This was her first book, "The Man in the Queue," published the year my father was born, 1929. Josephine Tey, aka Gordon Daviot, was the pen name of Elizabeth MacKintosh (1897-1952). I hope that Tey meant for us to pick up on things that Grant doesn't, but I'm not so sure in this particular interest.īut anyhow, she's great, and all of her books are worth reading on their own merits. And, to be frank, Tey doesn't do a good job of hiding a major clue which - annoyingly - Grant doesn't seem to pick up! The clue doesn't reveal the killer, but it certainly points an arrow in a general direction. I will say the ending is rather abrupt, in contradistinction to the sometimes languid, well-paced rest of the novel. Her concept of the investigator who often makes mistakes and has to recalibrate is also fantastic, and the novel inadvertently has become a piece of historical writing: it's thoroughly enjoyable to keep reminding oneself that Grant can't just use a mobile phone, or look up a suspect's address in "the system". Tey was a fantastic writer, and her mystery novels are peppered with beautiful set-pieces, elegant descriptions and minor characters sketched with scythe-like precision.
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