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. 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
The Man in the Queue (1929)
by Josephine Tey
The Man in the Queue is the first book by Josephine Tey featuring Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard. It opens with a queue to see a popular play at a London theatre, a world which Elizabeth Mackintosh (Tey's real name) knew well. A part of the action also takes place in the Scottish Highlands, in a fictional village on a loch by the sea on the west coast. Born in Inverness, it's another location the author was familiar with and the settings in the book are wonderful. The plot is satisfying (better than some recent bestsellers), though as Tey's first foray into detective fiction, a little formulaic.
A Shilling for Candles (1936)
by Josephine Tey
A Shilling for Candles is the second mystery by Josephine Tey featuring Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, published seven years after his creation in The Man in the Queue. In the book, Tey really gets into her stride. You immediately feel invested in the characters and their lives as you try and figure out what on earth happened to the famous actress whose death, at the bottom of a cliff, is under investigation. As with many of Tey's books, the descriptions of the British countryside are beautiful. A Shilling for Candles opens on the South Coast of England, on the cliffs overlooking the English Channel.
Miss Pym Disposes (1946)
by Josephine Tey
Miss Pym Disposes is a standalone novel by Josephine Tey. It's 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 (1949)
by Josephine Tey
Brat Farrar is a standalone crime novel by Josephine Tey. It's 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!
To Love and Be Wise (1950)
by Josephine Tey
In To Love and Be Wise Josephine Tey takes us to a picturesque village in the English countryside, where an array of artists from London have formed a community. The plot revolves around a beautiful young man, whose appearance threatens to disrupt existing relationships and seems too good to be true. The book features Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, as well as the actress Marta Hallard who appears as a friend of Grant's in a number of Tey's the novels.
The Daughter of Time (1951)
by Josephine Tey
The Daughter of Time is probably Josephine Tey's most famous mystery book, and has routinely featured on lists of best-ever crime novels. Her detective, Inspector Alan Grant, is laid up in hospital and ends up solving one of the biggest historical mysteries of the 15th century while lying in bed. It's about who killed two young princes in the Tower of London, the sons of Edward IV, who died in April 1483. The eldest of the two, aged 13, became Edward V. Richard, their uncle, was guardian, but instead took the throne himself, and is normally suspected of ordering the murders. The Daughter of Time is a lot of fun, and makes you want to read more about this period—which saw the end of the Wars of the Roses and the beginning of the Tudor dynasty—and about Richard III, whose body was recently found buried under a parking lot in Leicester.
The Singing Sands (1952)
by Josephine Tey
In The Singing Sands Inspector Alan Grant, on leave because of mental exhaustion, takes the Flying Highlander train to Scotland and immediately comes across a dead body. The only clue is a mysterious poem—about 'singing sands'—written in a newspaper he finds nearby. He's supposed to be staying with old friends in the Highlands, and fishing in the local river, but instead ends up going out to an island in the Hebrides. The book is beautifully set in Tey's native Scotland and makes you want to go to the Highlands immediately. The plot is pretty nicely done too.
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…
