The Unbreakable Alibi

Una Drake, a capricious Australian, has challenged her fiancé to crack two unimpeachable alibis. She wants to prove that she was in two different places at the same time. Despairing that Una will not marry him if he cannot guess how she managed this feat, Montgomery-Jones calls on Tommy and Tuppence for help.

This case is solved in the manner of Inspector Joseph French, the easy-going, happily married Scotland Yard detective created by Freeman Wills Crofts (1879-1957). French is apt to discuss cases with his wife, and to get valuable help from her, a situation Christie takes advantage of in her takeoff. Since French is noted for his expertise in breaking cases in which there is an unimpeachable alibi, Christie plots this story with his skills in mind.

This story was published by Collins in the collection Partners in Crime, 1929. It also featured in the 1983 TV series Agatha Christie’s Partners in Crime, with Francesca Annis and James Warwick.