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A review by laajones94
The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
4.0
What a hidden gem! Slightly lost to the annals of time, Josephine Tey constructs a fascinating tale that is a superb twist on the locked room dilemma. How could a girl know the inside of a home that its occupants claim she has never been in?!
Astutely observed small town prejudice adds the greatest level of threat throughout the book, and, while it is clear as a reader that the accused are innocent from the beginning, the pursuit to work out what happened feels more hopeless and all consuming. Blair’s slow journey out of his routine works well as an accompaniment to the tale.
While the writing is witty and zips along, some of the views are obviously considerably outdated and the judgement and condemnation of a young girl who ran off with a married man is uncomfortable to read. Similarly, the witch hunt of two slightly odd women fees bizarre and yet probably still relevant to today. Overall, you do have to accept the patrician and obnoxiously misogynistic views of Blair as period appropriate in order to enjoy the tale but the mystery itself is engaging and unravels under a master hand.
Astutely observed small town prejudice adds the greatest level of threat throughout the book, and, while it is clear as a reader that the accused are innocent from the beginning, the pursuit to work out what happened feels more hopeless and all consuming. Blair’s slow journey out of his routine works well as an accompaniment to the tale.
While the writing is witty and zips along, some of the views are obviously considerably outdated and the judgement and condemnation of a young girl who ran off with a married man is uncomfortable to read. Similarly, the witch hunt of two slightly odd women fees bizarre and yet probably still relevant to today. Overall, you do have to accept the patrician and obnoxiously misogynistic views of Blair as period appropriate in order to enjoy the tale but the mystery itself is engaging and unravels under a master hand.