If I am remembering correctly, Tommy and Tuppence are the only major characters in Christie's works who age through their series ...This story begins with a similar scene to the previous book, "Partners in Crime".It's about 20 years later and the war is in full swing. With a nod to the opening of the previous book, Tommy and Tuppence are lamenting that they are not contributing to the effort -- except for Tuppence's knitting -- because they are considered too old for the action and even their former boss Mr. Carter has officially retired. As they are hoping for a change of fortune, they are contacted but only Tommy is chosen for the job.An agent has been killed and Tommy is to go undercover to follow up on the last clue. His mission is to discover who is behind the Fifth Column that is threatening the British war effort.Of course, Tuppence wheedles her way into the action -- how could anyone think she would be left behind?There is a good amount of cat and mouse in the story, and a whole cast of quirky shady characters.There is also a lot of talk of "middle age", which I found fascinating.

The authors purpose in writing this book was to entertain readers. The author did this by writing a mystery. The author also provided information about the Fifth Column which was a group of German spies that had infiltrated all of Europe during WWII. The theme of the story was that even middle-aged detectives can be as sharp as young detectives. The two protagonists had a hard time finding work during the war because they were considered too old to be of any use. However, they were brought in to work for the government undercover because no one would recognize them. They had been retired for 20 years, and no one in the Fifth Column would know of them. The style of the book is the rhetorical mode known as narration. Agatha Christie tells the story through a series of events in chronological order throughout the mystery. This style was effective because telling a mystery out of order makes the reader very confused. You have to read the entire story in order to find out who the bad guys are. The first thing that occurs in the story is when Mr. Grant goes to see Tommy Beresford about an undercover job during WWII. Tommy accepts the job but cannot tell his wife anything about this assignment. Tommy goes to a boarding house called the Sans Soucie in Leahampton, England. There he finds his wife Tuppence already in disguise and undercover! If these occurrences had happened in reverse, the story wouldnt make as much sense. Also, if the traitors were revealed at the beginning, much suspense would be taken out of the story. I love a good mystery, and this was one of them. I liked how some paragraphs were written by following the actions of either Tommy or Tuppence. The characters were very likeable and interesting. I didnt dislike anything about this book, and I wouldnt change anything. It is a basic mystery within which I figured out who one of the spies was, but I had to read until the end to find out who the other traitor was. Also, I found Tommy and Tuppences cover story very amusing. Tuppence acted like a pushy widow who was after Tommy. Tommy acted like he wasnt interested in her. So whenever the residents of San Soucie saw them together, they would say, Look at poor old Meadowes!

Review to come.

I sat down and read N or M ?,After a while I got boredWhat actually happened? My motivation to keep reading gradually disappear,Is this because I'm partial to hercule poirot and miss marple??Nothing to say more really

Despite the meandering speculations, somewhat predictable suspect... T&T ''s signature style remains the biggest pull