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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
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:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is fantastic. It is like George Eliot wrote a mystery novel (OK, nobody's up to Eliot's standards, but this goes a long way in that direction). Interesting, diverse characters. Beautiful writing. A page-turner, soap-opera plot. Social issues, gender issues, romance, comedy, a legal thriller, and police procedural are all packed in there and fit perfectly.
Trial by media…
Robert Blair’s life as a country solicitor is peaceful and contented, though just recently he’s been wondering if it isn’t just a little too contented. When he is contacted by Marion Sharp with a request for his help with a matter involving the police, his first reaction is to refer her to another lawyer specialising in criminal matters. But Miss Sharpe is adamant – she wants someone of her own class, and that means Robert. And the case sound intriguing, so Robert heads off to Miss Sharpe’s house, The Franchise, to meet her, her mother and Inspector Grant of Scotland Yard…
The Sharpes, mother and daughter, are eminently respectable ladies, though fairly new to the neighbourhood having inherited The Franchise just a few years earlier. So the story that schoolgirl Betty Kane tells sounds fantastical – she claims that the two women abducted her, locked her in their attic and tried to force her to work as their servant, doling out regular vicious beatings when she didn’t comply. The whole thing would have been written off as nonsensical, but for the fact that Betty is able to describe things in the house and grounds that she couldn’t possibly have known, since she had never been in the house for legitimate reasons. However, Grant can find no corroborating evidence and so the matter would have rested, except that the local crusading newspaper decided to take the matter up. Now the Sharpes are being vilified and harassed, and the matter is no longer only one of whether or not they will be prosecuted – it becomes imperative to prove that Betty is lying so as to clear their names completely. And for Robert it has become personal as he finds himself increasingly drawn to Marion.
This is considered a classic of crime fiction, and it fully deserves its reputation. Although it’s billed as an Inspector Grant novel, in fact he plays only a tiny part – the real “detective” is Robert, floundering a little out of his depth since he’s never had anything to do with the criminal side of the law before, but righteously determined to do everything in his power for his clients. He’s extremely likeable, and the ambiguity over Marion and Mrs Sharpe means that for most of the novel the reader doesn’t know whether to hope his romantic feelings for Marion will blossom, or whether he’s setting himself up for a broken heart. Marion and her mother are great characters – both opinionated individualists with a healthy cynicism about their society’s prejudices, but finding that when that society cuts one off, life, especially in a small town where everyone knows everyone else, rapidly becomes intolerable. Although the reader also finds it difficult to believe that they could be guilty, it’s equally hard to see why and how young Betty could have invented such a detailed and consistent story. It was long, long into the novel before I felt I could decide on the Sharpes’ innocence or guilt.
The writing is great and the plot is perfectly delivered. First published in 1948, the social attitudes are very much of their time, and it becomes pretty clear that Ms Tey was probably a good old-fashioned Tory snob whose ideas on class and politics ought to have roused my rage. But actually I found them amusing, and a great, if unintentional, depiction of that particular class of ultra-conservativism which still exists today, particularly in the letters page of The Telegraph and other newspapers read mainly by the retired colonels and maiden aunts of the Shires.
It’s also a wonderful picture of the kind of trial by media with which we are all too familiar, although it happens more slowly when people must write actual literate and grammatical letters to the newspapers and wait for them to be printed rather than firing off foul-mouthed libellous tweets, as we do now that we’re so much more advanced. Tey shows how quickly mob feelings can be aroused, and how easily some people will proceed to take what they would call justice into their own hands. She also shows, though, that there are decent people in the world who will rally round and help, even when it’s unpopular to do so.
I don’t want to risk any spoilers, so I’ll simply say that the gradual revelations are very well paced so that my attention never flagged, and I found the eventual resolution completely satisfying. But more than this, I found it a highly entertaining read with all the elements that make good vintage crime so enjoyable – an intriguing mystery, an atmosphere of building tension, a likeable protagonist who is neither alcoholic nor angst-ridden, a touch of romance, a sprinkling of humour. Great stuff! I now officially forgive Josephine Tey for boring me to death with The Daughter of Time and look forward to getting to know Inspector Grant and her better.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Robert Blair’s life as a country solicitor is peaceful and contented, though just recently he’s been wondering if it isn’t just a little too contented. When he is contacted by Marion Sharp with a request for his help with a matter involving the police, his first reaction is to refer her to another lawyer specialising in criminal matters. But Miss Sharpe is adamant – she wants someone of her own class, and that means Robert. And the case sound intriguing, so Robert heads off to Miss Sharpe’s house, The Franchise, to meet her, her mother and Inspector Grant of Scotland Yard…
The Sharpes, mother and daughter, are eminently respectable ladies, though fairly new to the neighbourhood having inherited The Franchise just a few years earlier. So the story that schoolgirl Betty Kane tells sounds fantastical – she claims that the two women abducted her, locked her in their attic and tried to force her to work as their servant, doling out regular vicious beatings when she didn’t comply. The whole thing would have been written off as nonsensical, but for the fact that Betty is able to describe things in the house and grounds that she couldn’t possibly have known, since she had never been in the house for legitimate reasons. However, Grant can find no corroborating evidence and so the matter would have rested, except that the local crusading newspaper decided to take the matter up. Now the Sharpes are being vilified and harassed, and the matter is no longer only one of whether or not they will be prosecuted – it becomes imperative to prove that Betty is lying so as to clear their names completely. And for Robert it has become personal as he finds himself increasingly drawn to Marion.
This is considered a classic of crime fiction, and it fully deserves its reputation. Although it’s billed as an Inspector Grant novel, in fact he plays only a tiny part – the real “detective” is Robert, floundering a little out of his depth since he’s never had anything to do with the criminal side of the law before, but righteously determined to do everything in his power for his clients. He’s extremely likeable, and the ambiguity over Marion and Mrs Sharpe means that for most of the novel the reader doesn’t know whether to hope his romantic feelings for Marion will blossom, or whether he’s setting himself up for a broken heart. Marion and her mother are great characters – both opinionated individualists with a healthy cynicism about their society’s prejudices, but finding that when that society cuts one off, life, especially in a small town where everyone knows everyone else, rapidly becomes intolerable. Although the reader also finds it difficult to believe that they could be guilty, it’s equally hard to see why and how young Betty could have invented such a detailed and consistent story. It was long, long into the novel before I felt I could decide on the Sharpes’ innocence or guilt.
The writing is great and the plot is perfectly delivered. First published in 1948, the social attitudes are very much of their time, and it becomes pretty clear that Ms Tey was probably a good old-fashioned Tory snob whose ideas on class and politics ought to have roused my rage. But actually I found them amusing, and a great, if unintentional, depiction of that particular class of ultra-conservativism which still exists today, particularly in the letters page of The Telegraph and other newspapers read mainly by the retired colonels and maiden aunts of the Shires.
It’s also a wonderful picture of the kind of trial by media with which we are all too familiar, although it happens more slowly when people must write actual literate and grammatical letters to the newspapers and wait for them to be printed rather than firing off foul-mouthed libellous tweets, as we do now that we’re so much more advanced. Tey shows how quickly mob feelings can be aroused, and how easily some people will proceed to take what they would call justice into their own hands. She also shows, though, that there are decent people in the world who will rally round and help, even when it’s unpopular to do so.
I don’t want to risk any spoilers, so I’ll simply say that the gradual revelations are very well paced so that my attention never flagged, and I found the eventual resolution completely satisfying. But more than this, I found it a highly entertaining read with all the elements that make good vintage crime so enjoyable – an intriguing mystery, an atmosphere of building tension, a likeable protagonist who is neither alcoholic nor angst-ridden, a touch of romance, a sprinkling of humour. Great stuff! I now officially forgive Josephine Tey for boring me to death with The Daughter of Time and look forward to getting to know Inspector Grant and her better.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Like Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar, The Franchise Affair is a classic mystery, offering a plot revolving around a brass-faced fraud. A fifteen year-old girl goes missing for a month, then turns up bruised and claiming she was imprisoned by two women who tried to press-gang her into to being their house servant. The accused women are new to their rural locale, and the surrounding neighborhood, egged on by a trashy, scandal-peddling newspaper, quickly begin to treat the women as pariahs. It doesn't help that the girl describes in detail the house and grounds of The Franchise, despite its owners' denial that the girl was ever on their property.
A respected local solicitor reluctantly takes up the women's case, but soon is fully involved in trying to prove their innocence. The hunt for witnesses who can place the girl elsewhere during her missing four weeks leads to a trial where the fraud is publicly unmasked. But by then, the antagonism of the community boils over, changing the accused women's lives beyond recall.
Tey's Inspector Alan Grant appears briefly as the reluctant lead on the case, but this book can be read as a stand-alone.
A respected local solicitor reluctantly takes up the women's case, but soon is fully involved in trying to prove their innocence. The hunt for witnesses who can place the girl elsewhere during her missing four weeks leads to a trial where the fraud is publicly unmasked. But by then, the antagonism of the community boils over, changing the accused women's lives beyond recall.
Tey's Inspector Alan Grant appears briefly as the reluctant lead on the case, but this book can be read as a stand-alone.
When Betty Lane returns home after being missing for awhile she tells a tale of being abducted and forced to work as a house maid. Her detailed account was believable and two women were arrested and accused of the crime. The accused, Marion and her mother Mrs. Sharpe lived alone in a large manor house they had inherited recently. Did they really abduct Betty Lane? Everyone in the village of Milford except Attorney Robert Blair thinks so. Was Betty's story an elaborate ruse or did the women really abduct her? How will Blair attempt to defend his clients? As always Josephine Tey's books are well crafted and a joy to read. Inspector Grant of Scotland Yard makes brief appearance but is not central to the story.
A little disappointing. It was rather disingenuous to market this as being part of the Alan Grant series (if it was), since he plays no role to speak of in this story. Also, the conservative outlook of the author needn't have been a problem if it had been presented a little more brilliantly, or with a little more self mockery. As it is her rants against the stupidity of the masses just tend to sound snug, and her ideal of little England seems more than a little stultified to me. The fairly stupid prejudices about 'the Irish' are nothing less than racism in a different guise. And yeah, we get the point that the culprit is a girl who just is no good and is up to sly tricks. But when it comes down to it, she didn't commit much of a crime, and all the indignation the author marshals against her feels mighty overdone -- more an articulation of uptight 1940s sexual mores than anything else. The silly love plot she tries to offset this with, is mainly bland and tedious.
To me, this read like one thriller author who is more than a little dated already and only seems bound to be more so as time goes on. But who knows, maybe she'll undergo some sort of revival yet -- or maybe I picked the wrong title of hers to start out with. I might try another, but I'm not entirely sure yet it will be worth the bother.
To me, this read like one thriller author who is more than a little dated already and only seems bound to be more so as time goes on. But who knows, maybe she'll undergo some sort of revival yet -- or maybe I picked the wrong title of hers to start out with. I might try another, but I'm not entirely sure yet it will be worth the bother.
Once I get past some of the unfamiliar British colloquialisms from the early twentieth century, the story lays out as a very modern tale. Young girl purports to have been kidnapped and beaten by a woman and her mother--a seemingly acceptable story until the details are unraveled.
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I feel certain I had read this before, but nothing about it seemed familiar. It's almost a locked-room mystery--it's one girl's word against that of two women, with no evidence either way for a long time. The setting is a stereotypical English village and the protagonist a veddy English solicitor. But the story rolls along nicely. Not Tey's best, but an engaging read.