Josephine Tey

Advantages: Good, solid, traditional crime fiction
Disadvantages: Not that memorable

..., Josephine Tey was a well-known writer of crime fiction and one of Agatha Christie's contemporaries. Yet unlike Agatha Christie, her work is little known today. There are reasons for this. Tey's turn of phrase is old-fashioned, whereas the language that Christie uses is much plainer and therefore less likely to go out of fashion. And there is a lack of originality in the characters that Tey presents; Agatha Christie's characters are often larger than life and therefore much more memorable. Nevertheless, I think that Josephine Tey deserves more credit that she receives - she can certainly tell a good story, and that it is characteristic I don't like to ignore. Although Tey's best known character is a Miss Pym, a little old lady slightly in the mould of Miss Marple, she doesn't feature in this book. Robert Blair is a very ordinary character that... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Based on the "Princes in the Tower" story
Disadvantages: None

...Josephine Tey is a well known writer in the crime fiction field, although I have to admit this is the first of her books I have read. Her first book was written in 1929, but the majority of her books were published after the Second World War. As a contemporary of Agatha Christie, she does not seem to have maintained her fame; certainly her books are not easily available in High Street book shops or libraries. However, if this book is anything to go by, it is a shame. This story was an unexpected one; nevertheless, I was gripped from page one and will definitely be looking out for her books in the future. The story Inspector Grant of Scotland Yard has been injured during the course of duty and is hospitalised for the foreseeable future. Bored out of his mind, he spends days staring at the ceiling, unable to bring himself to read any... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Interesting, easy to read.
Disadvantages: Posh policemen.

...Reading an opinion on here the other day, I found passing mention made of Alison Weir's Princes in the Tower. It's a super and accessible analysis of one of history's most famous whodunits; did Richard III really murder his own nephews while they were shut up in the Tower of London? I hadn't read it in ages, so went off to my bookshelves to find my copy. Before I managed to locate the pesky volume, however, I came across Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time, another book which asks the very same question. I hadn't read that for an even longer time and so Alison now waits for another day… Scotland Yard's Alan Grant is laid up in hospital with a broken leg. He's bored out of his tiny mind. There are no mysteries to solve on the ceiling of his room which is all he has to look at until a sympathetic friend arrives with a sheaf... Read review

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