Partners in Crime (short story collection)

Partners in Crime

Dust-jacket illustration of the US (true first) edition. See Publication history (below) for UK first edition jacket image.
Author	Agatha Christie
Cover artist	Not known
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Detective fiction Short stories
Publisher	Dodd, Mead and Company
Publication date	1929
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	277 pp (first edition, hardcover)
Preceded by	The Seven Dials Mystery
Followed by	The Mysterious Mr. Quin

Partners in Crime is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published by Dodd, Mead and Company in the US in 1929 and in the UK by William Collins & Sons on 16 September of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6). All of the stories in the collection had previously been published in magazines (see First publication of stories below) and feature her detectives Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, first introduced in The Secret Adversary (1922).

The Beresfords' old friend, Mr Carter (who works for an unnamed government intelligence agency), arrives bearing a proposition for the adventurous duo. They are to take over 'The International Detective Agency', a recently cleaned-out spy stronghold, and pose as the owners so as to intercept any enemy messages coming through. But in the meantime Tommy and Tuppence are to do with the detective agency as they please – an opportunity that delights the young couple. They employ the hapless but well-meaning Albert, a young man also introduced in The Secret Adversary, as their assistant at the agency.

Eager and willing, the two set out to tackle a series of cases – mimicking in each the style of a famous fictional detective of the period, including Sherlock Holmes and Christie's own Hercule Poirot. At the end of the book, Tuppence reveals that she is pregnant, and as a result will play a diminished role in the spy business.

Prudence ("Tuppence") Beresford, who has been married to Tommy for six years, is bored with life, although not with her husband. She flippantly discusses what exciting things she would wish to happen to her, mainly adventures involving German spies or spying trips to Bolshevik Russia. Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Mr Carter (see The Secret Adversary) who asks them to take over The International Detective Agency. The agency's manager, Theodore Blunt, is in prison. They are to undertake any of the normal cases the agency receives, whilst all the time watching for letters on blue paper sent to Mr Blunt from a supposed ham merchant anxious to trace his refugee wife. Each such letter will have a Russian stamp with a "16" written underneath. Tommy and Tuppence are to be alert for any other reference to the number sixteen.