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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A smart start to a new series - full of crime classic moves, locked doors, hidden identities, poisonings and collaboration between the amateur and the police chief! Upson steps back back to the 1930’s with some modern sensibility and diversity. Josephine Tey heads the team of amateur detectives and whilst I don’t k ow her own work well - I’m looking forward to spending time with her in Upsons series!
A mysterious death is related to a play in the 1930s, the playwright tries to find who killed the victim (I am trying to keep it a secret, it was a surprise for me).
I really liked the characters in this, even the small ones had a backstory. Josephine Tey was a real person though the name was a pseudonym, she also used the name Gordon Daviot for her plays; what I wondered a bit while reading this is: would people who really knew her use the name Josephine instead of her real one? This is not explained in this first of the series, it might come later, but I wonder if this choice is true to reality or if it's to keep the reader from confusing many names from the same person and also the Josephine Tey's series would be a more recognizable name.
I found I had a lot of sympathy for the characters (so well written) even when they were not that nice; nobody is totally a villain or a good guy in this story (a little like real life). I felt really sad about the victim, I liked that person straight away and did not know that would be the victim.
I listened to the audiobook read by Davina Porter, my first listen of her work, I realize she has a lot of experience in the narrating of books so probably not a surprise that she does an excellent job. I've already have bought the next one in the series also narrated by her.
I'm so glad to have read this, I am going to continue with the series just the characters would make me do that, but the mystery was rather good (and complex enough) and I'm looking forward to the other books.
I really liked the characters in this, even the small ones had a backstory. Josephine Tey was a real person though the name was a pseudonym, she also used the name Gordon Daviot for her plays; what I wondered a bit while reading this is: would people who really knew her use the name Josephine instead of her real one? This is not explained in this first of the series, it might come later, but I wonder if this choice is true to reality or if it's to keep the reader from confusing many names from the same person and also the Josephine Tey's series would be a more recognizable name.
I found I had a lot of sympathy for the characters (so well written) even when they were not that nice; nobody is totally a villain or a good guy in this story (a little like real life). I felt really sad about the victim, I liked that person straight away and did not know that would be the victim.
I listened to the audiobook read by Davina Porter, my first listen of her work, I realize she has a lot of experience in the narrating of books so probably not a surprise that she does an excellent job. I've already have bought the next one in the series also narrated by her.
I'm so glad to have read this, I am going to continue with the series just the characters would make me do that, but the mystery was rather good (and complex enough) and I'm looking forward to the other books.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Josephine Tey (who was apparently a real person -- I didn't know) is a successful novelist and playwright in 1930s Great Britain. While traveling to London for the final week of her play, she meets a young lady to happens to be a very big fan, and the two become friendly. Unfortunately, before they leave the train station in London, the young lady will be dead.
This was a historical mystery mired in the world of the theatre and the trauma of World War I. I really wanted to like it, but for a 292 page book it felt very long. It seems like things are being set up and people introduced forever, and then all of a sudden the mystery is being solved. I did find the tangled web surrounding the crime to be interesting. As for Tey, as a character she felt flat to me. I much preferred the Detective Inspector, Archie, who is an almost-but-not-really love interest because of "reasons".
Normally a story like this would be right up my alley, but I don't think I found enough of this to like to read more.
This was a historical mystery mired in the world of the theatre and the trauma of World War I. I really wanted to like it, but for a 292 page book it felt very long. It seems like things are being set up and people introduced forever, and then all of a sudden the mystery is being solved. I did find the tangled web surrounding the crime to be interesting. As for Tey, as a character she felt flat to me. I much preferred the Detective Inspector, Archie, who is an almost-but-not-really love interest because of "reasons".
Normally a story like this would be right up my alley, but I don't think I found enough of this to like to read more.
Very complex plot and she spends most of the novel explaining things. It's about a play that Tey supposedly wrote, put on in the 1930s and the theater people's connections to events in WWI in France 20 years earlier. Includes the obligatory and gratuitous and anachronistic lesbian couple.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
After I read another in this series and commented to a friend that I enjoyed it they recommended that I go back to the start of the series and read from he first book which I am glad I did as I knew so little about Josephine Tey and this gave me some great background information about her, her life and her fascinating work.
What I did find that there was a lot of character introduction in this book and it did remind me of the Ngaio Marsh books that are set in a theatre that tend to go on and on and like those so did this read ;)
I still enjoyed it and will crack on with number two in the series very soon. I certainly won't be put off.
What I did find that there was a lot of character introduction in this book and it did remind me of the Ngaio Marsh books that are set in a theatre that tend to go on and on and like those so did this read ;)
I still enjoyed it and will crack on with number two in the series very soon. I certainly won't be put off.
Josephine Tey is the author of a wildly successful play and she's a little tired of the notoriety. But a charismatic young fan that she meets on the train worms her way into Josephine's good graces. Too bad the young woman is murdered when she runs back onto the train to get her bag.
It turns out the girl was peripherally tied to the play and so Josephine is pulled into the investigation
It turns out the girl was peripherally tied to the play and so Josephine is pulled into the investigation
I really didn’t like this. It’s just what I don’t like in modern mysteries - every character’s life is unremitting grim. All characters are introduced musing over their psychological pain at incredible well considered length. And the actual murderer and solution are disturbingly dark.
The main character is a cypher and the change in tone between narrative and historical detail is notable. I only finished it because it took my mind off shoveling mulch.
The main character is a cypher and the change in tone between narrative and historical detail is notable. I only finished it because it took my mind off shoveling mulch.
I wish I'd read this before #3 in the series as that would have made #3 easier to get.
Enjoyed the book.
Enjoyed the book.
This book was all over the place - there were long winded passages with characters who ended up having very little to do with the story at all. I loved the cover and had high expectations for it. Sigh.