In the Tommy and Tuppence short story The Crackler, Hank Ryder is an extremely wealthy American tourist whom Tommy and Tuppence meet at the Python Club. He takes a liking to Tommy and tells him that he is from Alabama. He is not quite used to all the sophistication as he had only just made his fortune and is spending time seeing Europe for the first time. He admires Marguerite Laidlaw very much and considers her "plumb full of civilisation". He tellskes Tommy "Can’t beat la gaie France, can you?"
Tommy and Tuppence are investigating a currency counterfeiting operation which might be operating from the club. Ryder tells him about that he received a quantity of bank notes from Mrs Laidlaw and when he tried to bank them in, the teller told him that many of them were fakes.
Portrayals[]
In LWT's 1984 adaptation of the story (Episode 10 of Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime), Hank Ryder is portrayed by Shane Rimmer, The portrayal matches the original closely except that he comes from New Jersey and not Alabama.