The August selection in the 2026 Read Christie Challenge is By the Pricking of My Thumbs (1968) in the category of 'beloved duo'. This is the fourth novel featuring Agatha Christie's husband and wife detective team Tommy and Tuppence Beresford.
The story begins with a visit to Tommy's spinster Aunt Ada in the Sunny Ridge retirement home. Here Tuppence meets another resident, Mrs Lancaster, who mumbles something about a child behind the fireplace. The pair returns to the home a few weeks later when Ada has passed from natural causes and find that Mrs Lancaster has left the home, leaving behind a painting of a house on a river. Tuppence is determined to reunite Mrs Lancaster with the painting but cannot find her. With Tommy away for a few days, Tuppence sets off to find this mystery house, which is located near the village of Sutton Chancellor, and is currently rented to Alice and Amos Perry. Tuppence wants to find out more about the house so she talks to a the local vicar, various estate agents and the gossipy owner of a bed and breakfast where Tuppence is staying. When Tuppence doesn't return home as expected, Tommy gets worries and sets out to find her. I won't say more about the plot to avoid spoilers. But suffice it to say there is a lot of superfluous dialogue and not a lot of mystery.
I struggled with this novel. I have never been a big fan of Tommy and Tuppence, and this book reinforced my dislike of the pair. While the story starts well, it meanders and plods along. There are a handful of clues, and a mild sense of foreboding, but despite all the mystery tropes (creepy house, unsolved historical murders) this an unthrilling thriller.
My reviews of other Agatha Christie novels are available on this blog:
Murder on the Links (1923) Murder on the Orient Express (1934) The Body in the Library (1942)
The Labours of Hercules (1947)
The Rose and the Yew Tree (1948)
Mrs McGinty's Dead (1952)
A Caribbean Mystery (1964)