Josephine Tey
Josephine Tey (1896-1952) was one of the great mystery writers of the golden age of mystery, who sadly died young and published only a dozen books. Born in Inverness in Scotland, her real name was Elizabeth Mackintosh: Josephine Tey was the name of her great-great-grandmother. Her other pseudonym was Gordon Daviot. She was also a playwright, and her 1933 play, Richard of Bordeaux, ran for a year and starred John Gielgud. Her books are of their time but easy to read with satisfying plots. Many, but not all, feature Detective Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard. If you’re into the murder mystery genre, you’ll probably want to read them all, though our personal favourite is the standalone novel Brat Farrar.
Books by Josephine Tey
A Shilling for Candles
by Josephine Tey
A Shilling for Candles is the second mystery by Josephine Tey featuring Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard. It was published in 1936, seven years after his creation in The Man in the Queue, and has a more sophisticated plot.
Miss Pym Disposes
by Josephine Tey
Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey is set in a physical training college for girls in the English countryside. Tey (Elizabeth MacKintosh) herself attended a physical training college in Birmingham and started her career as a gym teacher (later stopping to look after her father and write full-time), suggesting the book's descriptions of the students and their daily activities might be quite authentic. As so often with Tey, it's not a straightforward whodunnit.
“This book is just so well crafted. Everything seems to be building up against the two women, that it looks as if they really did kidnap this girl, and keep her locked in the attic – and how on earth are they going to get out of it? It’s just very, very well done. The Daughter of Time was a classic, where her detective goes out to prove that Richard III didn’t kill the Princes in the Tower, but The Franchise Affair remains my favourite. It’s just lovely writing.” Read more...
M C Beaton, Thriller and Crime Writer
Brat Farrar
by Josephine Tey
Brat Farrar is set on the south coast of England after World War II and it’s about a family called Ashby. Both parents have died in an accident, so it’s Aunt Beatrice who is bringing up her nieces and nephews. On no account find out anything else about this book online before reading it!
Interviews where books by Josephine Tey were recommended
The Best Classic Crime Fiction, recommended by Sophie Roell
Since the early stories of the 18th and 19th centuries, crime fiction has been an incredibly popular and enduring genre, the investigation of murder somehow capturing the imagination of millions of readers around the globe. Here, Sophie Roell, editor of Five Books, uses strict but simple criteria to pick out the best classic crime fiction, from the Victorian age through to the 1950s.
The Best Cosy Mysteries, recommended by M C Beaton
North Scotland is wonderful countryside, a marvellous setting for a murder. The wind just screams from horizon to horizon – it’s like living in a speeded-up nature film. You open up the kitchen door and catch a passing sheep…
