Tuppence, however, does not feel like letting go of the verve of adventure and when an opportunity strangely presents itself, she follows the clues to a decades old mystery. Tommy and Tuppence, former sleuths/spies are now kicking into low gear as they shift into a more quiet time in their older age. It’s the most effective way to finish a series with a flourish and, oddly, a good introduction for readers either new to Christie or to Tommy and Tuppence (as I was.) Yet, something about the style, the vivacity, and the attention to serpentine details and plot twists evokes Christie’s early career.
The darkest mystery is ironically the last, as this is the final volume of the Tommy and Tuppence series (published in 1968). Intrigued by a love of Christie’s Miss Marple and Poirot mysteries, discovering this little gem at the library, I decided that it was time to branch into even more Christie series. It’s Christie at her most serious and best. Populated with quaint antique houses, musty village gossip, and a last hurray for the overly independent Tuppence, By the Pricking of My Thumbs combines classic, gothic horror with hard boiled sleuthing and even the odd dosage of humor. Beginning with a dismal visit to the nursing home to see Tommy’s cantankerous aunt, Tuppence discovers a lonely old lady, a picture, and the unremitting intrigue of an unsolved mystery. Strangely cozy at the same time as it is chilling, this Agatha Christie offering, written later in her life, is a dark mystery for the husband and wife duo – Tommy and Tuppence.
Rating: A Ghostly Mystery and Tuppence’s Last Adventureįriendly witches, houses riddled with secret passageways, fireplace flues blocked by old, abandoned children’s toys, and a series of long-ago but never forgotten child murders imbue By the Pricking of My Thumbs with a sinister, addictive atmosphere.
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