An Expert in Murder (Josephine Tey)

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In fact, I thought the whole scene-setting, which is the undoing of many (mystery) writers for me, worked really well in this one: the best version of each episode that I could, there may be better copies of some recordings available from collectors and dealers, and I encourage you to reach out to them if you are so inclined. If they are not in the public domain, notify me and they will be deleted Josephine comes across as careful, logical, and compassionate in her dealing with others, while her friend Inspector Archie Penrose must solve the confusing case. 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.

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed a couple of later instalments in this excellent series, it was with a sense of great anticipation that I commenced reading the first book, An Expert in Murder. And I can happily report that it lived up to my high expectations!

An Expert In Murder

Penrose has discovered a link between Elspeth and Bernard, but what he has yet to find out is the identity of the murderer. Vital information comes from a very unexpected source. Situating a real Golden Age mystery writer in a story where they solve murders seems to be a thing now; in this first book in Nicola Upson’s series, author and playwright Josephine Tey becomes central to a murder case involving her, a young woman, and the members of a theatre. This may seem a bit intense for a whodunit, and almost certainly falls foul of the ban on intuition, but it imbues Tey’s novels with more honesty than you’ll find in most of her contemporaries: which of us does not sometimes judge by appearances? An Expert in Murder is a historical crime novel by Nicola Upson, published on March 6, 2008. [1] Plot [ edit ] 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.

The book was dramatised in ten parts by Robin Brooks for BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour Drama, [5] starring Meg Fraser. It was broadcast between April 21, 2008 and May 2, 2008, barely a month after the novel's publication.

But over all, not an unpleasant book to read over Christmas. I saw the second in the series on sale next door to Lexx's work today where a discount book shop has opened up. Maybe when I run out of a few other reads...