An Expert in Murder (Josephine Tey)

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As the train slowed its speed still further and ran into a deep cutting, the dwindling daylight vanished altogether. An Expert In Murder” is set in London in the 1930s and revolves around deaths associated with a production of Josephine Tays most successful play. So, it started well, but after a while it seemed to get bogged down in too much description, too many words! She had had thirteen months and four hundred and sixty performances to get used to being the author of the most popular play in London, but fame still tasted strange to her. As she took her seat, she could not help but feel a rush of excitement in spite of the delay: in a matter of hours, she would be in London.

Instinctively, before she had a chance to consider the strangeness of the moment, she took the gift that was held out to her with a smile and looked down at the doll in her hands, a souvenir of her beloved play and something she had longed to own. I would echo the above recommendation of Daughter of Time and another good starting place might be Miss Pym Disposes or The Franchise Affair.You’re right–my adoptive mother taught me everything, but we’re not very much alike, although we get on tremendously well. The dining car was almost full when they arrived, but a waiter showed them to the last vacant table. Nevertheless, as I had been given these as a gift, and as I love Josephine Tey’s books, I figured I would have another go and persevere a bit more. After another death, the evidence suggests that both crimes are linked to a murder committed amid the devastating trench warfare of WWI. A huge fan of the theatre, and Josephine’s play, she is terribly excited to meet Tey and, although somewhat embarrassed, Tey finds she is warmed by Elspeth’s happiness and enthusiasm.

Upson has had the wonderful idea of creating a detective novel in which the central character is Tey herself, with the setting being London's theatreland during the closing weeks of the West End run of her phenomenally successful play Richard of Bordeaux. That’s the coincidence–I read it again just the other day when I found out I was coming down to see Richard in its final week, and I’ve got it with me now. Bright, clean, square covers and spine; faintly shelf-scuffed; tightly bound; bright, crisp, clean interior.When war broke out, a year later almost to the day, the world changed forever but–for her at least–that particular bond to a different age had stayed the same, and perhaps always would. When the lethal point punctured her skin, she felt nothing more than a sharp blow beneath her ribs but there was no chance to be thankful for the lack of pain, nor to wonder that her body should surrender itself with so little ceremony. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. Josephine Tey was a pseudonym used by a shy woman for her detective novels, and who wrote her plays under a male pseudonym.