An Expert in Murder (Josephine Tey, #1) in Reading the Detectives

Apr 09, 2018 Susan rated it liked it · review of another edition

It is popular now to use real life characters in fictional situations. This novel takes mystery author, Josephine Tey, and puts her centre stage in a real life crime novel. Tey was a playwright, as well a mystery writer, and this book begins with Tey travelling to London for the final week of her successful play, “Richard of Bordeaux,” which is on at the New Theatre, St Martin’s Lane. The real play made John Gielgud a star and he features here as the fictional John Terry, alongside many other me It is popular now to use real life characters in fictional situations. This novel takes mystery author, Josephine Tey, and puts her centre stage in a real life crime novel. Tey was a playwright, as well a mystery writer, and this book begins with Tey travelling to London for the final week of her successful play, “Richard of Bordeaux,” which is on at the New Theatre, St Martin’s Lane. The real play made John Gielgud a star and he features here as the fictional John Terry, alongside many other members of the cast and crew.

On the train journey down, Tey meets a young woman, called Elspeth Simmons. A huge fan of the theatre, and Josephine’s play, she is terribly excited to meet Tey and, although somewhat embarrassed, Tey finds she is warmed by Elspeth’s happiness and enthusiasm. When they get to London, Tey introduces her to Lydia Beaumont, the leading lady. Then Elspeth remembers that she has forgotten a bag and rushes back to the train. When Elspeth is found murdered in the train carriage, Inspector Archie Penrose has to investigate the death and the strange links to Josephine’s play.

One of my issues with this book are the links between all the characters. Archie Penrose knew Josephine Tey’s lover in WWI, he is the cousin of the two sisters that Tey is staying with, and the sisters are involved with the theatre. There is also simply too much in this novel that feels modern – from the open acceptance of relationships that might raise eyebrows in the 1930’s (Upson relying on the open mindedness of the theatre) to the very modern language, including copious swearing, which, along with the modern attitudes, just do not quite work as typical to the period.

This is an involved plot, which, as so many Golden Age mysteries really do, has its roots in the First World War. The shadow of this conflict lays over the whole novel and adds a darkness to the storyline. I listened to this on audio and Sandra Duncan read this very well. It was an enjoyable book, despite my issues with it. If you enjoy this novel, you might also like, “A Talent for Murder,” by Andrew Wilson, which features Agatha Christie in a fictional setting.

Rated 3.5
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Sep 04, 2017 BrokenTune rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

He suddenly had an image of his down-to-earth sergeant rushing home from the Yard every night to devour the latest thriller by his fireside. Better still, perhaps he was actually writing one of his own. The thought of Miss Dorothy L. Sayers turning out to be a portly, moustached officer of the law in his early fifties was priceless, and he made a mental note to mention it to Josephine when he saw her tomorrow night.

It appears I may have found that most rare of things: a literary tribute (a.k.a. He suddenly had an image of his down-to-earth sergeant rushing home from the Yard every night to devour the latest thriller by his fireside. Better still, perhaps he was actually writing one of his own. The thought of Miss Dorothy L. Sayers turning out to be a portly, moustached officer of the law in his early fifties was priceless, and he made a mental note to mention it to Josephine when he saw her tomorrow night.

It appears I may have found that most rare of things: a literary tribute (a.k.a. fan-fiction) that worked for me!

Josephine Tey was a bit of a mystery. She was a private person, little is known about her, and that which is known seems to indicate that she deliberately kept her affairs separate from each other - i.e. she led a multitude of lives - one as playwright, one as a mystery writer, one in Inverness, another in London, perhaps quite another somewhere else.

Nicola Upson took what research she could get and jumped on the idea of making this mystery woman the star of a semi-biographical murder mystery. (The murder is no biographical...I think.) For me this worked really well. It had biographical fact mixed with imagined scenes, but because we know so little about Tey, these elements change over seamlessly in Upson recreation of the 1930s London West End theatre-land, which happens to be one of my favourite places, too.
In fact, I thought the whole scene-setting, which is the undoing of many (mystery) writers for me, worked really well in this one:

We're passing by Tey's compartment on the train south from Berwick, because we learn in Tey's own The Man in the Queue that there is no direct train from Inverness, yet, and that Tey would have had to change at Edinburgh Waverley.
We get to see her being picked up by friends at King's Cross.
We get to be in the crowd queueing for theatre tickets.
We got go to the dress circle bar, mingle with the crowd outside the stage door after performances hoping to get an autograph. We get to go home with various actors and see behind the curtains.

I thought Upson's writing had an easy and fun flow to it that made this quite an easy, cozy read. Yet, she tackles quite serious issues, amongst which I was delighted to read how characters dealt with the aftermath of the First World War. Granted these parts reminded me more of Dorothy L. Sayer's writing than Tey's, but hey, I have not read all of Tey's work yet and given that Upson was trying to re-create a distinct time period in the pages of this, her first, Tey mystery, I was drawn in from start to finish.

As soon as he saw the great Union Jack which had replaced the usual hanging at the front of the pulpit, Penrose realised that God’s representative – a sanctimonious bigot at the best of times, even if he was family – had changed his agenda. After preaching a terrifying sermon on the glories of battle, sanctifying maiming, slaughter and bloodshed with the blessing of a higher authority, the rector had urged all the young men to join the army, to sate the country’s appetite for soldiers who would defend the justice of the war. What he had failed to mention was that it was a cause for which thousands of them would be asked to give their lives, but his harvest sermon had done the trick: by the end of the year, every eligible man in the village had signed up to Kitchener’s new army, an exodus which was replicated all over the country, swelling the ranks by nearly a million in the space of just four months. Some expected garrison service at home while the real soldiers went off to do the real soldiering; most believed the papers when they said it would be a short war, over by Christmas at the outside. All had been wrong, and he was still sickened to the stomach when he thought of that call from the altar for young men to offer themselves for the glory of God and eight shillings and nine pence a week. ...more

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Dec 31, 2015 ShanDizzy rated it liked it

I simply could not finish this book. I stopped on page 69 because it truly lost interest. I thought it would get better but no it did not. It was too wordy, the characters were not relatable...Pity, it started off ok but it went downhill from there in my opinion.

UPDATE 2 HOURS LATER: I'm willing to give it another try by reading a few more chapters to see if it improves because I really like Josephine Tey....

FINAL REVEW: I'm glad that I finished the story because it was riveting and emotive.... ...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Lark of The Bookwyrm's Hoard rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, historical-mystery

Upson is an excellent writer, very skilled at evoking the period as well as the emotions of the main character (not an easy thing when your main character was a real, historical person - and a fellow mystery writer.) I would have easily rated this four stars, but some of the relationships and in particular the murderer's motive made me extremely uncomfortable. This is a personal foible; many readers will not have the same difficulty, particularly fans of P. D. James or Ruth Rendell.
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Aug 04, 2022 Bev rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-mystery, mystery, bought-2013, british-mystery, now-mine

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Aug 09, 2021 Christine PNW rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3 1/2 stars rounding up to 4.

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Apr 22, 2021 dmayr rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-liked, crime-detective-series, murder-in-theater-and-film

A lovely start to a new series for me. The writing reminds me a lot of Caroline Graham and P.D. James although I find both's exploration of human psyche much darker. This seem more sedate and introspective, but the characters are full-bodied and the motivations tangled, which I love in mysteries. ...more

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Apr 22, 2018 Frances rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-series

While a bit slow to begin, this mystery set in the London theatre world between the wars was gripping and enjoyable. I look forward to reading further in the series.

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Apr 15, 2018 Jill rated it liked it

Shelves: 2018-reading-challenge, nicola-upson

I found the first half dragged, but after that it did pick up , making it a quite good story. I did feel though that some of the language was way too modern for the time it was set. Also the relationships between the characters did seem to be too intertwined to be plausible. The openess of the lesbian relationship did seem a bit much for the time also.

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