US: The US reprint publishers usually use the same sheets as the first edition and are harder to identify by looking at the title page or the copyright page. UK: You can see statements of later reprint dates or of book club on the copyright page. Note about Book Club Editions (BCE) and reprints:

'1941' on single line stated on the copyright page. Date on the title & copyright page matches. The title of the book may differs from the UK edition in some cases.įirst edition/printing identification pointsįirst edition. There are many titles that were first published in the US. While the majority of Agatha Christie’s books were first published in the UK. The books are listed in the order of publication.

N or M? – First Edition Book Identification Guide All the installments were illustrated by Clive Uptton. 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. 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. 1962, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 192 pp.1959, Pan Books, Paperback, 188 pp (Great Pan G259).1947, Dell Books, Paperback, 191 pp (Dell number 187).1941, Collins Crime Club (London), November 1941, Hardback, 192 pp.1941, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1941, Hardback, 289 pp.Working together, they begin a search for the master spies.īoth 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. Through good sleuthing, she learns where he is to be sent and actually arrives there before he does. Tommy is sent alone, but Tuppence decides to join him on his mission whether invited or not. Tommy is to go to Sans Souci to investigate whether N, M or both are at the hotel and to figure out their identities.

Grant suspects that “Song Susie” stands for Sans Souci, a hotel in (fictional) seaside Leahampton (based on Bournemouth), and “N” and “M” are known to be two top German spies, one male and one female. Grant explains that another British agent was recently murdered but left a cryptic message on his deathbed: “N or M. Since Tommy has not been in the field for many years, nobody knows him, and he can investigate unofficially. Grant tries to find German spies and fifth columnists but is hampered by traitors within British intelligence who follow and sabotage his work. Then, Tommy is approached by a secret agent named Grant to go undercover once more. After the outbreak of the Second World War and many years after they worked for British intelligence, middle-aged Tommy and Tuppence Beresford feel useless and sidelined.

Tommy and tuppence n or m