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celina31's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
jodar's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
An apparently gentle, introspective novel in which the mystery to be solved turns out to be more of a plot device to explore other existential matters.
There is a darkness to the novel, though: There is the evil of depression that the MC detective eventually succeeds in overcoming, the evil of the narcissistic, sociopathic criminal – suspected but only revealed at the end – and the kindred evil of the arrogant mischief-maker encountered along the way (“The vain, worthless little bastard”, Chapter 8).
Counterbalancing this is the light: There is true friendship that is willing to make sacrifices and continues beyond death. There is the recognition by the MC of his own destined life in the service of others and not...
There is a darkness to the novel, though: There is the evil of depression that the MC detective eventually succeeds in overcoming, the evil of the narcissistic, sociopathic criminal – suspected but only revealed at the end – and the kindred evil of the arrogant mischief-maker encountered along the way (“The vain, worthless little bastard”, Chapter 8).
Counterbalancing this is the light: There is true friendship that is willing to make sacrifices and continues beyond death. There is the recognition by the MC of his own destined life in the service of others and not...
In too much peace… With too much time to think about himself and his bondage to unreason. Too much time to take his own mental and spiritual pulse. (Chapter 13)
… even if the consequences are a single life, with friendships, yes, but necessarily unattached and so focused on his vocation that a relationship of domestic intimacy is not viable, however much this is regretted.
This novel was found among the author’s papers and published posthumously. It has traces of incompleteness, particularly in the first chapter. Yet to me it shows wonderful characterisation and a striving for the depths of things, as with her other novels. It is not the author’s best novel, but I’ve added 0.5 stars out of admiration, respect and a realisation of the novel’s greater potential had the author lived to complete it fully.
This novel was found among the author’s papers and published posthumously. It has traces of incompleteness, particularly in the first chapter. Yet to me it shows wonderful characterisation and a striving for the depths of things, as with her other novels. It is not the author’s best novel, but I’ve added 0.5 stars out of admiration, respect and a realisation of the novel’s greater potential had the author lived to complete it fully.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
maplessence's review against another edition
3.0
3.5★
Published posthumously, I'd like to think that Ms Tey would have revised this novel if she had lived.
Published posthumously, I'd like to think that Ms Tey would have revised this novel if she had lived.
Because there is a lot to be admired about this story in which a burnt out (Nervous breakdown? PTSD?) Inspector Grant goes on sick leave. Grant's mental struggles are sympathetically described and this part of the novel works really well - as is the description of the death of a young man in a train's department and Grant being on hand for the body's discovery.
As beautifully written as some of the narrative was, the Scottish part of the story rambled a bit for me,although some of it was very witty.Wee Archie was wielding a shepherd's crook that, as Tommy remarked later, no shepherd would be found dead with, and he was wearing a kilt that no Highlander would dream of being found alive in.
The story really picked up with the arrival ofand it becomes nearer to a true detective story. Unfortunately there is also aSpoiler
Tad Cullenwhich I think takes a little away from some of the detective work.Spoiler
written confession
So this one is a flawed gem. Certainly far better than some of her early work like [b:The Man in the Queue|243400|The Man in the Queue (Inspector Alan Grant, #1)|Josephine Tey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392213291s/243400.jpg|1844331], but not up to her best efforts [b:The Daughter of Time / Brat Farrar|23943852|The Daughter of Time / Brat Farrar|Josephine Tey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1418922354s/23943852.jpg|43548700]
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hooksforeverything's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-paced
5.0
Grant, overworked and fragile, goes to get battered about by some Scottish weather and is strengthened by solving the murder of a young man who discovered paradise. Introspective, the-proper-study-of-man-is-man stuff. Lalla tries to make a romance but he's thinking of other things.
frasersimons's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Not a bad finish. Again concentrated on characterization and notions Grant has, rather than a traditional plot. I did like the ending, though you see it coming. Daughter of Time is miles above the rest of the series though, and I wouldn’t recommend any book but that one, most likely.
aamccartan's review against another edition
4.0
Honestly, I liked Miss Pym Disposes better. This is Tey's last Grant novel, so perhaps I should have introduced myself to Grant in another way first, and while he was fine, I wasn't overwhelmed. I liked Lucy Pym better as a character in general, and also Tey's focus on British awesomeness (and its corollary, Scotch deficiency) a little distracting. The bit with the Viscountess was cleverly done, though.
bibliofeel's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
tombomp's review against another edition
1.0
Minor spoilers here but nothing about the mystery itself
I did not enjoy this book. It's not a typical mystery - the death occurs in the first few pages but it's not for a long time that it's thought of as in any way interesting or suspicious. And until you get to this point you get a very unconvincing story of a holiday in Scotland. That's full of hatred of Scotland and Scottish people - or at least highland ones, ones from Glasgow and god help you if you speak Gaelic. The anti-Scot thing is the biggest thing in the book but later on near the very end she gives us a paragraph where she mentions how horrible it'd be if the French had colonised India - no colour-bar and "so racially intermarried that it had lost its identity" - and says how all Americans "look like Red Indians even if they begun as Saxons". It's vile.
The first half of the book or so is concerned with Inspector Grant travelling to Scotland, staying with old friends, going fishing, and having panic attacks when he's in cars due to claustrophobia. I was genuinely surprised to see a plot point about panic attacks and it's described pretty well but at a certain point in the book he just gets magically cured. So ok. He meets a guy literally called "Wee Archie" who's some kind of Scottish nationalist and described as a "revolutionary" (in what sense is never explained). He's given as nasty a description as the author can manage. Apparently the fact he's from Glasgow and has a Glasgow accent is awful enough, but he apparently taught himself Gaelic and now goes around talking about... Scottish Gaelic culture and stuff? I dunno it's really not explained except the author wants us to know it's *really bad* for some reason. She mentions that he's bad at Gaelic but given her later treatment of Scottish Gaelic culture it seems more the problem that he speaks Gaelic at all.
The story moves along because he gets fascinated by some words written on a newspaper he accidentally stole from the dead guy's compartment. He makes tentative inquiries into them throughout the first half, decides they refer to an island in the Hebrides, goes there. And goes on and on about how stupid people are for talking about how beautiful they are, mocks the literature on them as people "romanticising primitiveness" or something and when he meets the people and they invite him to a ceilidh he mocks them some more. And the reverend or priest or whoever mocks the island people because they use a hall intended for making stuff for dances. Because they're idiots. And who should he meet but "Wee Archie". Who's giving a talk at the ceilidh. For some reason. But the author gets more digs in at him by having people leave while he's talking. Because they want to watch the ballet on TV. Which is presented as more mockery of the people. Oh and there's a load of insults aimed at the dancing style of people and of the way they sing. Oh and the cook at the hotel can't cook and he won't eat what she makes. For some reason all this heals his claustrophobia and although he seems to be enjoying (?) himself kinda by the end he still says he couldn't bear to be there another hour.
So he goes back to his friends' place. And fishes some more. And meets this guy who responded to an ad he put in the newspaper who came all the way to him from London based on Grant putting an ad containing the verses written by the dead guy in the ad. And apparently he's heard the verse before because the dead guy said it randomly a few months before and he remembered. Bit of a stroke of luck. Anyway this kicks off the "mystery" portion of the book, such as it is. It's impossible to solve anything before the ending, except to roll your eyes at the guy for not imagining murder for ages. He has multiple strokes of luck and the help of a certified genius in a remote Scottish town library. There's also a random plot where his friend tries to set him up with a noble lady but he's apparently totally unable to recognise a very obvious attempt to set them up together. And the author uses this to talk about how incredibly good aristocrats are and how class isn't a thing because the grandfather of Elizabeth I was Lord Mayor of London. And how it's terrible how aristocrats have to live in poor quality houses because of death duties and if her house was a prison the House would have condemned it as unfit for human habitation. It's nauseating.
The book moves towards its conclusion but there's not enough time for any real detecting. The ending is abysmal and a cop-out. Even then it makes little sense There are no proper clues throughout the whole thing so you just find out right at the end. And it's a pretty poor ending. Oh and it turns out that Wee Archie is It makes no sense at all. And the ending also has some weird kind o
Poor as a mystery, terrible as a general story. It seems to want to be 2 things at once and it's awful at both. A strange vehicle for her own hatred of Scottish Gaelic, Scottish nationalists and the Scottish in general - which is especially baffling because she was Scottish, and her own detective is Scottish! Her writing is generally good but in this book her grasp of characters is weak and nothing fits together to give any satisfaction. Big disappointment.
I did not enjoy this book. It's not a typical mystery - the death occurs in the first few pages but it's not for a long time that it's thought of as in any way interesting or suspicious. And until you get to this point you get a very unconvincing story of a holiday in Scotland. That's full of hatred of Scotland and Scottish people - or at least highland ones, ones from Glasgow and god help you if you speak Gaelic. The anti-Scot thing is the biggest thing in the book but later on near the very end she gives us a paragraph where she mentions how horrible it'd be if the French had colonised India - no colour-bar and "so racially intermarried that it had lost its identity" - and says how all Americans "look like Red Indians even if they begun as Saxons". It's vile.
The first half of the book or so is concerned with Inspector Grant travelling to Scotland, staying with old friends, going fishing, and having panic attacks when he's in cars due to claustrophobia. I was genuinely surprised to see a plot point about panic attacks and it's described pretty well but at a certain point in the book he just gets magically cured. So ok. He meets a guy literally called "Wee Archie" who's some kind of Scottish nationalist and described as a "revolutionary" (in what sense is never explained). He's given as nasty a description as the author can manage. Apparently the fact he's from Glasgow and has a Glasgow accent is awful enough, but he apparently taught himself Gaelic and now goes around talking about... Scottish Gaelic culture and stuff? I dunno it's really not explained except the author wants us to know it's *really bad* for some reason. She mentions that he's bad at Gaelic but given her later treatment of Scottish Gaelic culture it seems more the problem that he speaks Gaelic at all.
The story moves along because he gets fascinated by some words written on a newspaper he accidentally stole from the dead guy's compartment. He makes tentative inquiries into them throughout the first half, decides they refer to an island in the Hebrides, goes there. And goes on and on about how stupid people are for talking about how beautiful they are, mocks the literature on them as people "romanticising primitiveness" or something and when he meets the people and they invite him to a ceilidh he mocks them some more. And the reverend or priest or whoever mocks the island people because they use a hall intended for making stuff for dances. Because they're idiots. And who should he meet but "Wee Archie". Who's giving a talk at the ceilidh. For some reason. But the author gets more digs in at him by having people leave while he's talking. Because they want to watch the ballet on TV. Which is presented as more mockery of the people. Oh and there's a load of insults aimed at the dancing style of people and of the way they sing. Oh and the cook at the hotel can't cook and he won't eat what she makes. For some reason all this heals his claustrophobia and although he seems to be enjoying (?) himself kinda by the end he still says he couldn't bear to be there another hour.
So he goes back to his friends' place. And fishes some more. And meets this guy who responded to an ad he put in the newspaper who came all the way to him from London based on Grant putting an ad containing the verses written by the dead guy in the ad. And apparently he's heard the verse before because the dead guy said it randomly a few months before and he remembered. Bit of a stroke of luck. Anyway this kicks off the "mystery" portion of the book, such as it is. It's impossible to solve anything before the ending, except to roll your eyes at the guy for not imagining murder for ages. He has multiple strokes of luck and the help of a certified genius in a remote Scottish town library. There's also a random plot where his friend tries to set him up with a noble lady but he's apparently totally unable to recognise a very obvious attempt to set them up together. And the author uses this to talk about how incredibly good aristocrats are and how class isn't a thing because the grandfather of Elizabeth I was Lord Mayor of London. And how it's terrible how aristocrats have to live in poor quality houses because of death duties and if her house was a prison the House would have condemned it as unfit for human habitation. It's nauseating.
The book moves towards its conclusion but there's not enough time for any real detecting. The ending is abysmal and a cop-out.
Spoiler
The guy writes a letter confessing his crimes and kills himself. Because it'd have been hard to pin it on him and you certainly couldn't have got the facts of how it happened from detective workSpoiler
the person who does find this mysterious place apparently found it with help from the dead guy but it's not made clear how on earth this is possible - there's mentions of a plane, which is presumably supposed to be him, but if he was in a plane there why did he need to go to someone to fund an expedition? Also surely he was in the UK at the time so he couldn't be flying a plane. But it's stated directly he helped out somehow so I have no idea. The method of murder is very simple mistaken identity stuff and from the *start of the book* I was thinking "obviously those identity papers are not his. really obviously" but apparently Grant couldn't work that one out.Spoiler
working as a spy? or a foreign agent? or somethingPoor as a mystery, terrible as a general story. It seems to want to be 2 things at once and it's awful at both. A strange vehicle for her own hatred of Scottish Gaelic, Scottish nationalists and the Scottish in general - which is especially baffling because she was Scottish, and her own detective is Scottish! Her writing is generally good but in this book her grasp of characters is weak and nothing fits together to give any satisfaction. Big disappointment.
mbondlamberty's review against another edition
4.0
Very enjoyable read, perhaps not a total page turner, it moves at a more moderate pace, but very enjoyable. Having my husband (who always manages to guess who done it) read it too.
Enjoyed Tey's Daughter of Time too and decided to try this one. Now of course I want to read up on Ubar (current spelling of something discussed in the book but won't tell more).
Enjoyed Tey's Daughter of Time too and decided to try this one. Now of course I want to read up on Ubar (current spelling of something discussed in the book but won't tell more).
indywonder05's review against another edition
3.0
The writing is beautiful and Inspector Grant is layered and interesting. I have a soft spot for cousin Pat. That kid cracked me up.
I didn’t realize until after I read this book that it was published posthumously and I’d like to think Ms. Tey would have revised the obnoxious confession of an ending if given a chance.
I didn’t realize until after I read this book that it was published posthumously and I’d like to think Ms. Tey would have revised the obnoxious confession of an ending if given a chance.