The novel that introduced Tommy and Tuppence, a bantering pair of 1920s bright young things who solve a mystery together while falling for each other. The Great War is over and jobs are scarce. Tommy Beresford and Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley, who were friends before the war, run into each other in London and discover they are both equally short of money and opportunities. On a whim, they decide to start a business, advertising themselves as "The Young Adventurers." Their first job leads them into a series of increasingly dangerous situations involving international spies, a society beauty, a Russian count, the wreck of the Lusitania , an amnesia patient, an American millionaire, and a fiendishly clever arch-criminal known only as "Mr. Brown." By the time the dust settles, all the puzzle pieces have been fitted together—and the young couple have realized their feelings for each other and have become engaged. “Christie’s books are so much more than great puzzles. Each of her novels demonstrates a profound understanding of people–how they think, feel and behave–all delivered in her crisp, elegant, addictively readable style.” — The Guardian    "Agatha Christie created the modern murder mystery." — The New Yorker “Agatha Christie wrote brilliantly compact, stylized and efficient mysteries. . . . The genre in its lean classic English form fit her like a cat burglar’s thin black glove.” —John Updike AGATHA CHRISTIE (1890-1976) was born in Devon, England. She wrote more than seventy books and 150 short stories, as well as works for stage and screen. Her novel And Then There Were None is considered the world's bestselling mystery novel, and her play The Mousetrap is the longest-running play in London theater history. Chapter One The Young Adventurers, Ltd. “Tommy, old thing!” “Tuppence, old bean!” The two young people greeted each other affectionately, and momentarily blocked the Dover Street Tube exit in doing so. The adjective “old” was misleading. Their united ages would certainly not have totalled forty-five. “Not seen you for simply centuries,” continued the young man. “Where are you off to? Come and chew a bun with me. We’re getting a bit unpopular here—blocking the gangway as it were. Let’s get out of it.” The girl assenting, they started walking down Dover Street towards Piccadilly. “Now then,” said Tommy, “where shall we go?” The very faint anxiety which underlay his tone did not escape the astute ears of Miss Prudence Cowley, known to her intimate friends for some mysterious reason as “Tuppence.” She pounced at once. “Tommy, you’re stony!” “Not a bit of it,” declared Tommy unconvincingly. “Rolling in cash.” “You always were a shocking liar,” said Tuppence severely, “though you did once persuade Sister Greenbank that the doctor had ordered you beer as a tonic, but forgotten to write it on the chart. Do you remember?” Tommy chuckled. “I should think I did! Wasn’t the old cat in a rage when she found out? Not that she was a bad sort really, old Mother Greenbank! Good old hospital—demobbed like everything else, I suppose?” Tuppence sighed. “Yes. You too?” Tommy nodded. “Two months ago.” “Gratuity?” hinted Tuppence. “Spent.” “Oh, Tommy!” “No, old thing, not in riotous dissipation. No such luck! The cost of living—ordinary plain, or garden living nowadays is, I assure you, if you do not know—” “My dear child,” interrupted Tuppence, “there is nothing I do not know about the cost of living. Here we are at Lyons’, and we will each of us pay for our own. That’s that!” And Tuppence led the way upstairs. The place was full, and they wandered about looking for a table, catching odds and ends of conversation as they did so. “And—do you know, she sat down and cried when I told her she couldn’t have the flat after all.” “It was simply a bargain, my dear! Just like the one Mabel Lewis brought from Paris—” “Funny scraps one does overhear,” murmured Tommy. “I passed two Johnnies in the street today talking about someone called Jane Finn. Did you ever hear such a name?” But at that moment two elderly ladies rose and collected parcels, and Tuppence deftly ensconced herself in one of the vacant seats. Tommy ordered tea and buns. Tuppence ordered tea and buttered toast. “And mind the tea comes in separate teapots,” she added severely. Tommy sat down opposite her. His bared head revealed a shock of exquisitely slicked-back red hair. His face was pleasantly ugly—nondescript, yet unmistakably the face of a gentleman and a sportsman. His brown suit was well cut, but perilously near the end of its tether. They were an essentially modern-looking couple as they sat there. Tuppence had no claim to beauty, but there was character and charm in the elfin lines of her little face, with its determined chin and large, wide-apart grey eyes that looked mistily out from under straight, black brows. She wore a small bright green toque over her black bobbed hair, and her extremely short and rather shab