Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by marryd
A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey
4.0
This is the second Alan Grant book and very enjoyable. Good writing, good pace, good characterisations all add up to a good example from the golden years of British detective writing (1937). I sat down and read this in one gulp.
Christine Clay, movie star, goes out for a swim very early one morning and her body is found on the shore. Soon Inspector Grant is called in as clue leads police to be concerned that it is not misadventure or suicide. But no one who knew her, knew where she was staying. And of those who 'knew' her, most only knew the persona she allowed the public to know. Only one person knew where she was. Is the obvious person the killer or is one of the alibis breakable and a motivation discoverable?
Enjoy the taste of red herring and the various viewpoints of the characters. Bet you enjoy Erica and various other characters. I find Tey's characters very human and not just developed to forward the plot. Grant is a hero who makes mistakes and worries about them and about people. I love her depiction of the media too.
Have fun with this but remember that it was written in the 1930s and all the biases of that time are on display. If this is going to upset you, don't read literature from this time.
Christine Clay, movie star, goes out for a swim very early one morning and her body is found on the shore. Soon Inspector Grant is called in as clue leads police to be concerned that it is not misadventure or suicide. But no one who knew her, knew where she was staying. And of those who 'knew' her, most only knew the persona she allowed the public to know. Only one person knew where she was. Is the obvious person the killer or is one of the alibis breakable and a motivation discoverable?
Enjoy the taste of red herring and the various viewpoints of the characters. Bet you enjoy Erica and various other characters. I find Tey's characters very human and not just developed to forward the plot. Grant is a hero who makes mistakes and worries about them and about people. I love her depiction of the media too.
Have fun with this but remember that it was written in the 1930s and all the biases of that time are on display. If this is going to upset you, don't read literature from this time.