so as not to arouse suspicions, should she be being watched. Pyne advises her to just wait for the second set of instructions. On their way back into the hotel, they bump into Mr. Thompson... The next day the second note is delivered. This note states that if she does not have the money on her, the kidnappers will accept instead a valuable diamond necklace that they know she carries on her. The necklace must be delivered by tomorrow. When she shows Pyne the note, he concocts a plan to have a friend of his in Athens to make a paste copy of the diamonds and send this to the kidnappers. Mrs Peters agrees and Pyne telephones to his friend. Meanwhile, she keeps both the manager and Mr Thompson occupied, and prevents them from disturbing him. The jeweller friend arrives from Athens, and he makes the paste version. Pyne gives the original back to Mrs Peters, while he goes off to pass the copy to the kidnappers and collect her son. The next day Mrs Peters is delighted when Willard is returned but shocked to see that his liberator is Mr Thompson. The man explains that overhearing the conversation on the night of the first ransom note between Pyne and Mrs Peters, he followed them and listened to everything they said. The kidnappers' intention all along had been to obtain the necklace. What she thought had been the original, that was handed back to her the day before, was in fact the paste copy. The man calling himself Parker Pyne and his jeweller accomplice are now under lock and key. Mr Thompson explains how he knew something was wrong. He is the real Parker Pyne, travelling incognito as he promised himself on the Nile. When he heard his name mentioned, he knew something was up! Literary significance and reception The unnamed reviewer in The New York Times Book Review of 1 January 1935 said, "The stories are sufficiently varied, both as to scene and as to plot, to afford this new detective the widest possible scope for his abilities. Parker Pyne can never supplant Hercule Poirot in the hearts of Agatha Christie's admirers, but he is a welcome addition to her gallery of characters." In The Observers issue of 18 November 1934, "Torquemada" (Edward Powys Mathers) stated that Christie was, "the only consistently inspired practitioner of an art where ingenuity