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A Shilling for Candles (Inspector Alan Grant, #2)

Josephine Tey

Start date: December 15, 2024

Finish date: January 8, 2025

Discussion: Group reads

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* November 2025 group read - Winner!
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What Members Thought

Mar 27, 2017 Susan rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is the second Inspector Alan Grant novel, following on from “The Man in the Queue.” The first novel was written in 1929, while this was published in 1937, which is quite a gap. I must admit that, although a lover of Golden Age detective fiction, I have always struggled a little with Tey; although I enjoyed this more than the first book.

The mystery begins with the discovery of a body on a beach, which turns out to be that of a successful, and beautiful, actress, named Christina Clay (althou This is the second Inspector Alan Grant novel, following on from “The Man in the Queue.” The first novel was written in 1929, while this was published in 1937, which is quite a gap. I must admit that, although a lover of Golden Age detective fiction, I have always struggled a little with Tey; although I enjoyed this more than the first book.

The mystery begins with the discovery of a body on a beach, which turns out to be that of a successful, and beautiful, actress, named Christina Clay (although, oddly, nobody seems to recognise her at first). Clay has been staying at a cottage, with a man named Robert Tisdall, whom she seems to have just picked up in London and brought along with her. Obviously, Tisdall seems the most obvious suspect, but Erica Burgoyne, daughter of the Chief Constable, believes he is innocent and sets out to clear his name.

As Grant sets out to try to find a case against Tisdall, there are a good range of other suspects – these include Christina’s aristocratic husband, a jovial songwriter (victim of some unpleasant anti-Semitic remarks by the author), an actress who would like to step into her shoes and a ne’er do well brother named Herbert Gotobed (understandably, Christina changed her original name of Chris Gotobed, which was probably a good career move!). Add to this the fact that a psychic, named Lydia Keats, had foreseen Clay’s death and Grant is plagued by a journalist named ‘Jammy’ Hopkins, and the scene is set for an interesting mystery.

This is less a ‘puzzle’ than most Golden Age mysteries and seems more concerned with motives than clues. Grant is a much more grounded detectives than others of that era, who worries about things going wrong and does not necessarily know everything automatically. However, I just fail to warm to him and find him something of a cold fish. There is humour in the novel though – having finally made an arrest, his sergeant exclaims that the law should be changed. Shocked, Grant asks whether the man is talking about the death penalty, and then finds that his colleague is bemoaning the licensing laws and the fact that the pubs are closed! Overall, I enjoyed this more than the previous novel, but I doubt Tey will ever become one of my favourite authors.

Rated 3.5

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31 likes · Like · see review

Mar 26, 2017 Lady Clementina ffinch-ffarowmore rated it really liked it

Shelves: murder, josephine-tey, mystery, british, series

The second book featuring Inspector Allan Grant was a group read with the Reading the Detectives group here. The body of a young woman is found washed up on the beach, and while briefly thought to be a swimming accident, soon enough, some things begin to puzzle the local police and the Yard is called in, Grant leading the investigation. The victim turns out to be Christine Clay, a well known actress who’d been living in a small village for a while to get away from things in London. She doesn’t s The second book featuring Inspector Allan Grant was a group read with the Reading the Detectives group here. The body of a young woman is found washed up on the beach, and while briefly thought to be a swimming accident, soon enough, some things begin to puzzle the local police and the Yard is called in, Grant leading the investigation. The victim turns out to be Christine Clay, a well known actress who’d been living in a small village for a while to get away from things in London. She doesn’t seem to have any obvious enemies but there is an actress who will step into her shoes once she’s out of the way, a possible lover, and a good-for-nothing brother, who few knew she had—he’s been involved in various suspicious activities, and there was no love lost between the two. Then there is also a penniless young man, Robert Tisdall, who had squandered away his own fortune, and who Chris took pity on and took in, but what motive could he possibly have? But most surprising of all, an astrologer of sorts had predicted nearly a year ago that Christine’s end was near. Grant tracks down and interviews various people connected with Chris—her husband, co-actors, so-called friends, and digs into her past looking for possible suspects and motives, in a sense making it more on the lines of a police procedural. As in the first book, he does start off on the wrong track, acting contrary to his own intuition. He loses his chief suspect who gives him the slip quite easily—Tey seems to suggest that criminals DON’T usually escape Grant which seems a bit odd since the main suspect in book 1 managed to do this too. Grant is no extraordinary Sherlock Holmes or Poirot type detective. He is an ordinary but efficient policeman, reasonably clever pursuing every lead and interpreting what he finds to solve his case. The denouement here was interesting and not as abrupt as in the first book. Another surprise reveal at the end was a bit abrupt though—there was some background for it but not enough for one to guess.

What made this book enjoyable for me was Erica Burgoyne, the sixteen- (in some places in the book seventeen) year old daughter of the Chief Constable who is spunky, clever, and resourceful and plays quite an active role in the investigation, at least part of it—it is Grant who finally solves the case, though. I only just found that this book was the basis for a Hitchcock film where the romance angle between Tisdall and Erica is played up—from the book though, I felt she admired Grant, not Tisdall.

Overall, this one proved to be a far more interesting and enjoyable read for me than the first Inspector Grant book.
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11 likes · Like · see review

Jan 13, 2020 Julie Durnell rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery, england-uk

Maybe it's just me, but I had a really difficult time with this Alan Grant book-I needed a character listing because I could not keep everyone straight. The murder plotting was devious and very convoluted, I was way off course! But all in all, Josephine Tey is a master storyteller. ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Sep 21, 2014 Kavita rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery, uk

A popular actress is found dead on a beach, and Inspector Grant has to wade through a list of suspects to find her murderer. A Shilling for Candles is a typical old style novel in the best tradition of British murder mysteries. This book definitely has the charm and was fun to read.

There were some excellent humorous moments in the book, and some shrewd insights into the class system of the times. You cannot help liking Grant because while he did go with the flow, he did recognise and understand ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 07, 2021 Shabbeer Hassan rated it it was ok

Shelves: brit-lit, audiobook, 2021, whodunit

This one by Josephine Tey isn't as well-written as others especially Miss Pym Disposes, but nevertheless is a decent sort of whodunit set on the Dorset coast and a budding romance to boot.

My Rating - 2/5 ...more

2 likes · Like · see review