An Expert in Murder (Josephine Tey)

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Lots of plot holes, not very good characterisation, cheeky use of real people, silly ending where Josephine lets mad Marta skip town on a train.

Well-written, rigorously-plotted, character-driven novel with a perfect period feel that I loved most for its empathy and compassion. Josephine settled back into her seat and allowed the gentle thrum of the wheels to soothe away any lingering frustrations of the morning. Gosh–how lovely,’ said Elspeth, looking round at the bronze lamps, plush carpets and walnut veneer panelling, ‘I don’t think I’ve ever eaten anywhere as luxurious as this before.The same thing happens with a few other minor mysteries: what did Elspeth’s boyfriend do that has him in so much trouble with his boss? At six o’clock, when she walked down the steps to the south-bound platform, she expected to find the air of excitement which always accompanies the muddled loading of people and suitcases onto a departing train. On board, she meets a young woman, Elspeth Simmons, the adopted daughter of hatmakers from Berwick-upon-Tweed. It spoke to the unbridgeable divide between those who’d experienced the trenches and the tunnels those who hadn’t. But like most people of her generation, who had lived through war and loss, Josephine had acquired a sense of perspective, and the train’s mechanical failure foretold nothing more sinister to her than a tiresome wait in the station’s buffet.

I know she is based on a real-life person, but she was a dry as a stack of toast served at a wedding reception. Though a cosy crime, which for some reason the cover suggested me, this is not in fact in parts it can be a little blunt and gruesome giving it a gritty realism. I’m sorry to disturb you,’ she continued, ‘and I really don’t want to be a nuisance, but I’ve just got to say something. If you change the name Jospehine Tey to Wilhelmina Sausage, does it make any difference to the story?In this tribute novel by Nicola Upson, the mystery pits Josephine Tey and her “friend”, Scotland Yard Detective Archie Penrose, against a killer whose motive for murder is well-hidden, in part by family secrets, in part by the passing of years. All this play business drives her up the wall–she hates the theatre, apart from a bit of variety at Christmas, so I usually go with my uncle.

Josephine Tey, for example, did in reality have to defend a plagiarism court case over Richard of Bordeaux, her most successful play, and the author extrapolates this event into the solution of the mystery in her book. Please don’t worry–if I could choose between another night with Richard and a good dinner at the Cowdray Club, there’d really be no contest. Her hands had been clasped together in front of her in a mockery of applause at the scene which someone had created for her benefit in the vacant space opposite. In fact, we have been known to say we don't think a particular book is the best thing since sliced bread.After her father’s long illness, then his death, who could blame Elspeth for taking refuge in the less demanding emotions of the stage, or for contemplating another, more glamorous, identity? Upson clearly knows her way around pre-World War II London and the grimy backstages of Covent Garden, and delivers an ending shot through with palpable surprise and emotion. As the police interview everyone connected with the victims, the full picture gradually comes into focus. The country was recovering from the First World War (which has its echoes in the story) but uneasily aware that another is likely. Set in the theatre world in London, where Tey's play "Richard of Bordeaux" is ending its long and sucessful run.

There is plenty of up-front discussion of homosexuality which really isn’t credible for the time in which the book is set.

Instead of struggling on any further, I skipped to the end to find out whodunnit and then put it back on the shelf. 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.