The Secret Adversary

The Secret Adversary
Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition
AuthorAgatha Christie
Cover artistErnest Akers
LanguageEnglish
GenreCrime novel
PublisherThe Bodley Head
Publication date
January 1922
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages320 (first edition, hardback)
Preceded byThe Mysterious Affair at Styles 
Followed byThe Murder on the Links 
TextThe Secret Adversary at Wikisource

The Secret Adversary is the second published detective fiction novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in January 1922 in the United Kingdom by The Bodley Head[1] and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company later in that same year.[2][3] The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6)[1] and the US edition at $1.75.[3]

The book introduces the characters of Tommy and Tuppence who feature in three other Christie novels and one collection of short stories; the five Tommy and Tuppence books span Agatha Christie's writing career. They are hired for a job that leads them both to many dangerous situations, meeting allies as well, including an American millionaire in search of his cousin.

Reviews were generally positive on this adventure, which manages to keep the identity of the arch-criminal secret to the very end.

  1. ^ a b The English Catalogue of Books. Vol. XI A-L January 1921 – December 1925. Millwood, New York: Kraus Reprint Corporation. 1979. p. 310.
  2. ^ John Cooper; B.A. Pyke (1994). Detective Fiction – the collector's guide (Second ed.). Scholar Press. pp. 82, 86. ISBN 0-85967-991-8.
  3. ^ a b "American Tribute to Agatha Christie: The Classic Years 1920s". May 2007. Retrieved 11 January 2014.