Four, Five and Six

Inspector Alan Grant #4,5,6

by Josephine Tey

The Singing Sands, A Shilling for Candles, The Daughter of Time

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Josephine Tey was a pseudonym of Elizabeth Mackintosh. Josephine was her mother's first name and Tey the surname of an English Grandmother. As Josephine Tey, she wrote six mystery novels featuring Scotland Yard's Inspector Alan Grant.

The first of these, The Man in the Queue (1929) was published under the pseudonym of Gordon Daviot , whose name also appears on the title page of another of her 1929 novels, Kif; An Unvarnished History. She also used the Daviot by-line for a biography of the 17th century cavalry leader John Graham, which was entitled Claverhouse (1937).

Mackintosh also wrote plays (both one act and full length), some of which were produced during her lifetime, under the pseudonym Gordon Daviot. The district of Daviot, near her home of Inverness in Scotland, was a location her family had vacationed. The name Gordon does not appear in either her family or her history.

Elizabeth Mackintosh came of age during World War I, attending Anstey Physical Training College in Birmingham, England during the years 1915 - 1918. Upon graduation, she became a physical training instructor for eight years. In 1926, her mother died and she returned home to Inverness to care for her invalid father. Busy with household duties, she turned to writing as a diversion, and was successful in creating a second career.

Alfred Hitchcock filmed one of her novels, A Shilling for Candles (1936) as Young and Innocent in 1937 and two other of her novels have been made into films, The Franchise Affair (1948), filmed in 1950, and 'Brat Farrar' (1949), filmed as Paranoiac in 1963. In addition, a number of her works have been dramatised for radio.

Her novel The Daughter of Time (1951) was voted the greatest mystery novel of all time by the Crime Writers' Association in 1990.

Miss Mackintosh never married, and died at the age of 55, in London. A shy woman, she is reported to have been somewhat of a mystery even to her intimate friends. While her death seems to have been a surprise, there is some indication she may have known she was fatally ill for some time prior to her passing.

Reviews

[Susan]

3 stories starring Inspector Grant
A shilling for Candles
The Singing Sands
The Daughter of Time (1483-1502: great defense of Richard III

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read The Daughter of Time only. Great writing of the discovery process of human behavior. Rating may change if I read the other 2 stories in this volume.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Daughter of Time is a worthwhile read, just be prepare to skim through the sequences of royalty and intrigue. This should be especially interested to history students and those who merely like delving into the past, with the understanding that the past doesn't lie but liars can cobble together a seriously skewed past. (I'm still not sure that Inspector Grant's offended tone re: the Covenanters wasn't overdone; after all of his well-founded suspicion regarding the 'official' sequence of events, it may have been possible that the 'official' English version of quelling small Scottish uprisings was a lot more bloody and oppressive than they'd like to let on.) The Singing Sands is one of the best train murder 'reveals' that I've ever read, and the ending is quite a surprise; I really thought that Inspector Grant would put down his Holmes detecting and take up a real personal life with an impoverished gentlewoman, but the lure of the chase was too strong. Worth reading if just for its insights on the complete egotist and how dangerous he is. A Shilling for Candles made a great interplay between the perceptive and practical teen daughter of a police captain, the Inspector, a genteel tramp on the run, and the troubled history of an actress' family. As always, Grants flashes of insight after much slogging through detail are so worthwhile, especially when balanced against the slow, stodgy, and very reliable Wiggins.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a single volume reprint of three Alan Grant mystery novels: The Singing Sands, A Shilling for Candles, and The Daughter of Time. I enjoyed all of these very much.

[Dennis Fischman · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the other two books were as well constructed as The Daughter of Time, I would give the collection an extra star. There's a reason that book is considered a classic. Now I am intrigued enough that I have to see what the historians say these days about Tey's thesis that Richard III did not murder the Princes in the Tower and his rival Henry did.

The other books are pleasant reads, but the plots are flimsy, with threads dangling.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

classic. each book was totally individual. did not feel genrish at all. Alan Grant is a wonderful character. The mysteries were each a completely unique story with well developed characters. The countryside was so well drawn that I was drawn in. Also an excellent window into the time period of the pure center of the 20th century.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Singing Sands- good. A Shilling for Candles- good. The Daughter of Time- great.

I'm really liking Alan Grant. Daughter of Time was my favorite in this collection. I'll have to look up Richard III and find out what he was really like!

[Karen]

The page numbers listed for this edition are way off. There are three books in this edition and the page numbers are separate for each book. The total comes to 613 pages.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the edition I have and love them all but The Daughter of Time is my all-time favorite book.