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Tommy & Tuppence #2.14
The Ambassador's Boots: A Short Story
Previously published in the print anthology Partners in Crime
An ambassador’s bag is mistakenly switched after a cruise, but nothing has been stolen. Unsettled by the incident, he employs the help of Tommy and Tuppence to investigate the matter. But the Beresfords uncover a sinister crime behind the seemingly trivial mix up…
An ambassador’s bag is mistakenly switched after a cruise, but nothing has been stolen. Unsettled by the incident, he employs the help of Tommy and Tuppence to investigate the matter. But the Beresfords uncover a sinister crime behind the seemingly trivial mix up…
34 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 27, 2013
16 people are currently reading
241 people want to read
About the author
Agatha Christie
5,098 books76k followersAgatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 31, 2022
A US ambassador's bag was given to the wrong man and then returned by the other man's valet.
Nothing was missing and it seemed to be an honest mistake.
But something doesn't sit right with the ambassador and he asks Tommy & Tuppence to look into it for him.
Turns out the ambassador was right and Tommy ends up in hot water with a drug ring by the end of the story.
Can Tuppence and Albert save the day?
This one is cute but not one of my favorites as it gets a bit convoluted by the end of things.
Sherlock Holmes is mentioned in this story, which is cool because at the time this was written Doyle was still writing about Holmes and Watson.
The Ambassador's Boots was first published in The Sketch magazine in 1924.
Read as part of the short story collection Partners in Crime.
Nothing was missing and it seemed to be an honest mistake.
But something doesn't sit right with the ambassador and he asks Tommy & Tuppence to look into it for him.
Turns out the ambassador was right and Tommy ends up in hot water with a drug ring by the end of the story.
Can Tuppence and Albert save the day?
This one is cute but not one of my favorites as it gets a bit convoluted by the end of things.
Sherlock Holmes is mentioned in this story, which is cool because at the time this was written Doyle was still writing about Holmes and Watson.
The Ambassador's Boots was first published in The Sketch magazine in 1924.
Read as part of the short story collection Partners in Crime.
January 23, 2021
Tommy and Tuppence continue posing as Theodore Blunt and his assistant of the International Detective Agency. An ambassador wants them to Investigate why someone tried to steal his luggage but then returned it only hours later. It was because smugglers hid drugs in his case, knowing that an ambassador’s luggage would not be searched by customs.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2018
A short story by Agatha Christie featuring Tommy & Tuppence. This short story is part of The Partners in Crime book where this couple work for the Blount Detective Agency. Tommy poses as Mr. Blount the owner and head detective while Tuppence pretends she is the secretary Miss Robinson.
The American Ambassador to The St. James Court seeks the services of Tommy & Tuppence. He wants answers to a case of mistaken toiletries. When he comes to London by boat, his toiletry case is accidentally switched with another's case. Except, he realizes that the gentleman whom claimed their cases got mixed up by mistake has never heard of the mix-up and did not send his valet to make the switch. Nothing was stolen from the Ambassador but he feels like something is not right and just wants to know why his case was switched with another and who did the switching. Tommy, as usual, correctly sees to the heart of the matter and puts an ad in the newspaper trying to locate a woman that had felt faint while passing the Ambassador's room on the ship. Soon enough, the mystery is solved and the bad guys are caught.
No one writes a mystery like Agatha Christie. She can lay out a mystery with the clues in plain site and still you have to be attentive to figure out who the bad guy is and why the mystery happened. Her short stories go so quickly that all you can do it sit back and enjoy the story. One of the best features of her writing is her characters. Tommy & Tuppence are some of my favorite characters. A married couple in a time that is changing from families that raise gentlemen who are educated but not always gainfully employed and raise women to marry such gentlemen. Life has changed. Men are working and so are women starting to enter the workforce. You have to love the way they are learning to carve their own future. I will keep on reading more tales of Tommy & Tuppence and any other mystery that Agatha Christie has written with great enthusiasm.
The American Ambassador to The St. James Court seeks the services of Tommy & Tuppence. He wants answers to a case of mistaken toiletries. When he comes to London by boat, his toiletry case is accidentally switched with another's case. Except, he realizes that the gentleman whom claimed their cases got mixed up by mistake has never heard of the mix-up and did not send his valet to make the switch. Nothing was stolen from the Ambassador but he feels like something is not right and just wants to know why his case was switched with another and who did the switching. Tommy, as usual, correctly sees to the heart of the matter and puts an ad in the newspaper trying to locate a woman that had felt faint while passing the Ambassador's room on the ship. Soon enough, the mystery is solved and the bad guys are caught.
No one writes a mystery like Agatha Christie. She can lay out a mystery with the clues in plain site and still you have to be attentive to figure out who the bad guy is and why the mystery happened. Her short stories go so quickly that all you can do it sit back and enjoy the story. One of the best features of her writing is her characters. Tommy & Tuppence are some of my favorite characters. A married couple in a time that is changing from families that raise gentlemen who are educated but not always gainfully employed and raise women to marry such gentlemen. Life has changed. Men are working and so are women starting to enter the workforce. You have to love the way they are learning to carve their own future. I will keep on reading more tales of Tommy & Tuppence and any other mystery that Agatha Christie has written with great enthusiasm.
October 16, 2017
Tommy & Tuppence 02 Partners in Crime
My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.
My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.
November 10, 2020
I've read this story before as part of the Tommy & Tuppence collection. It's a very short, easy read, yet well written. Maybe not too realistic, but I enjoyed the old-fashioned, simple setting and problem.
April 6, 2021
A bit dull and obvious. Quick and easy read but no surprises.
November 8, 2021
A short story series that is a useful half-hour quick read.
November 27, 2022
A Tommy and Tuppence story. Light and entertaining.
December 25, 2022
A rather ingenious smuggling story using an Amnassadors Bag for transport. Well done Tommy and Tuppence.
August 17, 2023
Vernuftig geschreven
August 23, 2024
Cute but obvious (rare) plot!! Loved the tv version and the “ladies” help!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 3, 2024
Read as part of the collection Partners In Crime, 21April2022.
December 20, 2024
This was interesting. The issue of perspective, used quite effectively
March 13, 2025
As usual, I don’t enjoy Christie’s forays into adventures stories as much as I enjoy her more place-based British mysteries.
September 16, 2025
Tommy has learned from the best — Tuppence!
also liked Albert’s lasso scene 😂
also liked Albert’s lasso scene 😂
October 5, 2016
This one is my favorite are of the collection probably because I was able to solve the whole mystery and not just a part of it as usual.
October 27, 2013
Tommy & Tuppence, always delightful. Good twists
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews