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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Tell you what. Been definitely getting my murder mystery fix lately. I bought this on a whim. I needed an "X" book quickly. I couldn't find one anywhere, and then ended up in the bookshop at my work. I saw this. It was expensive (I hardly ever pay full Aussie retail for books. Why spend $30 on a new paperback when I can buy it online for $10 or less?) but I was borderline desperate. And I figured if I didn't like it, Mum probably would so it could be a present for her.
So I read it. It is set in the 1930s in London. A murder mystery writer and playwrite Josephine Tey is on her way down to London from Inverness on the train to see her play's last week in production on the West End. Some one gets murdered on the train. It all links back to her play. And then more murders happen. Everyone hates each other or is tied up in some way to another. It all seems too hard, but luckily Josephine and her detective friend who she bases her character off in her books, are there to save the day and catch the baddie.
I sound cynical. But it was cute. It's just such a well used plot now you can't really describe it without sounding cynical. It's a cozy. And we all know how cozies end. And they all sound a little lame when you describe them.
There was a lot of WWI flashbacks which was a little annoying. Not the ones central to the plot, just the whole "Everyone was so happy before the war" ones. Yes, I know. I'm a bad person.
I also had a real problem with the characters' sexuality. Well, obviously not a "problem" problem, as you would know from my other reviews. But everyone was so openly gay or bi. And I understand that it was more tolerated with women especially after the war, but you couldn't go around introducing them as your lover or snogging people on the street. You could and did get arrested for that. You could get locked up in prison or asylums for that as not only was homosexuality a crime, it was a documented mental illness until the 80s. That just didn't feel real to me.
And lastly, I felt we didn't have any of Phryne Fisher's sassy and sexiness of being a bit younger, or Miss Marple's playing everyone to think she's a dear little old lady-ness. Josephine was just a bit middling.
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...
For more reviews visit http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/
So I read it. It is set in the 1930s in London. A murder mystery writer and playwrite Josephine Tey is on her way down to London from Inverness on the train to see her play's last week in production on the West End. Some one gets murdered on the train. It all links back to her play. And then more murders happen. Everyone hates each other or is tied up in some way to another. It all seems too hard, but luckily Josephine and her detective friend who she bases her character off in her books, are there to save the day and catch the baddie.
I sound cynical. But it was cute. It's just such a well used plot now you can't really describe it without sounding cynical. It's a cozy. And we all know how cozies end. And they all sound a little lame when you describe them.
There was a lot of WWI flashbacks which was a little annoying. Not the ones central to the plot, just the whole "Everyone was so happy before the war" ones. Yes, I know. I'm a bad person.
I also had a real problem with the characters' sexuality. Well, obviously not a "problem" problem, as you would know from my other reviews. But everyone was so openly gay or bi. And I understand that it was more tolerated with women especially after the war, but you couldn't go around introducing them as your lover or snogging people on the street. You could and did get arrested for that. You could get locked up in prison or asylums for that as not only was homosexuality a crime, it was a documented mental illness until the 80s. That just didn't feel real to me.
And lastly, I felt we didn't have any of Phryne Fisher's sassy and sexiness of being a bit younger, or Miss Marple's playing everyone to think she's a dear little old lady-ness. Josephine was just a bit middling.
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...
For more reviews visit http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I accidentally picked up a book about Josephine Tey instead of a book by her. An interesting concept to base your main character on a real person (or at least the pseudonym).
This is billed as the first in a series of mysteries starring writer Josephine Tey as the detective, and that puzzles me a little. She was a primary character, but not the primary character, and didn't really serve as the detective ...
Full review on my blog...
The choice to take a real person and cast her as the putative main detective was an odd one to me. It always makes me a little queasy when a writer uses real people as characters, unless it's done very very well. An Expert in Murder troubled me a bit; it was such a peculiar concept. First of all, there was no Josephine Tey, per se. The writer's name was Elizabeth Mackintosh; Gordon Daviot was the pen name she used for several books and her plays, and Josephine Tey was the name she used for her books; from what I can see she never went by "Josephine Tey" in her usual life. Perhaps needless to say, the entire plot of the murder was fabricated for this book; there was a situation similair to "that business with Elliot Vintner", though from the little I've found online it didn't amount to remotely what happened in this book, and there was, of course, no murder whatsoever. The cast of the play was created for this book. I can't but think this would have worked at least as well had she simply cast the story into an entirely fictional setting: here is a stage production in London in the 30's, and the play was written by this woman who is an acclaimed writer, and this is what happens. I don't see any special reason why the writer in question had to be Josephine Tey, apart from as a selling point. The real detective is Detective Inspector Archie Penrose, and he was a very good character - I liked him, I liked his Sergeant, I liked his setting. I could wish the series were simply based around him - though that might wind up being more Roderick Alleyn than Alan Grant.
I liked it. There was a decent mystery there, and engaging characters, and a believable setting in a London theatre. But the story-telling style drove me slightly crazy at times. It had a heaping helping of the dreaded head-hopping. The latter is something which, unless I'm mistaken, is more acceptable in England than in the US; it never bothered me before I learned it was a Bad Thing, and rarely since, but it bothered me here. The narrative of the book is choppy, with a more sedate sort of head-hopping, with lots of points of view. What irritated me, though, was the stingy doling out of information. It's necessary in a mystery to withhold information, of course. And another Bad Thing new writers are warned against is the dreaded info-dump, in which clumps of information are scattered like undissolved lumps of flour in a cake. The "As you know, Jim" syndrome. Well, Nicola Upson took that directive very much to heart, because she refuses to divulge plot points until she absolutely has to. "That business last year with Elliot Vintner" is mentioned on page 8, and the reader does not find out what "that business" was for chapters. The same thing happens with a few other minor mysteries: what did Elspeth's boyfriend do that has him in so much trouble with his boss? What on earth is going on with the two main actors? I figured that one out fairly easily - but it was annoying to have so much information withheld, sometimes for no very good reason. The climax of the story was melodramatic, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing it's not a very good thing here. The elements of WWI underlying the whole thing were well done; the elements of the theatre were well done if not as alluring as, say, Ngaio Marsh did; the characters were enjoyable. The plot was perhaps the least involving part of the whole thing for me. I probably won't actively seek out the other books in the series; I'll pick them up if I come across them, but I'll be fine if I don't come across them.
Full review on my blog...
The choice to take a real person and cast her as the putative main detective was an odd one to me. It always makes me a little queasy when a writer uses real people as characters, unless it's done very very well. An Expert in Murder troubled me a bit; it was such a peculiar concept. First of all, there was no Josephine Tey, per se. The writer's name was Elizabeth Mackintosh; Gordon Daviot was the pen name she used for several books and her plays, and Josephine Tey was the name she used for her books; from what I can see she never went by "Josephine Tey" in her usual life. Perhaps needless to say, the entire plot of the murder was fabricated for this book; there was a situation similair to "that business with Elliot Vintner", though from the little I've found online it didn't amount to remotely what happened in this book, and there was, of course, no murder whatsoever. The cast of the play was created for this book. I can't but think this would have worked at least as well had she simply cast the story into an entirely fictional setting: here is a stage production in London in the 30's, and the play was written by this woman who is an acclaimed writer, and this is what happens. I don't see any special reason why the writer in question had to be Josephine Tey, apart from as a selling point. The real detective is Detective Inspector Archie Penrose, and he was a very good character - I liked him, I liked his Sergeant, I liked his setting. I could wish the series were simply based around him - though that might wind up being more Roderick Alleyn than Alan Grant.
I liked it. There was a decent mystery there, and engaging characters, and a believable setting in a London theatre. But the story-telling style drove me slightly crazy at times. It had a heaping helping of the dreaded head-hopping. The latter is something which, unless I'm mistaken, is more acceptable in England than in the US; it never bothered me before I learned it was a Bad Thing, and rarely since, but it bothered me here. The narrative of the book is choppy, with a more sedate sort of head-hopping, with lots of points of view. What irritated me, though, was the stingy doling out of information. It's necessary in a mystery to withhold information, of course. And another Bad Thing new writers are warned against is the dreaded info-dump, in which clumps of information are scattered like undissolved lumps of flour in a cake. The "As you know, Jim" syndrome. Well, Nicola Upson took that directive very much to heart, because she refuses to divulge plot points until she absolutely has to. "That business last year with Elliot Vintner" is mentioned on page 8, and the reader does not find out what "that business" was for chapters. The same thing happens with a few other minor mysteries: what did Elspeth's boyfriend do that has him in so much trouble with his boss? What on earth is going on with the two main actors? I figured that one out fairly easily - but it was annoying to have so much information withheld, sometimes for no very good reason. The climax of the story was melodramatic, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing it's not a very good thing here. The elements of WWI underlying the whole thing were well done; the elements of the theatre were well done if not as alluring as, say, Ngaio Marsh did; the characters were enjoyable. The plot was perhaps the least involving part of the whole thing for me. I probably won't actively seek out the other books in the series; I'll pick them up if I come across them, but I'll be fine if I don't come across them.
purchased from my beloved gay’s the word in london ✨
Evocative and intriguing - makes me want to read more Nicola Upson AND more Josephine Tey.
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Loved the characters and the setting, the descriptions were very well written.
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No