

  • 1922, John Lane (The Bodley Head), January 1922, Hardback, 320 pp
  • 1922, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1922, Hardback, 330 pp
  • 1927, John Lane (The Bodley Head), February 1927, Hardback (Cheap Edition – two shillings)
  • 1946, Avon Books (New York), Avon number 100, Paperback, 264 pp
  • 1955, Pan Books, Paperback (Pan number 357)
  • 1957, Pan Books, Paperback (Great Pan GP82)
  • 1967, Bantam Books (New York), Paperback
  • 1976, Panther Books (London), Paperback;
  • 1991, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 256pp;
  • 1991, Ulverscroft Large Print Edition, Hardcover;
  • 2001, Signet (Penguin Group), Paperback
  • 2007, Facsimile of 1922 UK first edition (HarperCollins), 5 November 2007, Hardcover, 320 pp;

Like its predecessor, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Secret Adversary was first published as an unillustrated serialisation in The Times weekly edition (aka The Weekly Times) as a complete and unabridged text in seventeen instalments from 12 August (Issue 2328) to 2 December 1921 (Issue 2343). Christie was paid £50 for the serialisation rights (£1,545 in 2003 currency).

Christie's publisher, John Lane, was not very keen of the novel, since he had wanted her to write another detective novel along the lines of The Mysterious Affair at Styles.