The Secret Adversary The Secret Adversary 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 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) and the US edition at $1.75. 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. The Great War is over,
Tommy and Tuppence flavour than the stories featuring the better known Christie characters. As they age, they are revealed to have raised three children – twins Deborah and Derek and an adopted daughter, Betty. Throughout the series they employ a man named Albert, who first appears as a lift boy who helps them in "The Secret Adversary". In "Partners in Crime," Albert becomes their hapless assistant at a private detective agency; and subsequently, as a now married pub owner, renders vital assistance to the pair in "N or M?."; by "Postern of Fate" he's their butler and has now been widowed. In "Postern