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Inspector Alan Grant #1
The Man in the Queue
The first of the author's novels starring the popular Inspector Alan Grant traces the mysterious slaying of a man waiting to see a London musical, whose neighbors in line insist they saw nothing.
Set in London, this classic murder mystery introduces Inspector Alan Grant, who is charged with sorting out not only the identity of a victim, but the logistics of the stabbing itself, which occurred in a dense crowd of theater-goers, none of whom saw anything.
Set in London, this classic murder mystery introduces Inspector Alan Grant, who is charged with sorting out not only the identity of a victim, but the logistics of the stabbing itself, which occurred in a dense crowd of theater-goers, none of whom saw anything.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1929
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About the author
Gordon Daviot
41 books18 followersGordon Daviot is a pseudonym of Elizabeth Mackintosh, better known by the pseudonym Josephine Tey.
Works originally published under the pseudonym Gordon Daviot still use that name as primary work, even though republished as Josephine Tey or Elizabeth Mackintosh.
Works originally published under the pseudonym Gordon Daviot still use that name as primary work, even though republished as Josephine Tey or Elizabeth Mackintosh.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,227 reviews
April 5, 2019
This first mystery by Josephine Tey, a genius of the genre, reveals some of Tey the genius to any reader determined to look for it, but it also discloses much of Tey the novice writer too.
It begins well, with a magnificent set piece. A festive atmosphere envelops the line of people waiting for tickets to the musical comedy hit Didn't You Know?, and we watch as this London crowd (accosted by attendant buskers) push against each other, move forward, and eventually reach the box office where “the man in the queue” falls dead. He has been stabbed, but no one can say precisely when, for he has been held upright for minutes, buoyed by the press and movement of the crowd. Inspector Grant, of course, eventually discovers who the murderer is, but not before a few false leads, a chase among the trout streams of rural Scotland, and a final surprising revelation.
The genius of Tey reveals itself not only in the first chapter summarized above, but in the exciting chase scene and the many sharp characterizations. The best passage, though, a tour de force of deliberate detail and subtle psychology, is Grant's exploration of how leading lady Ray Marcable--quietly, mercilessly, with consummate artistry--destroys every available opportunity for her unfortunate leading man to shine.
The novice writer Tey reveals herself most clearly in the uninspiring nature of her plot: slow at times, frantic at others, with some parts seemingly out of order (the chase is much too early, for example), and a singularly abrupt resolution which appears almost as an afterthought. Some of this, I think, is the result of her genius-to-be playing games with the cliches of an established genre, but part of it is inexperience too.
The novice also reveals herself in overwritten passages which are too clever by half. For example, consider this gobbet from the second chapter, when Grant is summoned by Superintendent Barker:
“Tell inspector Grant I want to see him,” he said to the minion, who was doing his best to look obsequious in the great man's presence, but was frustrated in his good intention by an incipient embonpoint which compelled him to lean back a little in order to preserve his balance, and by the angle of his nose which was the apotheosis of impudence.”
I think this means that Barker's subordinate wants to look deferential, but when he attempts a bow his fat belly almost tips him over, and he is forced to lean back, leaving his nose arrogantly up in the air. Whatever it means, it is overwritten and unnecessary--particularly as the "minion" never appears again. The first quarter of the book has more than its share of such passages (although none of the others is quite as bad as this one).
Don't worry, though. This sort of fine writing declines steadily as the book progresses and Tey's genius takes command. By the end, her writing has become crisp and elegant, worthy of the lesser passages of her masterpiece, The Daughter of Time.
August 22, 2017
This book is the first one Josephine Tey wrote in her Inspector Alan Grant series. First published in 1929, it is a product of its time in some ways, and in other ways, it is timeless.
This book takes place in England (mostly London) and in Scotland. The writing is fine although at first I was conscious of words wearing strange apparel. For example, if I recall, one gentleman was labelled as plenitudinous instead of simply calling him ‘stout’. There were a few other examples where older expressions were used instead of their more modern replacements and although context helped, at first I felt it got in the way of a jump start into the novel.
Having said that, it didn’t take long to begin reading from the perspective of time and place that the novel was written in. I liked the character of Inspector Grant a lot. He is very good at finding the facts in a case, but he also listened to his instincts. (His chief called it a ‘flair’ when Inspector Grant sensed that something was not quite lining up. I had never come across that usage of the word as a substitute for intuition, but it made me smile.)
As the title suggests, there is a man murdered in the queue for one of the last showings of a popular London play. There were several witnesses but it was difficult to pinpoint who the actual culprit might be. People weren’t really paying attention as they were mostly focused on being able to move far enough through the queue to obtain one of the “standing room only” spots. Eventually, Inspector Grant was able to target his man and there were several chases and misleading clues and/or near misses in the process of apprehending the murderer. And that is not all. Sometimes it’s more complicated than one person murdering another.
I don’t want to spoil the reading experience for anyone so will not divulge any more of the plot. I will say that I enjoyed this book a lot, and I have a feeling that the further I go into the series, the more intriguing it will become.
What amazes me the most from these older mystery series is how engaging they are – without DNA, without cell phones, without computers and all our other modern gadgets and forensics, somehow these early detectives manage to solve the crimes and justice prevails. I loved it!
This book takes place in England (mostly London) and in Scotland. The writing is fine although at first I was conscious of words wearing strange apparel. For example, if I recall, one gentleman was labelled as plenitudinous instead of simply calling him ‘stout’. There were a few other examples where older expressions were used instead of their more modern replacements and although context helped, at first I felt it got in the way of a jump start into the novel.
Having said that, it didn’t take long to begin reading from the perspective of time and place that the novel was written in. I liked the character of Inspector Grant a lot. He is very good at finding the facts in a case, but he also listened to his instincts. (His chief called it a ‘flair’ when Inspector Grant sensed that something was not quite lining up. I had never come across that usage of the word as a substitute for intuition, but it made me smile.)
As the title suggests, there is a man murdered in the queue for one of the last showings of a popular London play. There were several witnesses but it was difficult to pinpoint who the actual culprit might be. People weren’t really paying attention as they were mostly focused on being able to move far enough through the queue to obtain one of the “standing room only” spots. Eventually, Inspector Grant was able to target his man and there were several chases and misleading clues and/or near misses in the process of apprehending the murderer. And that is not all. Sometimes it’s more complicated than one person murdering another.
I don’t want to spoil the reading experience for anyone so will not divulge any more of the plot. I will say that I enjoyed this book a lot, and I have a feeling that the further I go into the series, the more intriguing it will become.
What amazes me the most from these older mystery series is how engaging they are – without DNA, without cell phones, without computers and all our other modern gadgets and forensics, somehow these early detectives manage to solve the crimes and justice prevails. I loved it!
May 1, 2023
My introduction to this series was the very famous The Daughter of Time which is actually book 5. So here I am starting back at book one because I firmly believe you can never have enough series on the go at any one time.
The Man in the Queue was published in 1929 and is very much a book of its time. It was written early in the author's career so it is not the best of her work but it is still a very good read. The story begins with the murder of a man waiting in line for a London show. Due to the press of the crowd there are no witnesses to the actual attack and the man has no identification upon him. Inspector Grant has his work cut out for him.
Alan Grant is an excellent character who reminds me very much of Adam Dalgliesh in the P.D. James novels. He is intelligent and calm and has a gift for solving crime, but even he cannot work this one out without some luck and assistance. The ending surprised me in a good way.
I thought this was a very readable and entertaining book but remember it was written nearly a hundred years ago and do not be upset by the attitudes and customs of the time. Things were different then.
The Man in the Queue was published in 1929 and is very much a book of its time. It was written early in the author's career so it is not the best of her work but it is still a very good read. The story begins with the murder of a man waiting in line for a London show. Due to the press of the crowd there are no witnesses to the actual attack and the man has no identification upon him. Inspector Grant has his work cut out for him.
Alan Grant is an excellent character who reminds me very much of Adam Dalgliesh in the P.D. James novels. He is intelligent and calm and has a gift for solving crime, but even he cannot work this one out without some luck and assistance. The ending surprised me in a good way.
I thought this was a very readable and entertaining book but remember it was written nearly a hundred years ago and do not be upset by the attitudes and customs of the time. Things were different then.
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July 19, 2023I have tried with Josephine Tey and I'm giving up. Inspector Grant is a ghastly smug prick constantly being fellated by the narrative, without anything like the charm of an Alleyn or Wimsey. Tey's writing has more than a whiff of Not Like Other Girls and a double helping of racism, plus irritating self-consciousness in the narrative. And when 60% of the book is an elaborate red herring, the whole process of reading a murder mystery suddenly starts to feel like a massive waste of time. No, I didn't like it, why do you ask.
November 1, 2011
For some reason the only novels by Josephine Tey that I have read previously are The Daughter of Time and The Franchise Affair, both in my long-distant teenage past. I loved the former of these books and liked the latter, but until now I had not felt inspired to seek out Tey's other works.
I'm glad that I finally did, for there's a lot to love about this example of British Golden Age detective fiction. Tey writes beautifully. Her prose is intelligent, lucid and witty and she deals equally well with dialogue and description. The novel has a great sense of style. I particularly love the opening chapter, which is marvellously evocative of time and place. I also love the description of the Scottish Highlands, which Tey renders with a light touch and considerable humour. However the text does demonstrate some weaknesses. For example, a first person narrator appears from time to time: apparently the authorial voice, because it is not otherwise identified. The effect is somewhat jarring, but the irregular appearance of the narrator may simply be the result of Tey's inexperience, as this was her first novel.
Tey's detective, Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant, lacks the indiosyncrasies of his fictional comptemporaries, Hercule Poirot and Lord Peter Wimsey. He can't be immediately visualised from the text. However, it would be wrong to say that Grant is a dull character, for he has considerable charm and intelligence. That said, one of the surprises in this novel is that Grant does not actually solve the crime. The resolution is brought about through something of a deus ex machina, although hints to the resolution are there in the text. I was at first inclined to think this a weakness, but have since decided that, while unusual, it is a strength of Tey's ability to plot. It is the reality, after all. Crimes are solved sometimes through hard work, sometimes through the brilliance of the detective and sometimes through luck. There's room in crime fiction to explore all of these possibilities.
The casual racism of pre-World War II crime fiction is evident in this novel, with a confronting repetition of the term "dago" to describe the suspected criminal. However, the confounding of the detective's assumptions and prejudices in the resolution of the crime makes the use of the term ultimately less offensive than it might otherwise be.
Overall, this was a worthwhile read for fans of Golden Age British crime fiction. Probably a 3-1/2 star read.
I'm glad that I finally did, for there's a lot to love about this example of British Golden Age detective fiction. Tey writes beautifully. Her prose is intelligent, lucid and witty and she deals equally well with dialogue and description. The novel has a great sense of style. I particularly love the opening chapter, which is marvellously evocative of time and place. I also love the description of the Scottish Highlands, which Tey renders with a light touch and considerable humour. However the text does demonstrate some weaknesses. For example, a first person narrator appears from time to time: apparently the authorial voice, because it is not otherwise identified. The effect is somewhat jarring, but the irregular appearance of the narrator may simply be the result of Tey's inexperience, as this was her first novel.
Tey's detective, Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant, lacks the indiosyncrasies of his fictional comptemporaries, Hercule Poirot and Lord Peter Wimsey. He can't be immediately visualised from the text. However, it would be wrong to say that Grant is a dull character, for he has considerable charm and intelligence. That said, one of the surprises in this novel is that Grant does not actually solve the crime. The resolution is brought about through something of a deus ex machina, although hints to the resolution are there in the text. I was at first inclined to think this a weakness, but have since decided that, while unusual, it is a strength of Tey's ability to plot. It is the reality, after all. Crimes are solved sometimes through hard work, sometimes through the brilliance of the detective and sometimes through luck. There's room in crime fiction to explore all of these possibilities.
The casual racism of pre-World War II crime fiction is evident in this novel, with a confronting repetition of the term "dago" to describe the suspected criminal. However, the confounding of the detective's assumptions and prejudices in the resolution of the crime makes the use of the term ultimately less offensive than it might otherwise be.
Overall, this was a worthwhile read for fans of Golden Age British crime fiction. Probably a 3-1/2 star read.
July 28, 2022
Novela leída en una LC de La librería ambulante.
Lo que más me ha gustado de El hombre en la cola ha sido comprobar que Josephine Tey planteó hace casi un siglo un “whodonit” diferente protagonizado por un investigador con instinto, pero muy alejado de la infalibilidad de Sherlock Holmes o Hércules Poirot.
El punto de partida de la historia con ese asesinato en la cola de un teatro londinense es muy original y el desenlace me ha sorprendido por la forma en la que se produce. Ha habido partes con menos dinamismo, pero se agradece que la novela esté bien escrita y que consiga mantener el interés.
Mi cola de libros pendientes no para de crecer… ¡Vamos a por la siguiente!
Lo que más me ha gustado de El hombre en la cola ha sido comprobar que Josephine Tey planteó hace casi un siglo un “whodonit” diferente protagonizado por un investigador con instinto, pero muy alejado de la infalibilidad de Sherlock Holmes o Hércules Poirot.
El punto de partida de la historia con ese asesinato en la cola de un teatro londinense es muy original y el desenlace me ha sorprendido por la forma en la que se produce. Ha habido partes con menos dinamismo, pero se agradece que la novela esté bien escrita y que consiga mantener el interés.
Mi cola de libros pendientes no para de crecer… ¡Vamos a por la siguiente!
August 12, 2021
I enjoyed this mystery a great deal, despite the fact that I would never have guessed the murderer in a hundred years! Tey managed to lead me astray remarkably easily and I don't think she gave me enough clues to triangulate properly. But it was still an amusing story and it aroused my desire to read more of her mysteries.
I couldn't help comparing Inspector Alan Grant with my beloved Constable Peter Grant, having just finished The Hanging Tree. Alan Grant is a gentleman, he has an income and doesn't really need to work. He's looked up to and regarded as having “flair.” Unlike my Peter who is mixed race, gets called upon to help with his dad's dental bills, and has a reputation for destruction. Both of them do have a nose for the story of the crime, however, and a love of policing in London.
I was highly amused by the Scottish nurse, Miss Dinmont, called Dandie Dinmont. I imagine Tey named her after the breed of small Scottish terrier on purpose. They are known as being tough but friendly, as was our nurse.
Josephine Tey, it was lovely to meet you! I hope we will meet again soon.
I couldn't help comparing Inspector Alan Grant with my beloved Constable Peter Grant, having just finished The Hanging Tree. Alan Grant is a gentleman, he has an income and doesn't really need to work. He's looked up to and regarded as having “flair.” Unlike my Peter who is mixed race, gets called upon to help with his dad's dental bills, and has a reputation for destruction. Both of them do have a nose for the story of the crime, however, and a love of policing in London.
I was highly amused by the Scottish nurse, Miss Dinmont, called Dandie Dinmont. I imagine Tey named her after the breed of small Scottish terrier on purpose. They are known as being tough but friendly, as was our nurse.
Josephine Tey, it was lovely to meet you! I hope we will meet again soon.
June 20, 2013
How could I have guessed that the author of The Daughter of Time, one of my favorite authors ever, could have written such a lumpy first novel? I mean, Tey's a great stylist, she writes description so well that you hardly mind that it's pages and pages of the stuff. And even in this novel, Alan Grant is a vibrant and interesting character, even if he does love fishing. But it's unfortunate that Tey chose to make such broad characterizations of cultural and national groups. The murder (the stabbing of a man in the press of a theater queue) could not have been committed by an Englishman; Englishmen slit throats from behind; it must have been a Levantine, because those foreigners are so shifty. American gangsters are fond of organization, but the Englishman is an individualist. In later novels, Grant's tendency to draw conclusions about people from their appearances becomes more refined and less authoritative. Given that his conclusions about the murderer were completely wrong, it's possible Tey meant to show how ridiculous such characterizations are, but I would think that would mean that, at some point before the end, Grant might have thought "geez, that sure was boneheaded of me."
The mystery itself. Well. I think it was obvious that Grant's singleminded pursuit of his suspect meant that he was missing something, but the revelation of the real killer...
I'm glad I read Tey's other novels first. This one was disappointing and I doubt I'd have bothered with the rest if I'd gotten to this one first.
The mystery itself. Well. I think it was obvious that Grant's singleminded pursuit of his suspect meant that he was missing something, but the revelation of the real killer...
I'm glad I read Tey's other novels first. This one was disappointing and I doubt I'd have bothered with the rest if I'd gotten to this one first.
June 25, 2018
According to the card catalog system I used before joining goodreads (2007), I first read this in 2003, 15 years ago. There is something to be said for a poor memory because I really do not remember this book and thoroughly enjoyed it again, as if for the first time.
This is labeled as the first Inspector Grant mystery, but it reads like we already have a history with him, as if we are well-acquainted. He is easy to get to know and likable as a genuinely fallible sleuth, unlike some others I could name. Personally I prefer when the investigator doesn’t have all the answers, makes a few mistakes, gets things wrong even. The ones who are all-knowing, all-seeing and pull hidden clues out at the last minute just make me feel dull. In fact in this one, I was wondering why Grant didn’t pay more attention to a clue which seemed important and it even turned out to be. While neither of us really ‘solved’ the mystery completely, at least it was a fair and fun game.
Thanks Tey for a very Good Read! I look forward to another foray with Inspector Grant soon!
This is labeled as the first Inspector Grant mystery, but it reads like we already have a history with him, as if we are well-acquainted. He is easy to get to know and likable as a genuinely fallible sleuth, unlike some others I could name. Personally I prefer when the investigator doesn’t have all the answers, makes a few mistakes, gets things wrong even. The ones who are all-knowing, all-seeing and pull hidden clues out at the last minute just make me feel dull. In fact in this one, I was wondering why Grant didn’t pay more attention to a clue which seemed important and it even turned out to be. While neither of us really ‘solved’ the mystery completely, at least it was a fair and fun game.
Thanks Tey for a very Good Read! I look forward to another foray with Inspector Grant soon!
May 30, 2016
This is the first Josephine Tey mystery, featuring Inspector Alan Grant. The novel begins on a March evening in London, where there are long queues outside the many theatres, including the Woffington; currently playing the long running show, “Didn’t You Know?” This is coming to the end of a long run and so the crowds are intense, with a patient crowd inching forward and hoping to get to see the beautiful Ray Marcable. As the doors open though, a man in the queue is murdered and Inspector Grant is called in to investigate.
This is a good example of a Golden Age mystery. Grant is intelligent, thoughtful and committed to finding the right person. We are taken from London restaurants to race tracks and even the Scottish countryside on the investigation. Who is the unknown victim in the queue and why was he killed?
Although I really enjoy mysteries from this era, I found I had mixed feelings about this novel. I liked the sense of place and time (aside from the rather uncomfortable terms used for anyone not British) and Grant was a good lead, even if I found him rather dry and without any defined personality in this book. However, it was the first novel featuring him and, as such, was an interesting introduction. The plot started well, but the ending was weak. As such, this was something of a disappointment, as it felt rushed and not quite in character with the rest of the novel, although I am glad I gave this first in the series a try.
This is a good example of a Golden Age mystery. Grant is intelligent, thoughtful and committed to finding the right person. We are taken from London restaurants to race tracks and even the Scottish countryside on the investigation. Who is the unknown victim in the queue and why was he killed?
Although I really enjoy mysteries from this era, I found I had mixed feelings about this novel. I liked the sense of place and time (aside from the rather uncomfortable terms used for anyone not British) and Grant was a good lead, even if I found him rather dry and without any defined personality in this book. However, it was the first novel featuring him and, as such, was an interesting introduction. The plot started well, but the ending was weak. As such, this was something of a disappointment, as it felt rushed and not quite in character with the rest of the novel, although I am glad I gave this first in the series a try.
August 7, 2023
Miss This Queue!
A man stabbed to death with a stiletto when standing in a queue to watch a musical might all in all be better off than a man who is actually watching a musical, and this also goes for the opera. Yet when a man is stabbed to death in a queue for a musical, Inspector Alan Grant decides to investigate the crime in front of rather than that in the theatre, and this is the plot of Josephine Tey’s first mystery novel, The Man in the Queue, first published in 1929.
I must confess that I eventually jumped the queue because the investigation was rather lengthy and plodding, and I soon lost interest, and if you feel bored and stop caring about the open questions cropping up on the detective’s way of the solution to a crime, then you had better call it a day. I did so and turned to another Agatha Christie novel instead. Christie’s mysteries, with their large cast of suspects, their memorable detectives, the quick pace are simply more intriguing to me than Josephine Tey’s first novel was, which concentrated on Alan Grant and hardly presented any suspects – at least not towards the point when I decided to call it quits. What made the reading experience even more strenuous was the narrator’s tendency to suck up to her major character, raving about Grant’s ability to look dapper even though he is not a coxcomb, his readiness to say thankyou to his colleague Williams when he is pleased with the man’s work, his bantering with his landlady and lots of other things which are so special about Grant. Of course, Grant is also a rich man, someone who does not really have to work, and the following passage tells you how he applies his wealth:
He also uses his legacy to support a man whom he had once helped to arrest, and when this man opens a restaurant, Grant is, of course, the pet of the head waiter, who treats everyone else with the rudeness à la française one normally expects in good restaurants. As to Grant, there is really a lot of telling instead of showing going on in that novel, but still one must say that Tey’s style is very imaginative and impressive, especially in descriptions. This will therefore not be the last time for me to stick my nose into one of the author’s books even though I gave up on her bumpy and boring first mystery.
A man stabbed to death with a stiletto when standing in a queue to watch a musical might all in all be better off than a man who is actually watching a musical, and this also goes for the opera. Yet when a man is stabbed to death in a queue for a musical, Inspector Alan Grant decides to investigate the crime in front of rather than that in the theatre, and this is the plot of Josephine Tey’s first mystery novel, The Man in the Queue, first published in 1929.
I must confess that I eventually jumped the queue because the investigation was rather lengthy and plodding, and I soon lost interest, and if you feel bored and stop caring about the open questions cropping up on the detective’s way of the solution to a crime, then you had better call it a day. I did so and turned to another Agatha Christie novel instead. Christie’s mysteries, with their large cast of suspects, their memorable detectives, the quick pace are simply more intriguing to me than Josephine Tey’s first novel was, which concentrated on Alan Grant and hardly presented any suspects – at least not towards the point when I decided to call it quits. What made the reading experience even more strenuous was the narrator’s tendency to suck up to her major character, raving about Grant’s ability to look dapper even though he is not a coxcomb, his readiness to say thankyou to his colleague Williams when he is pleased with the man’s work, his bantering with his landlady and lots of other things which are so special about Grant. Of course, Grant is also a rich man, someone who does not really have to work, and the following passage tells you how he applies his wealth:
”Some years before, Grant had inherited a considerable legacy – a legacy sufficient to permit him to retire into idle nonentity if such had been his desire. But Grant loved his work even when he swore and called it a dog’s life, and the legacy had been used only to smooth and embroider life until what would have been the bleak places were eliminated, and to make some bleak places in other lives less impossible.”
He also uses his legacy to support a man whom he had once helped to arrest, and when this man opens a restaurant, Grant is, of course, the pet of the head waiter, who treats everyone else with the rudeness à la française one normally expects in good restaurants. As to Grant, there is really a lot of telling instead of showing going on in that novel, but still one must say that Tey’s style is very imaginative and impressive, especially in descriptions. This will therefore not be the last time for me to stick my nose into one of the author’s books even though I gave up on her bumpy and boring first mystery.
August 30, 2019
Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard's CID unit isn't one of those individuals who hides his light under a basket, nor is he egotistical. He is self-confident in his abilities as a detective in a healthy way. This is something that comes into play as he investigates the stabbing death of The Man in the Queue.
This is a story well-told with an unexpected twist and also what hints at being a romance for Grant in the future.
This is a story well-told with an unexpected twist and also what hints at being a romance for Grant in the future.
April 2, 2017
After a long absence, Alan Grant returns to my life. (Which is a different way of saying "I haven't read this in a long time".) It's obvious that Josephine Tey didn't originally intend to write mystery novels: not to in any way belittle mystery novels, which I love, but there is an intelligent uniqueness to her story and her writing that is a pure joy, an approach to the task which is fresh and unique.
Alan Grant is … lovely.
A friend noted in her recent review of a different edition that she was made a bit uneasy by the oft-repeated word "dago". I decided to read this on the spur of the moment, and a little ways in remembered that part of the discussion that followed her review, and was a little surprised that I had not encountered the epithet. Before long, Alan Grant dubs the mysterious suspect "the Levantine" – and a minute later I started wondering if that was where "dago" used to be; I questioned it because it didn't seem to mean the same thing. By the time I finished the book and realized that "dago" had never appeared, it was clear that at some point a more politically correct edit had taken place. Unfortunately the edit was more politically than typographically correct – there were a number of spelling errors. It also wasn't terribly correct topographically, as the Levant consists of "The countries bordering on the eastern Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to Egypt", which I think would be a much different sort of complexion than the descriptions of our lad imply.
It's a lovely, gorgeously written story, this, and I'm glad that the casual racism of another time has been erased (though I'm interested in the mechanics of that). It isn't so much a Whodunnit, in which the reader can follow along and figure out who the killer is – I'm fairly sure that's impossible, as the story is written. But it is a terrific Howdunnit, as well as a terrific Howsolvdit – a portrait of a very good and unique detective doggedly following up any thread to find answers to who had the opportunity (and means, and motive) to stab The Man in the Queue. It's a psychological study, in a way – how people (or at least 1920's Londoners) can be standing in line in front of or behind or nearby someone who is murdered, and never see a thing; the mindset of a very intelligent detective relentlessly hunting his suspect, and how that changes when the suspect becomes a man to him; the mindset of the hunted man, whose friend is dead, whether he was the one who killed him or not.
I can't think of another detective – perhaps not even another fictional character – quite like Alan Grant. He is thoughtful, insightful, brilliant, and could have been anything – and has chosen to take his "flair" into the field of homicide investigation. It's not quite fair to the poor killers (which is as it should be). His thought processes are clearly illustrated, and it's a pleasure to follow them. It's also a pleasure that, while he's clearly more intelligent than his colleagues, they aren't idiots – the police are uniformly (pardon the pun) depicted as sharp and hard-working. Nice for a change.
(Reading "Ray Marcable" did not make an impact for a chapter or so, and then I let it sound in my head – and groaned. She wouldn't … Oh. She would. But surely the British Theatah wouldn't / didn't…? I mean, that's just awful.)
Alan Grant is … lovely.
A friend noted in her recent review of a different edition that she was made a bit uneasy by the oft-repeated word "dago". I decided to read this on the spur of the moment, and a little ways in remembered that part of the discussion that followed her review, and was a little surprised that I had not encountered the epithet. Before long, Alan Grant dubs the mysterious suspect "the Levantine" – and a minute later I started wondering if that was where "dago" used to be; I questioned it because it didn't seem to mean the same thing. By the time I finished the book and realized that "dago" had never appeared, it was clear that at some point a more politically correct edit had taken place. Unfortunately the edit was more politically than typographically correct – there were a number of spelling errors. It also wasn't terribly correct topographically, as the Levant consists of "The countries bordering on the eastern Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to Egypt", which I think would be a much different sort of complexion than the descriptions of our lad imply.
It's a lovely, gorgeously written story, this, and I'm glad that the casual racism of another time has been erased (though I'm interested in the mechanics of that). It isn't so much a Whodunnit, in which the reader can follow along and figure out who the killer is – I'm fairly sure that's impossible, as the story is written. But it is a terrific Howdunnit, as well as a terrific Howsolvdit – a portrait of a very good and unique detective doggedly following up any thread to find answers to who had the opportunity (and means, and motive) to stab The Man in the Queue. It's a psychological study, in a way – how people (or at least 1920's Londoners) can be standing in line in front of or behind or nearby someone who is murdered, and never see a thing; the mindset of a very intelligent detective relentlessly hunting his suspect, and how that changes when the suspect becomes a man to him; the mindset of the hunted man, whose friend is dead, whether he was the one who killed him or not.
I can't think of another detective – perhaps not even another fictional character – quite like Alan Grant. He is thoughtful, insightful, brilliant, and could have been anything – and has chosen to take his "flair" into the field of homicide investigation. It's not quite fair to the poor killers (which is as it should be). His thought processes are clearly illustrated, and it's a pleasure to follow them. It's also a pleasure that, while he's clearly more intelligent than his colleagues, they aren't idiots – the police are uniformly (pardon the pun) depicted as sharp and hard-working. Nice for a change.
(Reading "Ray Marcable" did not make an impact for a chapter or so, and then I let it sound in my head – and groaned. She wouldn't … Oh. She would. But surely the British Theatah wouldn't / didn't…? I mean, that's just awful.)
February 4, 2017
I read this book over the weekend. I have never read anything by Tey before and after reading this first novel of hers, consider her a gem of a find.
People are crowding each other in a line outside a theater to see a final performance of the wonderful Ray Marcable's "Swan" performance before she sails off to America. A fat woman (her description, now we would say a "woman of size") is trying to pay for her ticket while she is being pushed by the man and the crowd behind her.
She turns around to tell the man to back off (or she does, I don't remember) but the man sinks to his knees and keels over. In his back is a thin dagger. How did a man get to be murdered in a crowded line with no one noticing?
That is the job of Detective Grant of the Scotland Yard to find out. Giving nothing away I will give my subjective reaction to reading this story.
It was one of the best mysteries I've read. Tey is not like other mystery writers. She follows no formula. I was surprised at the different paths the story line took. Following a sluggish, beginning, the plot quickened its pace and maintained it through out. I was surprised and delighted at the solution and conclusion.
What I liked best about the story was the humanness of all the characters. No one was a propped up cardboard figure, which I sadly must accuse Rex Stout and sometimes my beloved Dorothy Sayers of doing.
Both Sayers and Stout have created heroes that are so much smarter than everyone else that they appear to possess an omniscient glow about them. Both Wimsey and Wolfe are forever befuddling and befooling (I made that word up) everyone else and especially the police.
And here I must shake a stern finger at both of them. They make the police out to be little more than idiots and even buffoons. This is neither fair nor believable.
I understand that maybe underdogs who have been bullied by police, detectives, lawyers, and powerful rich guys enjoy reading them dance to Wolfe and Archie's tune, but it is also a little one-dimensional.
The same is true for Lord Wimsey. Like Wolfe, he apparently has the entire mystery solved from the get go but just needs to play along until he gets irrefutable proof in order to convict the guilty party. I generalize, but it's basically true.
Probably that is why I liked Gaudy Night so much. We saw a tenderer, vulnerable side to Wimsey.
Tey's Inspector Grant is very smart and so are his fellow detectives but they are not know-alls. They struggle and are often wrong. That was an endearing attribute of Grant in Man in the Queu. He thinks he has things solved, then he doesn't. Then he does; no, he doesn't. Now he does! Rats, not yet, after all!
But he or the other police are still human and smart and likeable characters. Tey created people I would want to get to know. I doubt Lord Wimsey would look twice at me. Wolfe would simply eat me alive.
All the characters are pretty nice people and hospitable and very believable. I eagerly look forward to further Tey mysteries.
People are crowding each other in a line outside a theater to see a final performance of the wonderful Ray Marcable's "Swan" performance before she sails off to America. A fat woman (her description, now we would say a "woman of size") is trying to pay for her ticket while she is being pushed by the man and the crowd behind her.
She turns around to tell the man to back off (or she does, I don't remember) but the man sinks to his knees and keels over. In his back is a thin dagger. How did a man get to be murdered in a crowded line with no one noticing?
That is the job of Detective Grant of the Scotland Yard to find out. Giving nothing away I will give my subjective reaction to reading this story.
It was one of the best mysteries I've read. Tey is not like other mystery writers. She follows no formula. I was surprised at the different paths the story line took. Following a sluggish, beginning, the plot quickened its pace and maintained it through out. I was surprised and delighted at the solution and conclusion.
What I liked best about the story was the humanness of all the characters. No one was a propped up cardboard figure, which I sadly must accuse Rex Stout and sometimes my beloved Dorothy Sayers of doing.
Both Sayers and Stout have created heroes that are so much smarter than everyone else that they appear to possess an omniscient glow about them. Both Wimsey and Wolfe are forever befuddling and befooling (I made that word up) everyone else and especially the police.
And here I must shake a stern finger at both of them. They make the police out to be little more than idiots and even buffoons. This is neither fair nor believable.
I understand that maybe underdogs who have been bullied by police, detectives, lawyers, and powerful rich guys enjoy reading them dance to Wolfe and Archie's tune, but it is also a little one-dimensional.
The same is true for Lord Wimsey. Like Wolfe, he apparently has the entire mystery solved from the get go but just needs to play along until he gets irrefutable proof in order to convict the guilty party. I generalize, but it's basically true.
Probably that is why I liked Gaudy Night so much. We saw a tenderer, vulnerable side to Wimsey.
Tey's Inspector Grant is very smart and so are his fellow detectives but they are not know-alls. They struggle and are often wrong. That was an endearing attribute of Grant in Man in the Queu. He thinks he has things solved, then he doesn't. Then he does; no, he doesn't. Now he does! Rats, not yet, after all!
But he or the other police are still human and smart and likeable characters. Tey created people I would want to get to know. I doubt Lord Wimsey would look twice at me. Wolfe would simply eat me alive.
All the characters are pretty nice people and hospitable and very believable. I eagerly look forward to further Tey mysteries.
February 24, 2018
I love Josephine Tey for her sharp eye, fine writing, good characterisation and twisty-turny plots. This book is the first of the Inspector Grant series and while it doesn't quite have the same engrossing, disorienting quality as The Franchise Affair, it's still a superior example of the classic crime novel.
A man is stabbed while waiting in a London theatre queue - and soon Inspector Grant is caught is a fine muddle of the theatre, bookmakers, London landladies, men's outfitters and a trip to the Scottish highlands.
It has to be said that the continued use of the term 'Dago' is uncomfortable, and there is an audacious use of coincidences at which Tey herself seems to be poking fun. The solution, too, comes out of nowhere - but this is still a compelling, light read written with more style and panache than is sometimes the case in Golden Age crime.
A man is stabbed while waiting in a London theatre queue - and soon Inspector Grant is caught is a fine muddle of the theatre, bookmakers, London landladies, men's outfitters and a trip to the Scottish highlands.
It has to be said that the continued use of the term 'Dago' is uncomfortable, and there is an audacious use of coincidences at which Tey herself seems to be poking fun. The solution, too, comes out of nowhere - but this is still a compelling, light read written with more style and panache than is sometimes the case in Golden Age crime.
January 26, 2024
If this is your first introduction to Josephine Tey, stop reading and go find one of her other books. This is not for you. This is for those of us who already know and love Inspector Alan Grant. You do not need to read this series in order. Please.
In The Man in the Queue, you can see the traces of what Tey will become. Grant is as likable as ever and the colorful characters that populate this story are just a delight to read. Unfortunately, the mystery is disjointed and the "twist" so foreshadowed and yet so out of left field that even the police don't believe it.
It shows potential but not really worth the time as a stand alone.
In The Man in the Queue, you can see the traces of what Tey will become. Grant is as likable as ever and the colorful characters that populate this story are just a delight to read. Unfortunately, the mystery is disjointed and the "twist" so foreshadowed and yet so out of left field that even the police don't believe it.
It shows potential but not really worth the time as a stand alone.
May 15, 2020
What a convoluted tale! I also heard at least one phrase I was unfamiliar with, which is unusual. I wasn't overly fond of the narrator's voice but it's hard to pinpoint why, except to say that there was a flatness to it, but that isn't really descriptive either. One thing I noticed as I listened carefully is how long the sentences seemed. Anyway, overall, it was a pleasant excursion into another place and time.
April 26, 2014
I had a few problems with this book. The author seems to believe you can judge a lot by a person's face & displays some quite racist attitudes. A good ending though.
Read
May 12, 2016This is the first Josephine Tey mystery, featuring Inspector Alan Grant. The novel begins on a March evening in London, where there are long queues outside the many theatres, including the Woffington; currently playing the long running show, “Didn’t You Know?” This is coming to the end of a long run and so the crowds are intense, with a patient crowd inching forward and hoping to get to see the beautiful Ray Marcable. As the doors open though, a man in the queue is murdered and Inspector Grant is called in to investigate.
This is a good example of a Golden Age mystery. Grant is intelligent, thoughtful and committed to finding the right person. We are taken from London restaurants to race tracks and even the Scottish countryside on the investigation. Who is the unknown victim in the queue and why was he killed?
Although I really enjoy mysteries from this era, I found I had mixed feelings about this novel. I liked the sense of place and time (aside from the rather uncomfortable terms used for anyone not British) and Grant was a good lead, even if I found him rather dry and without any defined personality in this book. However, it was the first novel featuring him and, as such, was an interesting introduction. The plot started well, but the ending was weak. As such, this was something of a disappointment, as it felt rushed and not quite in character with the rest of the novel. However, I am glad I gave this first in the series a try and would rate this as 3.5.
This is a good example of a Golden Age mystery. Grant is intelligent, thoughtful and committed to finding the right person. We are taken from London restaurants to race tracks and even the Scottish countryside on the investigation. Who is the unknown victim in the queue and why was he killed?
Although I really enjoy mysteries from this era, I found I had mixed feelings about this novel. I liked the sense of place and time (aside from the rather uncomfortable terms used for anyone not British) and Grant was a good lead, even if I found him rather dry and without any defined personality in this book. However, it was the first novel featuring him and, as such, was an interesting introduction. The plot started well, but the ending was weak. As such, this was something of a disappointment, as it felt rushed and not quite in character with the rest of the novel. However, I am glad I gave this first in the series a try and would rate this as 3.5.
December 17, 2022
Josephine Tey es la antiAgatha Christie. En el sentido de que le da igual la solución final del puzle. Eso no es lo importante, lo es todo lo demás. En este caso, cómo la típica construcción de un caso en un "murder mystery" clásico está pillada con pinzas porque, al fin y al cabo, se basa la mayoría de veces en deducciones hechas a partir de suposiciones e indicios, y que por muy lógicas que parezcan, a veces es necesario indagar un poco más.
Se nota que es la primera novela de Tey, la primera protagonizada por el inspector Grant, porque se centra mucho más en la trama y no en desarrollar ciertas críticas a la sociedad. En este caso se centra en el trabajo de la policía y cómo un buen policía puede llegar al fondo del asunto.
Es ligera, es divertida, se lee muy fácil y si sois fans de Josephine Tey, la recomiendo 100%
Se nota que es la primera novela de Tey, la primera protagonizada por el inspector Grant, porque se centra mucho más en la trama y no en desarrollar ciertas críticas a la sociedad. En este caso se centra en el trabajo de la policía y cómo un buen policía puede llegar al fondo del asunto.
Es ligera, es divertida, se lee muy fácil y si sois fans de Josephine Tey, la recomiendo 100%
March 13, 2024
This book holds up incredibly well considering it was written a century ago. Inspector Grant investigates a man stabbed while standing in the rush line for the theater. Nobody saw it happen, but a man left the queue shortly afterward. Grant pursues various inquiries and the top suspect changes as new surprises are revealed. Very Agatha Christie-like. Read today, the book is also a delightful view of 1920s England when inspectors rode the tube to interview witnesses and every man was still haunted by the Great War. The book should be reliable since it was written contemporaneously; it makes the Rennie Airth 'John Madden' mysteries, set in the same time and place, look so accomplished since Airth wrote them eight decades AFTER the events.
February 13, 2014
Not too bad. I liked the resolution. Tey is still Tey, ie the only Golden Age mystery writer whose racism, classism and sexism I bother really taking issue with, because she really is that much worse than her contemporaries. People decide what personalities other people have based on their face and their race; it's a crass, naïve philosophy and hard to have patience with at the best of times. The detective's thoughts at the end say an awful lot about Tey. He thinks about the murder victim, and tries to decide whether
January 11, 2023
Upon reflection, 5 stars! When a book makes you think about it for days after you’ve finished it, when you realize that all that came before has now taken on a new meaning, you enjoy it all over again. Yes, Tey is impatient with the conventions of mysteries that say the solution should be earned by the detective. But oh what a turnaround in the ultimate paragraph. Here, without ado Tey says something quite profound: that well meaning individuals may take on the role of villain quite unknowingly. Yet she spends so little time on it that it almost passes notice! Yet there is no better way to underline something than placing it as the final chapter. It is the modern reader’s sensibility that led me to overlook it!
My original review. A delightful read. Too many coincidences, though. The ending is strange. Surprise, yes. But it left me with a shocking sense of just what could go wrong.
That said, I enjoyed the characters immensely. All of them, even the team that works for Inspector Grant and only shows up in a few scenes. Each was delightful.
The last paragraph is revealing. Except for another strange chance, the determined detective might well have been the villain of this story!
My original review. A delightful read. Too many coincidences, though. The ending is strange. Surprise, yes. But it left me with a shocking sense of just what could go wrong.
That said, I enjoyed the characters immensely. All of them, even the team that works for Inspector Grant and only shows up in a few scenes. Each was delightful.
The last paragraph is revealing. Except for another strange chance, the determined detective might well have been the villain of this story!
December 8, 2020
I'm on a rereading-classic-mysteries kick, and I thought I'd try this one, which I last read in my teens. It's the first my classic mysteries rereads that just purely sucked.
Tey doesn't really write mysteries as the Detection Club conceived of them. Most of them are not solvable by the reader, for one thing. The plot of the first two books of her series amounts to "all the evidence is against this boyish and attractive young man, but he is such a delightful boy that SURELY he didn't do it." In both books, Alan Grant, her investigator, stumbles around in the dark and is saved from convicting the wrong man only by luck. (In this one, it is that most ignominious indication of failure on the part of a mystery novelist -- voluntary confession from an unsuspected party -- that saves him.)
Frankly, Tey doesn't seem to be interested in writing a mystery at all. She seems more into the psychology of it all, and while that's often interesting, especially with Alan Grant -- he's anxious, he makes a lot of mistakes, and he's not like the other cops, even as he is also very attractive and Gifted Beyond All Ken -- it's not always successful. One of the big problems with her approach is that she seems to have believed the face was truly the index of the soul. The innocent young man is always attractive and very English-looking. People with eyes a certain shade of blue are always untrustworthy. People with darker skin -- and I don't mean people of color; I mean, like, people of Italian descent -- are emotional and prone to outbursts. And so on. Ugh.
And in this one, other prejudices of hers emerge. She asks the reader directly at the end of the book (which, uh, is not a conceit that works as she does it) if there is indeed a villain in the case. Grant is sure that there is. And I cannot explain why he is so very wrong without spoilers, so:
So, basically: this is not a successful mystery novel or a successful psychology novel.
Tey doesn't really write mysteries as the Detection Club conceived of them. Most of them are not solvable by the reader, for one thing. The plot of the first two books of her series amounts to "all the evidence is against this boyish and attractive young man, but he is such a delightful boy that SURELY he didn't do it." In both books, Alan Grant, her investigator, stumbles around in the dark and is saved from convicting the wrong man only by luck. (In this one, it is that most ignominious indication of failure on the part of a mystery novelist -- voluntary confession from an unsuspected party -- that saves him.)
Frankly, Tey doesn't seem to be interested in writing a mystery at all. She seems more into the psychology of it all, and while that's often interesting, especially with Alan Grant -- he's anxious, he makes a lot of mistakes, and he's not like the other cops, even as he is also very attractive and Gifted Beyond All Ken -- it's not always successful. One of the big problems with her approach is that she seems to have believed the face was truly the index of the soul. The innocent young man is always attractive and very English-looking. People with eyes a certain shade of blue are always untrustworthy. People with darker skin -- and I don't mean people of color; I mean, like, people of Italian descent -- are emotional and prone to outbursts. And so on. Ugh.
And in this one, other prejudices of hers emerge. She asks the reader directly at the end of the book (which, uh, is not a conceit that works as she does it) if there is indeed a villain in the case. Grant is sure that there is. And I cannot explain why he is so very wrong without spoilers, so:
So, basically: this is not a successful mystery novel or a successful psychology novel.
Read
January 10, 2023Ako iko zabasa ... ovo je prvi detektivski roman Džozefin Fej (objavljen pod pseudonimom) i prilično je razvučen, repetativan i dosadan. Stigla sam na jače od pola, i samo preskočila na kraj da pročitam razrešenje. Komotno mogu da preskoče svi osim posvećenika.
May 20, 2015
I expected to like this a lot. Golden Age crime fiction, I'm pretty sure my mother mentioned liking it, etc, etc. But I couldn't get past the endless racism, and the general feeling that Josephine Tey would be a men's rights activist now. I mean, a woman on the stage overshadows her male co-stars, and yet the whole tone is not, wow, her skill and grace and so on, but that she is secretly a conniving bitch. The whole story serves to hammer home that she's a woman who only cares about herself -- with very little actual evidence, which is funny coming from a detective story. Someone else summarised it really well, and I can only quote (warning, spoilers):
The description and so on can be as clever as it likes, but I couldn't stand one more slighting reference to "the Dago", or commentary about the "un-English crime", or any of that. And the mystery itself... it's obvious from the length of the book that the inspector is after the wrong man. It's obvious from the way the man and the people around him act, too. The only excuse for going along with the thin, motiveless explanation Grant dredges up is if you've got a prejudice to begin with and you're going to stick to your theory no matter what -- no matter how Tey makes a song and dance about Grant being bothered by the case.
The reason Grant is wrong, well, at least you can't blame him there. There's virtually no clue, and nothing tied specifically to any suspect other than the red herring one. You can't guess it directly from the information given -- not a hope. I sound really scathing, but that's in part because I hoped I'd really enjoy this.
I read it pretty much in one go: the narration is pretty compulsive, and the narrative voice is an interesting choice too. But the pretty sentences didn't save it from how bothered I was with the outdated stuff (reliance on reading people's faces, reliance on "national characters", etc). Now I've gone looking at reviews, I can see other people who didn't think much of this one did like her later work, so I might still be along for the ride there if I can get it from the library.
Originally posted here.
So, someone who wants to kill a woman because he can't have her is sane. Someone who wants to kill a man to save her daughter's life is crazy. Very, very interesting, Tey. And at the end we're asked teasingly whether there's a villain in the story. I strongly suspect the villain we're meant to think of is the woman the murder victim was going to kill. If she'd been nicer, she'd have appreciated that nice young man, you see, and none of this trouble would have happened. (From Leonie's review on Goodreads)
The description and so on can be as clever as it likes, but I couldn't stand one more slighting reference to "the Dago", or commentary about the "un-English crime", or any of that. And the mystery itself... it's obvious from the length of the book that the inspector is after the wrong man. It's obvious from the way the man and the people around him act, too. The only excuse for going along with the thin, motiveless explanation Grant dredges up is if you've got a prejudice to begin with and you're going to stick to your theory no matter what -- no matter how Tey makes a song and dance about Grant being bothered by the case.
The reason Grant is wrong, well, at least you can't blame him there. There's virtually no clue, and nothing tied specifically to any suspect other than the red herring one. You can't guess it directly from the information given -- not a hope. I sound really scathing, but that's in part because I hoped I'd really enjoy this.
I read it pretty much in one go: the narration is pretty compulsive, and the narrative voice is an interesting choice too. But the pretty sentences didn't save it from how bothered I was with the outdated stuff (reliance on reading people's faces, reliance on "national characters", etc). Now I've gone looking at reviews, I can see other people who didn't think much of this one did like her later work, so I might still be along for the ride there if I can get it from the library.
Originally posted here.
January 11, 2012
A wonderful opening pulled me straight into the 1920s. And straight into London’s theatreland.
It was beautifully written and it was clear that Josephine Tey, already a successful playwright, knew and loved the world she was writing about. And that she understood the importance of the big picture, of the small things, and of the psychology of her characters.
And in the very first chapter there was the crime. Such an elegant, clever scenario:
” ‘Chap fainted,’ said someone. No one moved for a moment or two. Minding one’s own business in a crowd today is as much an instinct of self-preservation as a chameleon’s versatility. Perhaps someone would claim the chap. But no one did; and so a man with more social instinct or more self-importance than the rest moved forward to help the collapsed one. He was about to bend over the limp heap when he stopped as if stung and recoiled hastily. A woman shrieked three times horribly; and the pushing, heaving queue froze suddenly to immobility.
In the clear white light of the naked electric in the roof, a man’s body, left alone by the instinctive withdrawal of the others, lay revealed in every detail. And rising slant-wise from the grey tweed of his coat was a little silver thing that winked wickedly in the baleful light.
It was the handle of a dagger.”
An audacious murder, in the middle of a queue of people, all pressing forward, eager to see the final performance of popular musical.
The investigation fell to Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard. A detective without the gimmicks, or idiosyncracies of many of his contemporaries, but with a great deal of intelligence and charm, I soon suspected that his creator was a little in love with him … quite understandably …
There was little physical evidence, little witness evidence, but a careful, methodical investigation began, and in time the dead man was identified, his life examined, and suspects identified.
Often the story was quiet, but it was always engaging.
The characters were so well drawn, and they always offered me a question to ponder.
There were some great moments and some lovely diversions: a trip to the Highlands of Scotland in pursuit of a fleeing suspect stood out for me.
And the writing was wonderful. Josephine Tey wrote such lovely prose, balancing rich descriptions and perfectly observed dialogue, with intelligence and wit always threaded through.
Elements of the modern police procedural can be seen, but this is very much a book of its time. The language, the world it describes tie it to the 1920s, and references to the Great War emphasise its lasting impact on a generation.
I was caught up in that world, and with Inspector Grant and his investigation.
The resolution owed as much to luck – or maybe policeman’s instinct – as solid police work.
I didn’t mind that, but it did confirm my feeling that this was a good book rather that a great book.
And certainly more than good enough to make sure that I will read my way through the rest of the series …
It was beautifully written and it was clear that Josephine Tey, already a successful playwright, knew and loved the world she was writing about. And that she understood the importance of the big picture, of the small things, and of the psychology of her characters.
And in the very first chapter there was the crime. Such an elegant, clever scenario:
” ‘Chap fainted,’ said someone. No one moved for a moment or two. Minding one’s own business in a crowd today is as much an instinct of self-preservation as a chameleon’s versatility. Perhaps someone would claim the chap. But no one did; and so a man with more social instinct or more self-importance than the rest moved forward to help the collapsed one. He was about to bend over the limp heap when he stopped as if stung and recoiled hastily. A woman shrieked three times horribly; and the pushing, heaving queue froze suddenly to immobility.
In the clear white light of the naked electric in the roof, a man’s body, left alone by the instinctive withdrawal of the others, lay revealed in every detail. And rising slant-wise from the grey tweed of his coat was a little silver thing that winked wickedly in the baleful light.
It was the handle of a dagger.”
An audacious murder, in the middle of a queue of people, all pressing forward, eager to see the final performance of popular musical.
The investigation fell to Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard. A detective without the gimmicks, or idiosyncracies of many of his contemporaries, but with a great deal of intelligence and charm, I soon suspected that his creator was a little in love with him … quite understandably …
There was little physical evidence, little witness evidence, but a careful, methodical investigation began, and in time the dead man was identified, his life examined, and suspects identified.
Often the story was quiet, but it was always engaging.
The characters were so well drawn, and they always offered me a question to ponder.
There were some great moments and some lovely diversions: a trip to the Highlands of Scotland in pursuit of a fleeing suspect stood out for me.
And the writing was wonderful. Josephine Tey wrote such lovely prose, balancing rich descriptions and perfectly observed dialogue, with intelligence and wit always threaded through.
Elements of the modern police procedural can be seen, but this is very much a book of its time. The language, the world it describes tie it to the 1920s, and references to the Great War emphasise its lasting impact on a generation.
I was caught up in that world, and with Inspector Grant and his investigation.
The resolution owed as much to luck – or maybe policeman’s instinct – as solid police work.
I didn’t mind that, but it did confirm my feeling that this was a good book rather that a great book.
And certainly more than good enough to make sure that I will read my way through the rest of the series …
November 1, 2019
Dame Agatha Christie and Her Peers
BOOK 15
The back cover of the edition I read tells us that “Josephine Tey is one of two pen name used by one of the greatest mystery writers of all time, Elizabeth Mackintosh. Born in Inverness, Scotland, in 1896, Tey attended the Royal Academy and worked as a physical trainer before publishing her first novel in 1929.”
Given that this particular genre read is entitled “Dame Agatha and Her Peers”, I do want a better understanding of any interplay among these authors. Thus, in an introduction from Touchstone publishers (2007), Robert Barnard writes that little is known of Tey’s early life. Barnard adds: “Coming at the tail end of the Golden Age of crime fiction, Tey does not escape some of the less attractive attitudes of her contemporaries: anti-Semitism, contempt for the working class, a deep uneasiness about any enthusiasm (for example Scottish nationalism) that, to her, smacks of crankiness. If Agatha Christie’s ‘Anthony Astor’ in ‘Three Act Tragedy’ is indeed a hit at Tey then Christie targets Tey’s weakness squarely when she talks about her ‘spiritual home-a boarding house in Bournemouth’ with the implication of dreary respectability and conventionality.” It’s true, Christie was of that proverbial 1%. (Or, at least, was at the end of her writing career.)
I’ve read over 40 of Agatha Christie’s mysteries and am reading more of Christie in this particular genre ‘readathon’. I’ll be on the lookout for Christie taking aim at other authors, as I’ve never noticed it in the past. I have ran across other authors paying ode to Christie, as well they should. Let’s not forget America’s Mary Roberts Rhinehart (more goth-rom than cozy-murder though) had a number of bestsellers before Christie’s first publication in 1920.) Does it really matter, though, as long as it’s good?
CAST – 4 stars: The golden age of murder mysteries in Europe seemed to place people/cast first and foremost, and Tey exemplifies that here. Ray Marcable (oh, those odd,fictional last names are all over the place during this golden age) is the female lead in a long-running London play entitled “Didn’t You Know.” On stage, Marcable dances ‘like a blown leaf’. Tey presents us quickly with what might be several red herrings: Marcable is left-handed and supposedly was in her dressing room from 6pm till cue with Lord Lacing during which time a murder is committed. Golly Golland is the male lead, sometimes offering new gags ‘in his triumph of foolery.” But it’s the queue where the action takes place: a long queue for standing room only tickets. At the front of the line we have a large lady who takes her time finding the right amount of money, even though she’s been standing there, apparently, for hours. (Some things never change, and men are as guilty of this today as women: “Oh, I have to pay you for my groceries? Is that a new policy?”) BUT, is this lady taking up time on purpose? Maybe to help the murderer seek some distance from the scene of the crime? And right behind her is Mr. Sorrell, a slight man, 29 years old, who has been stabbed in the back but the line is so tight he only drops to the ground when the line moves forward. Behind him is a married couple, one of whom may be having an affair with “X”. The queue has been entertained by newsboys, a contortionist, a fiddler, a singer with an orchestra of 3, a conjurer, an evangelist and an escape artist, all passing a hat for entertainment tips. (Be most wary of the evangelist, natch, especially if she/he drove up in a big black limousine.) With all of these people in close proximity, entertaining and hoping for tips, there is much room for a quick stab without anyone noticing, and thus we have many suspects right up front. And, if you’ve read a lot of murder mysteries, you just may be able to name the killer in the first chapter, conveniently titled “Murder.” But you won’t be sure. I drew a line of people, named them, then drew in the line of ‘entertainers’ and studied it carefully. And Tey is indeed frightfully clever to name her play-within-the-book “Didn’t You Know?” Because, really, by the end of it all, if you’d studied that opening chapter carefully, “Didn’t you know all along?” Scotland Yard provides Superintendent Barker, known to his peers as a ‘plodder’ and Inspector Grant is ‘slight and dapper.’ A Mr. G. Lamont, friend of the murdered man, has a large role, as does a Mrs. Everett, who runs a boarding house were Lamont and Sorrell had lived for years. I don’t know if Barker and Grant show up in future novels, but I hope so as I’d like to know more about them. Grant, at first, feels Marcable is a fabulous actress, but upon close inspection he notices she ensures the bright lights are on her for the entire show, and he takes a slight dislike for her, especially since she is ending her run shortly and is off to America. Why the quick need to run across the pond, readers may ask themselves along with Grant. And why is 'X' also on that ship? And whose luggage went where?
ATMOSPHERE – 4: The opening queue allows for such statements as “…and I went and stood behind ‘im in the queue…After a while I saw a bulge in ‘is right –‘hand coat pocket and I felt it and it was hard. I was sure then…” That’s just one of Tey’s comic touches: how could she not know how that sounds? Tey doesn’t take us on stage, or back stage, but Grant and Barker take us on great trips through London and all the way to Scotland. “Grant, remembering how grateful one is when someone deliberately attempts to take the black dog from one’s back, wondered why it hadn’t been the other way about, and Sorrell had murdered Lamont,” Tey writes. And why not, you’ll ask yourself. Discussing a photograph with clues: “Arranged buttresswise on either side of her [Miss Ray Marcable] were people well enough known to come under the heading ‘left to right.’” I don’t think I’ve come across the word ‘buttresswise’ anywhere but I’m going to try to use it today, maybe at the service station where I’ll say, “Could you clean my windows buttresswise”…oh if only there were still people who actually did that as they pumped your gas. I laughed out loud at these lines said by a character in Scotland: “We’ve been having a fight as to whether a mixture of race in a person is a good thing or not. I don’t mean black and white, but just different stocks of white. Mother says that a singlestock person is the best, of course, but that is because she is solid Highland, back to the flood and before. Logans and Maclennans, you know, and there never was a Maclennan who hadn’t a boat of his own. But my father was a Borderer and my grandmother English, and Mr. Lowe’s grandmother was an Italian, so we are very firmly on the other side.” Other side of what? Personally, I see comic touches here. In the introduction, Tey is alluded to as possibly being anti-Semantic, and she does use the term “Levantine” to discuss the appearance of a character, but she doesn’t use it viciously, it’s just that the character has darker skin than your average rain-soaked, untanned Englishperson. And, of course, we must have moors. To Grant as he chases the would-be murderer: “Never had the moor appeared so treacherous. Dry tussocks of grass melted under his feet into bog, dead brambles clung with a living tenacity to his wet tweed [suit], hidden branches of birch rose and hit him…holes waited for his feet among the heather. It was more like a music-hall turn, he thought ferociously, than a serious attempt to overtake a criminal.” Tussocks? Another new word for me. And later in this same chase scene, Grant thinks, “Shore! Good heavens, he’d got it! The man had gone for a boat!” Yes, of course, the Scots have boats, and have had boats since the flood and before! Naturally, we have tea: “He [Grant] went to tea at the manse, and with Dinmont’s imperturbable face opposite him and an odd pepper-pot along-side the salt on the table, his thoughts were almost wholly of Lamont [suspected killer].” Is it the pepper-pot beside the salt, or is it just the pepper-pot itself leading Grant to think about the killer? Tey uses pages after pages to ruminate, or to talk about a sea-side visit, and she does it just beautifully. I liked very much all the talk of taste and texture and the feel of sea breezes and sea smells. This is not a one-sit read, but rather a luxurious one, steeped in atmosphere. Some may argue Tey is going for word-count more so than murder-solving. I sorta agree. Although the atmosphere is nicely done, it's rather overdone so I can't give this element 5 stars.
PLOT/CRIME – 3: A man, Mr. Sorrell, is stabbed with an ornate dagger while standing in line to buy standing-room-only tickets to a popular show. Simple and in cozy-Christie style: we don’t see the murder, we see a tad of blood, and we only know the man is dead when he falls to the ground. That’s the crime. There isn’t a second murder to keep the story going: Tey doesn’t need it.
INVESTIGATION – 3: The first step in the investigation is to find the identity of the dead man, as he has no ID at all. He does have a revolver, though, and a dagger in his back. There is much more atmosphere than investigation. This 254-page edition could very well have been fine at 150 pages or so, true, without the extensive atmosphere and character-driven ruminations about, say, a flood and boats.
SOLUTION – 1: Tey’s Chapter 17 is titled “Solution” in which we learn several withheld bits of information. That is THE cardinal sin in murder mysteries: Tey holds back too much information until Chapter 17. Then there is a Chapter 18 entitled “Conclusion” and just when you think Tey is up to a sensational twist (I thought of several), you turn a page and it’s all over. Even though you might have guessed ‘who did it’ in the first chapter, you’ll not know how or why or much of anything until you’ve read 240 more pages. Gotta give this element one star: it’s one of the absolute rules of murder mysteries: NEVER hold all the cards till the final pages.
SUMMARY: 3.0, overall. The cast is very good (yes, some members are rather racist/xenophobic,sexist in their attitudes and I'll go for a stretch and say Tey created them that way), the atmosphere fascinating. But atmosphere takes up about half the book, and if you aren’t willing to read pages and pages of sea breezes and teas and pages of random wool-gathering by the cast, this isn’t for you. Yea, I liked that I got it right early, and that doesn’t often happen. If you need a home vaca (say you’re in Florida and watching for storm Dorian like me), read this leisurely over the weekend. (I’ll be stocking a cooler with ice, checking hurricane shutters, and reading a Dick Francis or a P.D.James or a Ruth Rendell or all three because sometimes the wind is so loud sleep is out of the question). “The Man in the Queue” is Christie-Cozy at heart, although played unfairly. And if THAT is Christie’s true criticism of Tey, I’m with Christie. I look forward to reading more Tey, especially her most famous work, “The Daughter of Time”, considered one of the very best murder mysteries ever! Maybe I’ll have time for a 4th book this windy/rainy/stormy/wet weekend!
BOOK 15
The back cover of the edition I read tells us that “Josephine Tey is one of two pen name used by one of the greatest mystery writers of all time, Elizabeth Mackintosh. Born in Inverness, Scotland, in 1896, Tey attended the Royal Academy and worked as a physical trainer before publishing her first novel in 1929.”
Given that this particular genre read is entitled “Dame Agatha and Her Peers”, I do want a better understanding of any interplay among these authors. Thus, in an introduction from Touchstone publishers (2007), Robert Barnard writes that little is known of Tey’s early life. Barnard adds: “Coming at the tail end of the Golden Age of crime fiction, Tey does not escape some of the less attractive attitudes of her contemporaries: anti-Semitism, contempt for the working class, a deep uneasiness about any enthusiasm (for example Scottish nationalism) that, to her, smacks of crankiness. If Agatha Christie’s ‘Anthony Astor’ in ‘Three Act Tragedy’ is indeed a hit at Tey then Christie targets Tey’s weakness squarely when she talks about her ‘spiritual home-a boarding house in Bournemouth’ with the implication of dreary respectability and conventionality.” It’s true, Christie was of that proverbial 1%. (Or, at least, was at the end of her writing career.)
I’ve read over 40 of Agatha Christie’s mysteries and am reading more of Christie in this particular genre ‘readathon’. I’ll be on the lookout for Christie taking aim at other authors, as I’ve never noticed it in the past. I have ran across other authors paying ode to Christie, as well they should. Let’s not forget America’s Mary Roberts Rhinehart (more goth-rom than cozy-murder though) had a number of bestsellers before Christie’s first publication in 1920.) Does it really matter, though, as long as it’s good?
CAST – 4 stars: The golden age of murder mysteries in Europe seemed to place people/cast first and foremost, and Tey exemplifies that here. Ray Marcable (oh, those odd,fictional last names are all over the place during this golden age) is the female lead in a long-running London play entitled “Didn’t You Know.” On stage, Marcable dances ‘like a blown leaf’. Tey presents us quickly with what might be several red herrings: Marcable is left-handed and supposedly was in her dressing room from 6pm till cue with Lord Lacing during which time a murder is committed. Golly Golland is the male lead, sometimes offering new gags ‘in his triumph of foolery.” But it’s the queue where the action takes place: a long queue for standing room only tickets. At the front of the line we have a large lady who takes her time finding the right amount of money, even though she’s been standing there, apparently, for hours. (Some things never change, and men are as guilty of this today as women: “Oh, I have to pay you for my groceries? Is that a new policy?”) BUT, is this lady taking up time on purpose? Maybe to help the murderer seek some distance from the scene of the crime? And right behind her is Mr. Sorrell, a slight man, 29 years old, who has been stabbed in the back but the line is so tight he only drops to the ground when the line moves forward. Behind him is a married couple, one of whom may be having an affair with “X”. The queue has been entertained by newsboys, a contortionist, a fiddler, a singer with an orchestra of 3, a conjurer, an evangelist and an escape artist, all passing a hat for entertainment tips. (Be most wary of the evangelist, natch, especially if she/he drove up in a big black limousine.) With all of these people in close proximity, entertaining and hoping for tips, there is much room for a quick stab without anyone noticing, and thus we have many suspects right up front. And, if you’ve read a lot of murder mysteries, you just may be able to name the killer in the first chapter, conveniently titled “Murder.” But you won’t be sure. I drew a line of people, named them, then drew in the line of ‘entertainers’ and studied it carefully. And Tey is indeed frightfully clever to name her play-within-the-book “Didn’t You Know?” Because, really, by the end of it all, if you’d studied that opening chapter carefully, “Didn’t you know all along?” Scotland Yard provides Superintendent Barker, known to his peers as a ‘plodder’ and Inspector Grant is ‘slight and dapper.’ A Mr. G. Lamont, friend of the murdered man, has a large role, as does a Mrs. Everett, who runs a boarding house were Lamont and Sorrell had lived for years. I don’t know if Barker and Grant show up in future novels, but I hope so as I’d like to know more about them. Grant, at first, feels Marcable is a fabulous actress, but upon close inspection he notices she ensures the bright lights are on her for the entire show, and he takes a slight dislike for her, especially since she is ending her run shortly and is off to America. Why the quick need to run across the pond, readers may ask themselves along with Grant. And why is 'X' also on that ship? And whose luggage went where?
ATMOSPHERE – 4: The opening queue allows for such statements as “…and I went and stood behind ‘im in the queue…After a while I saw a bulge in ‘is right –‘hand coat pocket and I felt it and it was hard. I was sure then…” That’s just one of Tey’s comic touches: how could she not know how that sounds? Tey doesn’t take us on stage, or back stage, but Grant and Barker take us on great trips through London and all the way to Scotland. “Grant, remembering how grateful one is when someone deliberately attempts to take the black dog from one’s back, wondered why it hadn’t been the other way about, and Sorrell had murdered Lamont,” Tey writes. And why not, you’ll ask yourself. Discussing a photograph with clues: “Arranged buttresswise on either side of her [Miss Ray Marcable] were people well enough known to come under the heading ‘left to right.’” I don’t think I’ve come across the word ‘buttresswise’ anywhere but I’m going to try to use it today, maybe at the service station where I’ll say, “Could you clean my windows buttresswise”…oh if only there were still people who actually did that as they pumped your gas. I laughed out loud at these lines said by a character in Scotland: “We’ve been having a fight as to whether a mixture of race in a person is a good thing or not. I don’t mean black and white, but just different stocks of white. Mother says that a singlestock person is the best, of course, but that is because she is solid Highland, back to the flood and before. Logans and Maclennans, you know, and there never was a Maclennan who hadn’t a boat of his own. But my father was a Borderer and my grandmother English, and Mr. Lowe’s grandmother was an Italian, so we are very firmly on the other side.” Other side of what? Personally, I see comic touches here. In the introduction, Tey is alluded to as possibly being anti-Semantic, and she does use the term “Levantine” to discuss the appearance of a character, but she doesn’t use it viciously, it’s just that the character has darker skin than your average rain-soaked, untanned Englishperson. And, of course, we must have moors. To Grant as he chases the would-be murderer: “Never had the moor appeared so treacherous. Dry tussocks of grass melted under his feet into bog, dead brambles clung with a living tenacity to his wet tweed [suit], hidden branches of birch rose and hit him…holes waited for his feet among the heather. It was more like a music-hall turn, he thought ferociously, than a serious attempt to overtake a criminal.” Tussocks? Another new word for me. And later in this same chase scene, Grant thinks, “Shore! Good heavens, he’d got it! The man had gone for a boat!” Yes, of course, the Scots have boats, and have had boats since the flood and before! Naturally, we have tea: “He [Grant] went to tea at the manse, and with Dinmont’s imperturbable face opposite him and an odd pepper-pot along-side the salt on the table, his thoughts were almost wholly of Lamont [suspected killer].” Is it the pepper-pot beside the salt, or is it just the pepper-pot itself leading Grant to think about the killer? Tey uses pages after pages to ruminate, or to talk about a sea-side visit, and she does it just beautifully. I liked very much all the talk of taste and texture and the feel of sea breezes and sea smells. This is not a one-sit read, but rather a luxurious one, steeped in atmosphere. Some may argue Tey is going for word-count more so than murder-solving. I sorta agree. Although the atmosphere is nicely done, it's rather overdone so I can't give this element 5 stars.
PLOT/CRIME – 3: A man, Mr. Sorrell, is stabbed with an ornate dagger while standing in line to buy standing-room-only tickets to a popular show. Simple and in cozy-Christie style: we don’t see the murder, we see a tad of blood, and we only know the man is dead when he falls to the ground. That’s the crime. There isn’t a second murder to keep the story going: Tey doesn’t need it.
INVESTIGATION – 3: The first step in the investigation is to find the identity of the dead man, as he has no ID at all. He does have a revolver, though, and a dagger in his back. There is much more atmosphere than investigation. This 254-page edition could very well have been fine at 150 pages or so, true, without the extensive atmosphere and character-driven ruminations about, say, a flood and boats.
SOLUTION – 1: Tey’s Chapter 17 is titled “Solution” in which we learn several withheld bits of information. That is THE cardinal sin in murder mysteries: Tey holds back too much information until Chapter 17. Then there is a Chapter 18 entitled “Conclusion” and just when you think Tey is up to a sensational twist (I thought of several), you turn a page and it’s all over. Even though you might have guessed ‘who did it’ in the first chapter, you’ll not know how or why or much of anything until you’ve read 240 more pages. Gotta give this element one star: it’s one of the absolute rules of murder mysteries: NEVER hold all the cards till the final pages.
SUMMARY: 3.0, overall. The cast is very good (yes, some members are rather racist/xenophobic,sexist in their attitudes and I'll go for a stretch and say Tey created them that way), the atmosphere fascinating. But atmosphere takes up about half the book, and if you aren’t willing to read pages and pages of sea breezes and teas and pages of random wool-gathering by the cast, this isn’t for you. Yea, I liked that I got it right early, and that doesn’t often happen. If you need a home vaca (say you’re in Florida and watching for storm Dorian like me), read this leisurely over the weekend. (I’ll be stocking a cooler with ice, checking hurricane shutters, and reading a Dick Francis or a P.D.James or a Ruth Rendell or all three because sometimes the wind is so loud sleep is out of the question). “The Man in the Queue” is Christie-Cozy at heart, although played unfairly. And if THAT is Christie’s true criticism of Tey, I’m with Christie. I look forward to reading more Tey, especially her most famous work, “The Daughter of Time”, considered one of the very best murder mysteries ever! Maybe I’ll have time for a 4th book this windy/rainy/stormy/wet weekend!
April 26, 2014
Free download at Project Gutenberg Australia
I just realized this is the first book of the Inspector Alan Grant series.
As the previous book I've read this week, A Schilling for Candles, the plot is captivating and the investigation work follows the masters of the mystery genre. There is one more book of this series to be read, To Love and Be Wise.
5* The Daughter of Time
4* The Franchise Affair
3* The Singing Sands
4* Brat Farrar
4* A Shilling for Candles
4* The Man in the Queue
TBR To Love and Be Wise
TBR Miss Pym Disposes
I just realized this is the first book of the Inspector Alan Grant series.
As the previous book I've read this week, A Schilling for Candles, the plot is captivating and the investigation work follows the masters of the mystery genre. There is one more book of this series to be read, To Love and Be Wise.
5* The Daughter of Time
4* The Franchise Affair
3* The Singing Sands
4* Brat Farrar
4* A Shilling for Candles
4* The Man in the Queue
TBR To Love and Be Wise
TBR Miss Pym Disposes
March 12, 2023
I listened to the audiobook and read the ebook off and on over a couple weeks- I found Tey’s writing enjoyable, but I didn’t feel pulled back to the book, never a good sign.
I wanted to catch up with the Reading the Detectives group on the Inspector Grant series, and I like reading series in order, so I will continue on. I enjoyed seeing Grant put the massive machinery of Scotland Yard in motion after a man is found stabbed in a line of theater-goers, but the ending was a bit coincidental for me, and not quite fair play. Interesting, though, and I look forward to seeing Grant develop as a character, and enjoying more of Tey’s beautiful descriptive writing!
I wanted to catch up with the Reading the Detectives group on the Inspector Grant series, and I like reading series in order, so I will continue on. I enjoyed seeing Grant put the massive machinery of Scotland Yard in motion after a man is found stabbed in a line of theater-goers, but the ending was a bit coincidental for me, and not quite fair play. Interesting, though, and I look forward to seeing Grant develop as a character, and enjoying more of Tey’s beautiful descriptive writing!
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