Characters in Partners in Crime

Supporting characters

• Tommy Beresford

  Steady and practical, he runs the cover operation and usually casts himself as the lead detective being imitated.

  Also in The Secret Adversary, By the Pricking of My Thumbs, Postern of Fate

• Tuppence Beresford

  Quick, restless, and enthusiastic, she drives much of the playacting and often outpaces Tommy in deduction.

  Also in By the Pricking of My Thumbs, Postern of Fate

• Albert

  Eager and devoted, carried over from The Secret Adversary, he relishes the cloak-and-dagger atmosphere of the agency.

  Also in Postern of Fate

• Mr Carter

  The shadowy government handler who installs them at the agency and supplies its real espionage purpose.

  Also in The Secret Adversary

• Sherlock Holmes

  The Beresfords mimic Conan Doyle's reasoning and the Holmes-Watson dynamic in their casework.

• Father Brown

  Chesterton's mild clerical sleuth is among the styles the couple consciously adopt.

• Dr Thorndyke

  R. Austin Freeman's scientific investigator informs the method of an early case.

• Hercule Poirot

  In a self-referential touch, the couple imitate Poirot's manner near the close of the book.