N or M

Plot introduction

After the outbreak of the Second World War and many years after they worked for British intelligence, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford feel useless and sidelined. When Tommy alone is approached to go undercover once more, however, Tuppence decides to join him on his mission whether invited or not. Through good sleuthing she learns where he is to be sent and actually arrives there before him. They begin a search for German fifth columnists. Another British agent that was following these Germans left a cryptic message on his deathbed: "N or M. Song Susie". Grant knew that "Song Susie" stood for Sans Souci, a hotel in (fictional) seaside Leahampton, based on Bournemouth; "N" and "M" were two German spies, one male and one female. Tommy is to go to Sans Souci to investigate whether N, M or both are at the hotel and to figure out their identities.

Both N and M's identities are revealed at the end of the book; "N" is a top German spy—who is shot by British intelligence at the book's conclusion as he threatens Tuppence's life—and "M" is his female co-conspirator.

plot summary

tommy returns home from a long but unsuccessful day of job hunting after which he is visited by a suspicious man and tuppence has to leave to help a friend living in the flat above. the man asks tommy to undergo undercover work to unmask two secret agents n and m who murdered britain's finest agent with a truck but gave them a lead before his death.tuppence is to play no part in this. when tommy gets to the hotel where he is supposed to work he is greeted by a surprising character. A mrs Blenkinsop who is really tuppence in disguise. she never left the flat after faking the phone call from her friend the two decide to work together to unmask n and m

Literary significance and reception

Maurice Willson Disher's review in The Times Literary Supplement of 29 November 1941 began, "To believe that N or M? is not Miss Agatha Christie's best is difficult while the first fine anxious rapture of her latest story is still troubling the mind." He concluded, "The point is reached when you begin to fear for your own sanity on catching yourself wondering whether an ingratiating babe-in-arms might not be Herr Doktor in disguise. Yet such is Miss Christie's skill in conjuring up the ominous that even infant prattle sounds uncommonly like a code for the Fifth Column. In other words, as Mr Robey has said before now, N or M? gets you."

Maurice Richardson in a short review in the 7 December 1941 issue of The Observer wrote: "Agatha Christie takes time off from Poirot and the haute cuisine of crime to write a light war-time spy thriller. N or M is [an] unknown master fifth columnist concealed in [the] person of some shabby genteel figure in Bournemouth boarding-house ... Christie's bright young couple, now middle-aged but active as ever, are nearly trapped. Nice surprise finish and all-round entertainment."

A short review by E.R. Punshon in The Guardian of 30 December 1941 ended with "Mrs Christie shows herself as ingenious as ever, and one admires especially the way in which the hero snores himself out of captivity."

Robert Barnard: "The Beresfords contribute their intolerable high spirits to the war effort. Less racist than the earlier thrillers (in fact, some apology is made indirectly) but no more convincing."

MI5 investigation of Christie

Around 1941 or 1942, the British intelligence agency MI5 temporarily investigated Christie herself as she had named one of her characters in this novel as a certain Major Bletchley. MI5 was afraid that Christie had a spy in Britain's top-secret codebreaking centre, Bletchley Park. MI5's fears were eventually assuaged when Christie revealed to Dilly Knox, who helped break the Enigma machine cypher used by German secret service officers sending spies to Britain, that Major Bletchley, "one of my least lovable characters", was merely named for the area of Milton Keynes which she once happened to be stuck in during a train journey.

TV adaptation

The UK television channel BBC One began airing a 3-part adaptation of "N or M?" on August 16, 2015. The adaptation was aired as part of the Partners in Crime series.

Publication history

The novel first appeared in the US in a condensed version in the March 1941 (Volume 76, Number 5) issue of Redbook magazine, with an illustration by Alan Haemer.

In the UK, an abridged version was serialized in seven parts in Woman's Pictorial from 26 April (Volume 41, Number 1059) to 7 June 1941 (Volume 41, Number 1065) under the title Secret Adventure. All the installments were illustrated by Clive Uptton.