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bookishpixiereads 's review for:
The Franchise Affair
by Josephine Tey
***3.85 Stars***
This is the first book of hers that I read. And in 1990 it was considered the 11th greatest mystery of all time by the Crime Writer’s Association (British) - that’s higher than all of the Sherlock Holmes stories and all but one of Agatha Christie’s! Originally published in 1948, it’s so different from other mysteries that I’ve read from the same time period. First off, there’s no murder or a dead body! A teenage girl accuses two women of kidnapping her to become their maid. (This was written in the 1940s, post WW2 and well-to-do women could no longer find help, so this sort of actually made sense back then.) And then from there it basically becomes a she said/she said situation. The story follows the lawyer for the two women as he tries to prove their innocence.
I thought the book started off slow, but once I got into it, it really started to move. And I really enjoyed the dialogue. Tey also has a really lovely way of writing the physicality of her characters around the dialogue as well. At times, I thought Tey was overly descriptive and lovely as those descriptions are I really just wanted her to get on with the actual plot.
But the book is extraordinarily of its British time period. There is a proper noun in the story that I had never heard of before and the context was not helpful. A quick Google told me that it was a British court/trial system that no longer exists. It’s a super specific reference if you aren’t particularly knowledgeable of that place and time. There are only a couple of things like that though.
The characters get a little snobby, political, and judgy and since I have never read any of Tey’s other books, I’m unclear if this is Tey’s personal feelings being pushed onto her characters or if it was a specific choice for those characters.
But overall, this was cleverly done and very different from everything else I’ve read in the genre. A Vanity Affair article says, “No wonder Josephine Tey never belonged to the Detection Club [Christie, Sayers, etc...]. During her career as a crime novelist... she broke almost all of the commandments.” Her books don’t follow the standard mystery novel formula and that is refreshing.
Also, this is the third book in a series. My husband gave this to me for Christmas and I had never heard of it, much less had read any of Tey’s other books. While reading it, I kept wondering who is the lead in the series’ other books. Our lawyerly lead mentions this is his first case and he is really the only character that it would make sense for it to be, but in the same breath, it makes no sense at all. I was shocked to find that the series is called “Inspector Alan Grant.” Grant is barely in this book and you never get his point of view. I would have never guessed. So even though this is the third in the series, it really does work as a standalone.
Aside No. 1: I read the 2001 Folio Society edition with an introduction by Antonia Fraser. I suffer from a particular affliction where I feel massive guilt if I don’t read introductions even though I hate reading introductions, forwards, and the like. It has something to do with actually having to read the WHOLE book. I’ve often put a book down because I can’t get through the introduction. This one thankfully is short enough, but it is written with the expectation that the reader has read other books by Tey. Fraser kept referencing characters and bits of story with no context in order to elaborate upon a point. And I just wanted to throw the book across the room because I had no idea what she was talking about. If you’re like me and this is the first book of Tey’s that you read, read the beginning about her life and skip the rest. I’m sure the it makes sense if you’ve read her other novels.
Aside No. 2: “The Daughter of Time,” Tey’s fifth book in the series is also supposed to be very good. It’s #1 on the same mystery list that I mentioned earlier! I picked up a lovely used Folio Society copy over the weekend and can’t wait to start reading it.
This is the first book of hers that I read. And in 1990 it was considered the 11th greatest mystery of all time by the Crime Writer’s Association (British) - that’s higher than all of the Sherlock Holmes stories and all but one of Agatha Christie’s! Originally published in 1948, it’s so different from other mysteries that I’ve read from the same time period. First off, there’s no murder or a dead body! A teenage girl accuses two women of kidnapping her to become their maid. (This was written in the 1940s, post WW2 and well-to-do women could no longer find help, so this sort of actually made sense back then.) And then from there it basically becomes a she said/she said situation. The story follows the lawyer for the two women as he tries to prove their innocence.
I thought the book started off slow, but once I got into it, it really started to move. And I really enjoyed the dialogue. Tey also has a really lovely way of writing the physicality of her characters around the dialogue as well. At times, I thought Tey was overly descriptive and lovely as those descriptions are I really just wanted her to get on with the actual plot.
But the book is extraordinarily of its British time period. There is a proper noun in the story that I had never heard of before and the context was not helpful. A quick Google told me that it was a British court/trial system that no longer exists. It’s a super specific reference if you aren’t particularly knowledgeable of that place and time. There are only a couple of things like that though.
The characters get a little snobby, political, and judgy and since I have never read any of Tey’s other books, I’m unclear if this is Tey’s personal feelings being pushed onto her characters or if it was a specific choice for those characters.
But overall, this was cleverly done and very different from everything else I’ve read in the genre. A Vanity Affair article says, “No wonder Josephine Tey never belonged to the Detection Club [Christie, Sayers, etc...]. During her career as a crime novelist... she broke almost all of the commandments.” Her books don’t follow the standard mystery novel formula and that is refreshing.
Also, this is the third book in a series. My husband gave this to me for Christmas and I had never heard of it, much less had read any of Tey’s other books. While reading it, I kept wondering who is the lead in the series’ other books. Our lawyerly lead mentions this is his first case and he is really the only character that it would make sense for it to be, but in the same breath, it makes no sense at all. I was shocked to find that the series is called “Inspector Alan Grant.” Grant is barely in this book and you never get his point of view. I would have never guessed. So even though this is the third in the series, it really does work as a standalone.
Aside No. 1: I read the 2001 Folio Society edition with an introduction by Antonia Fraser. I suffer from a particular affliction where I feel massive guilt if I don’t read introductions even though I hate reading introductions, forwards, and the like. It has something to do with actually having to read the WHOLE book. I’ve often put a book down because I can’t get through the introduction. This one thankfully is short enough, but it is written with the expectation that the reader has read other books by Tey. Fraser kept referencing characters and bits of story with no context in order to elaborate upon a point. And I just wanted to throw the book across the room because I had no idea what she was talking about. If you’re like me and this is the first book of Tey’s that you read, read the beginning about her life and skip the rest. I’m sure the it makes sense if you’ve read her other novels.
Aside No. 2: “The Daughter of Time,” Tey’s fifth book in the series is also supposed to be very good. It’s #1 on the same mystery list that I mentioned earlier! I picked up a lovely used Folio Society copy over the weekend and can’t wait to start reading it.