Finessing the King, Agatha Christie
Finessing the King, Agatha Christie
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Finessing the King
A Tommy & Tuppence Short Story

Author: Agatha Christie

Narrator: Hugh Fraser

Unabridged: 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/11/2012


Synopsis

A personal advertisement written in code attracts the attention of Tuppence Beresford. When Tuppence suspects that the code involves the Three Arts Ball, she persuades Tommy to attend dressed in costume. Tuppence's suspicions prove to be correct when a murder takes place, but as all of the guests are dressed in masquerade, identifying the killer may be more difficult than first thought…

About Agatha Christie

What a daunting task to write about the most famous mystery writer, Agatha Christie. She was born in 1890 in England, where she was home schooled by her American father. It was an unusual way to be educated for the times. Her father did not want her to begin learning to read until age eight, but out of boredom, she taught herself to read by age five.

In his research, Curran found a plethora of information about Agatha. He outlines many of those interesting facts. Since there are so many, just a few will be mentioned here. Agatha could have been an excellent performer as a pianist, but she was much too shy to perform. She once had three plays running simultaneously in London. She traveled around the world in 1922, which would have been quite a feat back then. Agatha loved dogs. She has a rose named after her. She never did drink alcohol nor smoked. Her last public appearance was in 1974, at the premier of the movie, Murder on the Orient Express. Agatha Christie's name has appeared every day for 53 years in every newspaper with a West End London theatre listing. Her favorite flower was Lily of the Valley. The information about this illustrious author goes on and on. It is a great asset to readers that author John Curran wrote the definitive book about an iconic author. One other interesting fact was that Agatha met Archie Christie in 1912, married on Christmas Eve 1914, spending their honeymoon at The Grand Hotel in Torquay, but Archie returned to France on Dec 27th due to the War. Agatha and Archie fid not really experience married life until he was posted at the London War Office. Agatha has been quoted as saying only then did she feel that her married life truly began.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Anne

Originally called Finessing the King this was a short story published in The Sketch magazine in 1924. In the U.K. editions, this story is split into 2 parts in the Tommy and Tuppence compilation Partners In Crime with The Gentleman Dressed in Newspaper being the 2nd part of the story. In this one Tom......more

Goodreads review by Anne

Although this story was called Finessing the King when originally published in The Sketch magazine in 1924, the story is sometimes split into 2 parts in certain editions of Partners in Crime and the second half of the story is called The Gentleman Dressed in Newspaper. In this one Tommy and Tuppence......more

2.75⭐️ A Tommy and Tuppence (not my fav AC) where a woman is found murdered after uttering her last words: “Bingo did it”......more

Goodreads review by Meg

Tommy and Tuppence attend a costume party where a woman ends up murdered. Tuppence heard her dying words “Bingo did it.” Bingo is the name of her lover and she is found with a piece of torn newspaper in her hand. Bingo was dressed in newspaper as his costume. So he must be guilty, right? Not so, as......more

Goodreads review by Riju

Tommy & Tuppence stories have a unique charm punctuated by humour that's not found in other stories penned by the Dame. This one is a classic example. Recommended.......more