and Mr Carter that he took them to a different floor instead. They have been spotted going into the room of a Mrs Van Snyder of Detroit and, breaking into this room, they find the room's occupant bound and gagged. "No. 16" took Tuppence through into an adjoining room booked by an invalid Frenchman and his nurse (more agents of No. 16) and made his escape that way with Tuppence as a hostage, drugged and disguised as the invalid. Tommy is distraught at the thought of what might be happening to Tuppence. Albert tries to cheer him up, reminding him of Tuppence's resourcefulness. In talking to Albert, Tommy is struck by an idea and races back to the Blitz where he and one of Carter's men return to Mrs Van Snyder's room. They find the lady still there, recovering on the bed. Under the bolster on the bed, Tommy finds Tuppence – he realised that there wasn't enough time to bind and gag Mrs Van Snyder, drug Tuppence, and disguise her as a Frenchman. Therefore, she must still have been in the room and, remembering the bolster as a hiding place from childhood games, saw that as the only place she could be. He also unmasks "No. 16" – disguised as Mrs Van Snyder. Tuppence quickly recovers and the two decide to give up the agency, after Tuppence tells a delighted Tommy that she is expecting a baby. Literary significance and reception The review of the book in the Times Literary Supplement'''s issue of 17 October 1929 seemed to recognise the tongue-in-cheek nature of the work when it stated that "Mrs Christie has given an amusing twist to the episodes by suggesting that the two partners in "Blunt's Brilliant Detectives" assume on each occasion the method, the manner of speech, and the outlook favoured by some well-known detective of fiction. Holmes, Thorndyke, Father Brown and even Poirot are amiably parodied, and once or twice the solution as well as the dialogue is deliberately facetious." The review ended by saying that "the author is incorrect in the explanation she gives of the printer's marks on newspapers, the distinction of dates which she makes really being one of editions". The review in The New York Times Book Review of 22 September 1929 began by observing "To describe adequately such a book as this is no easy matter. It is a group of