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A review by ashleylm
A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey
4.0
I don't know what it is about Josephine Tey that I like so much. I love Agatha Christie: she knows what she does best, she drops heaps of red herrings and subtle clues and populates her books with mostly interesting characters and situations. I love Dorothy Sayers: she also is well aware she's writing a mystery, but she treats that as scaffolding upon which she will build entirely different books as she proceeds. But Tey? She writes mysteries as if she's unaware she's writing one, and as a result they're sort of graceful and haunting, 100% fitting into the mystery genre, and yet different in a way I can't explain (but will read other reviewers to see if they can nail their description of what I can't).
This isn't perhaps my favourite, in that the premise isn't tremendously exciting (a woman is murdered, there's a big clue with CLUE!! written all over it (a button!!), and the lead investigator has almost no personality whatsoever. And yet, it charms, especially as it gets closer to its conclusion. Some of the minor characters and situations (the victim's brother, the young girl's search for the coat, etc.) are especially keen, yet other chapters fall a bit flat by comparison.
Still, this was an early one. it's miles better than her first (the disappointing The Man in the Queue) and almost as good as the terrific later books.
Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful.
This isn't perhaps my favourite, in that the premise isn't tremendously exciting (a woman is murdered, there's a big clue with CLUE!! written all over it (a button!!), and the lead investigator has almost no personality whatsoever. And yet, it charms, especially as it gets closer to its conclusion. Some of the minor characters and situations (the victim's brother, the young girl's search for the coat, etc.) are especially keen, yet other chapters fall a bit flat by comparison.
Still, this was an early one. it's miles better than her first (the disappointing The Man in the Queue) and almost as good as the terrific later books.
Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful.