Postern of Fate was the last book that Agatha Christie wrote, which makes reading it a bit of a melancholy prospect. Tommy and Tuppence make their last appearance as rather elderly individuals in their seventies. At the beginning of the book, they have moved into their new home and are putting it into order.
The early part of the book is therefore spent revisiting classic childhood literature with the Beresfords, which is not entirely charmless, but it’s also not particularly swift moving. Tuppence, in particular, is captivated by the old children’s books that she is sorting in the old nursery. Being Tuppence Beresford, she finds a cipher in Black Arrow, and decodes it. It reads “Mary Jordan did not die naturally.”
Also being Tuppence Beresford, her curiosity is ignited, and she and Tommy begin to investigate a mystery that is decades old, from before the Great War. The word in the village is that Mary Jordan was a German spy who was captured and killed.
Don’t be mistaken – this book makes little sense and should really only be read by hardcore Agatha Christie fans. Postern of Fate is often referred to as the worst of her books, although personally I would reserve that particular distinction for Passenger to Frankfurt, published 3 years earlier in 1970. I would even say that Postern of Fate is better, if only slightly, than The Big Four, which is the worst of the Hercule Poirot mysteries.
There is at least one reference to Passenger to Frankfurt, which occurs when Tommy meets up with one of his old secret service contacts in London to discuss Mary Jordan:
“Well,” said Mr. Robinson, “some get to the tops and some have the tops forced upon them. I would say the latter applies to me, more or less. I’ve had a few things of surpassing interested forced on me.”
“That business connected with – Frankfurt, wasn’t it?”
He shares information about Mary Jordan that leads Tommy and Tuppence in an entirely different direction. They also begin to believe that there is information hidden somewhere in the house which identifies collaborators and remains important.
As I said, this book doesn’t make very much sense and there is never any explanation about why intelligence that is more than 6 decades old would be important. There’s no real explanation about a significant number of the plot points. Having said that, though, as someone who is very close to having read every word that Agatha Christie wrote – and that’s a lot of words – something about Postern of Fate struck very close to my heart.
Maybe it was the sweetness of the marriage between Tommy and Tuppence, or the pervasive sense that Agatha Christie herself knew that this was very close to the end of her own more than six decade long writing career.
She says, near the end of the book:
“All those clues,” said Andrew, “You could make a story out of them – even a book.”
“Too many names, too complicated,” said Deborah, “who would read a book like that?”
“You’d be surprised,” said Tommy, “what people will read – and enjoy.”
Which might have been the best and sweetest way for her to say goodbye to her legions of fans around the world.