Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf

This article explains the novel by Agatha Christie; the fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm is described under Little Red Riding Hood .

Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf (original title N or M? ) Is the 30th detective novel by Agatha Christie . It first appeared in the United States in 1941 with Dodd, Mead and Company and in November of the same year in the United Kingdom with the Collins Crime Club . The Scherz Verlag (Bern) published the German first edition in 1945 under the title Das Haus der Mrs. Perenna in the translation by Lino Rossi, which is still used today. In 1960 the novel was published by the same publisher under the new title Little Red Riding Hood and the Bad Wolf . In 2019 the novel was published in a translation by Michael Mundhenk under the title N or M by Atlantik Verlag.

Strictly speaking, it is not a crime novel, but a classic spy thriller . Enter Tommy and Tuppence Beresford again . After their first appearances in the novel A Dangerous Adversary (1922) and the collection of crime stories Pandora's Box (1929), they are now a married couple in their early 40s. The couple are the only recurring characters in Christie's work, which correspond to the year the stories were published and novels age, even if not entirely biographically consistent. In the next novel with them, Lots of lovely old ladies , they are in their 60s, in the last novel, Age Doesn't Protect Against Acuteness , around early 70s.

Explanation of the title of the novel

The title comes from the catechism of the Book of Common Prayer , the general prayer book of the Anglican Church :

Question: “What's your name?” Answer: “N. or M. “The letters are placeholders for one (N.) or several (M.) baptismal names of the confirmed person addressed.

action

After the outbreak of World War II and many years after working for British Intelligence , Tommy and Tuppence Beresford feel useless and redundant. When Mr. Carter, his old supervisor at the secret service, approaches Tommy to investigate undercover again, Tuppence joins him - whether he and his clients want it or not.

Tommy sets out to find a German agent at the head of the British Army. There is a suspicion that a member of the Fifth Column of the German Nazis allowed himself to be smuggled there as a mole . The only trace is the cryptic message from a British agent on his deathbed: "N or M. Song Susie". "Song Susie" stands for Sans Souci , a boarding house in Leahampton, and N and M are two German spies - a woman and a man whose identities are unknown.

Tommy travels to the seaside town of Leahampton and stays at Mrs. Perenna's guesthouse, a dodgy-looking person. There he poses as a widower named Mr. Meadowes. What he didn’t suspect at first: Tuppence, too, made her home there as a widow Mrs. Blenkensop. Tommy plays along with the game and begins with "Mrs. Blenkensop ”to flirt. The camouflage works well for a long time. A colorful cross-section of British society and emigrants , all of whom come under suspicion, have quartered in the pension . Little by little, Tommy and Tuppence uncover the connections and track down the enemy agents.

In the last third of the novel, the situation escalates: Tommy is kidnapped and held in a secret hiding place in Colonel Haywood's house. Tuppence also comes under his control during an operation in which she appears as a German agent, but is exposed. Haywood and Mrs. Sprot are the wanted agents. At the last second, Tommy and Tuppence can be freed with the help of their former helper Albert. In the end, the two uncover plans for a German invasion of England. Incidentally, Mrs. Perenna turns out to be Irish and a sympathizer of the IRA .

people

• Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, undercover with the British secret service
• Albert, her former faithful servant, now the pub owner
• Mrs. Perenna, owner of a boarding house by the sea
• Sheila, her daughter, a serious, withdrawn young woman
• Carl von Deinim, German emigrant and scientist who fled the Nazis, in love with Sheila
• Major Bletchley, hotel guest and Tommy's golf partner, with unclear ties to Germany
• Colonel Haywood, Mrs. Perenna's neighbor and active in counter-espionage
• Mrs. Sprot and daughter Betty, hotel guests, fled the air raids on London
• Mrs. O'Rourke, hotel guest, feisty and curious elderly lady
• Wanda Polonska, mysterious stranger who shows up in the area
• Mr. Carter, Tommy's manager at the Secret Service in London

References to other works

There are several references in the book to the first Tommy and Tuppence novel A Dangerous Adversary . So Albert remembers how he got to know his former rule back then. In old age does not protect against acumen , Tommy Tuppence remembers the events of decades ago and teases her with her appearance as Mrs. Blenkensop. Albert, now widowed, is here again as a servant.

Important English and German language editions

• 1941, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1941, Hardback, 289 pages
• 1941, Collins Crime Club (London), November 1941, Hardback, 192 pages
• 1945 German first edition translated by Lino Rossi
• 1960 new title
• 2019 German new edition (Atlantik Verlag) in the translation by Michael Mundhenk under the title N or M

Web links

• N or M? on the official Agatha Christie website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ John Cooper and BA Pyke. Detective Fiction - the collector's guide : Second Edition (Pages 82 and 87) Scholar Press. 1994. ISBN 0-85967-991-8
2. ↑ American Tribute to Agatha Christie
3. ↑ Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. Collins Crime Club - A checklist of First Editions . Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (Page 15)
4. ↑ ^{a b} German first edition in the catalog of the Swiss National Library
5. ^ ^{A b} Second edition of the first edition in the catalog of the German National Library
6. ^ ^{A b} New title (1960) in the catalog of the German National Library
7. ^ Catechism of the General Prayer Book of 1892