The Top 5 Best Josephine Tey Novels For Old School Crime Fiction Fans

Josephine Tey, the pen name of Scottish writer Elizabeth MacKintosh, was the name under which she wrote some of her best-known works.

It’s also the name I knew her under when I first read her short stories in the amazing anthology series Bodies From The Library.

After my brief introduction, I was intrigued by the author’s characters and dedication to creating gripping narratives, so I sought out some more of her work.

Characterisation and suspense are the cornerstones of Tey’s work, and she created some memorable individuals including Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant, who appears in several of her most revered works.

If you’re looking for a new Golden Age crime fiction series to start in 2022, and want something authentic but not as popular as the books written by well-known names like Sayers or Christie, then Tey’s books could be the perfect choice for you.

Here are some of my favourite books by Josephine Tey to get you into her work and introduce you to her unique and well-rounded characters.

5. The Franchise Affair: An inventive and gripping novel, this unique story showcases the author’s flair for the dramatic and skill at characterisation. While the book involves Inspector Alan Grant, The Franchise Affair mainly centres around a solicitor who is called in to defend a mother and daughter who live alone in a grandiose house, called the Franchise. The pair have been accused of kidnapping a young woman, 15 year old Betty Kane, who was staying with an aunt and uncle nearby their home. She claims to have been abducted, beaten and forced to do menial work by the mother and daughter, who had been struggling to find servants to support them in taking care of their large home. While the tale seems fanciful and unusual, the girl is bruised and can describe accurately the layout of the pair’s distinctive home. The women’s solicitor, Robert Blair, is unconvinced by the girl and determined to help his clients, for whom he feels deeply sympathetic. His investigations uncover unique human dramas and incorporate so many twists that the novel is almost impossible to put down.

4. Brat Farrar: Set in a stuffy country estate, Brat Farrar is both the title of the book and the name of a mysterious stranger who intrudes on the ignorant bliss of the troubled and cash-strapped Ashby family. Brat meets a stranger while drifting around in England after spending time in America. The stranger is an actor who knows the Ashby family, and wants to use Brat to impersonate the eldest son of the family, who is supposed to have committed suicide, but whose body was never found. His younger twin is now set to inherit a trust fund from his late mother when he turns 21, but Brat and his new friend plan to swindle the family out of the money with their deception. While this book is less of a mystery and more of a thriller and human drama, it is definitely worth reading for its unforgettable characterisation and intense dialogue. The book is a stand alone novel that doesn’t involve Inspector Grant, but it is very clearly the work of Josephine Tey. It’s also a great introduction to her work and a stunning read for anyone who loves unique thrillers.

3. A Shilling for Candles: The basis for the Alfred Hitchcock film Young And Innocent, A Shilling For Candles is part of the Inspector Alan Grant series. Among the first of the books to be written under the Josephine Tey pseudonym, the novel draws on the author’s experience working with theatrical actors and writing in Hollywood. It tells the tale of a film actress, who is found dead by drowning on a beach near Kent, where she was staying with a male friend. While her death is originally thought to be accidental drowning, Grant notices a button tangled in her hair, and feels that the death is suspicious. That’s compounded when the Inspector finds out that the actress recently wrote to her lawyer to add a section to her will. This new provision will allow her male friend, who has squandered his own fortune and now lives off the actress’s generosity, to get a portion of her considerable estate. Other suspects include an astrologist who accurately predicted the actresses death by drowning, the actress’s brother, a renowned con artist, and her husband, who is unwilling to share his whereabouts at the time of her death. With a range of suspects and little hard evidence to go off, Grant has to use all of his detective prowess and investigative skills to uncover the truth. In doing so, he has to work out both how and why the actress died, so he can figure out who orchestrated her death.

2. Miss Pym Disposes: With an engaging female lead and a traditional enclosed setting at a private girl’s school, this standalone novel should have been part of a series in my humble opinion. It’s a shame it’s not, but it’s still an enticing read. Psychologist and bestselling writer Lucy Pym is looking forward to giving a lecture at a Leys Physical Training College for girls where she can share her love of her chosen subject with a group of eager young students. Invited by her friend and the school’s principal to stay the night, the stay becomes a bit longer, and is then interrupted by a tragic death. It could be an accident, but it could also be something much worse, and the longer she stays, the more Miss Pym uncovers. The novel manages to toe the line between cosy crime fiction and biting thriller, making this a unique and engaging read for anyone who loves mysteries.

1. The Daughter of Time: The last book published in the author’s lifetime, this is an incredible book about Inspector Alan Grant’s investigations into King Richard The Third. With Grant confined to a hospital bed, an actress friend of his brings in some pictures of historical figures and suggests that he tries to uncover the truth behind a famous crime. When he sees the picture of the famous king, Grant believes that the world must be wrong in assuming him a cruel and callous killer who murdered the princes in the tower and many others. The book describes Grant’s work dissecting historical material and testing out his ideas on those surrounding him in the hospital. The book reminds me of the later work by Colin Dexter called The Wench Is Dead, and is a great example of the historical cold case revisited by a recuperating Inspector that has peppered both the crime book and TV market for the following decades.

Bodies From The Library 4 Review: Another Engrossing Collection Of Undiscovered Golden Age Crime Stories

Before I get down to the fun part and start reviewing this amazing anthology series, I’d like to apologise for neglecting my blog. I’ve been very busy and I’ve been working very hard at my day job, particularly in the run up to Christmas.

I’m hoping to get things back on track soon, so for now, thanks ever so much for bearing with me. I really appreciate all of the ongoing support and I’m excited to start getting back to posting on the blog more often in the future.

With that done, I’d like to love to tell you about the fourth instalment of the Bodies From The Library series. The series is linked to a lecture series of the same name, which aims to educate crime fiction fans on the Golden Age and how it came to influence almost every aspect of the genre and popular culture in general.

Edited, introduced and compiled by crime fiction connoisseur Tony Medawar, the series gives the reader the chance to read previously undiscovered short stories and novellas from the Golden Age of Crime Fiction. These stories might be from old archives, have been previously unpublished, or have not been included in old magazines but not collected in a printed book before.

Beginning with the introduction from Medawar, Bodies From The Library 4 then goes on to offer each story followed by a short biography of the author and an overview of where and when the text was originally published and how it came to be selected for the anthology. That means you can learn a bit about prominent and influential authors from the Golden Age without having to read

The one thing I found disappointing about the fourth instalment of the series of Bodies From The Library books is that it doesn’t contain an Agatha Christie story this time. As she was one of the key writers from the era, it’s a shame they didn’t include her work in this latest edition, especially as she was included in the past. Dorthy L. Sayers is another notable name who is missing from volume four, but it does mean that we get to read tales from new names that weren’t in previous books in the series, so that’s a bonus.

However, with many other major writers from the period, including Leo Bruce, Ngaio Marsh and Edmund Crispin, there are still plenty of big names that you’ll have heard of. So, you’ll get the chance to discover some awesome tales by authors you love, as well as some you might not have necessarily heard of, but who’ve influenced popular culture. For example, the short story that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes is included in the anthology.

At the end of the book, there is a section of stories from the Sunday Dispatch, which were commissioned as part of a writing challenge for crime fiction authors during 1938. A previous set of stories from an earlier Sunday Dispatch competition was included in the previous edition of the anthology series, and this next one was a set of pieces centred around specific and unusual pictures. The 6 writers were challenged to write a brief story about these unique images, which include an anvil with a glass of wine perched on top of it, a pub sign, and a drawing of a creepy skeleton hand with what appears to be a pocket watch perched on top of it.

Each tale incorporates the content of the image, in some cases in very inventive and uniquely creative ways. These short stories, most of which are less than 3 pages in length, are incredible feats of writing and unforgettable examples of crime fiction prowess. They’re so good, and I’ve not seen them collected like this before, so I’d recommend reading the book for this section alone.

That being said, there are loads of other great examples of crime fiction writing from the 1920s and 30s in the book, so it’s an ideal choice for lovers of the genre. One of the best is the novella Shadowed Sunlight by Chrisitianna Brand, a story about a poisoning during a yacht race on board one of the vessels. The assembled family and friends are all suspects, but as each food and drink item the victim ingested was also eaten or drunk by another member of the company, who wasn’t harmed, it’s difficult for the detectives to uncover the truth.

Another incredible tale from the anthology is The Only Husband by H.C. Bailey, a play script about the shooting of an elderly nobleman in the grounds of his country estate just as an investigator he asked to help him deal with an unspecified family issue arrives. Alongside local lawmakers, the detective has to deal with lies, secrets and family disloyalty to uncover the truth about who shot the murder victim or if his death was merely an unfortunate and tragic, if timely, accident. The script’s dialogue is witty and punchy, and the characters are believably droll and unscrupulous, so it’s a great read for crime fiction lovers who want to discover something new from the Golden Age of Crime Fiction.

In summary, Bodies From The Library 4 is another great addition to this gripping anthology series. While it might not contain as many big name authors as past editions, the fourth part of the series is engaging and contains some great tales that you’ll enjoy. As a result, I’d throughly recommend checking it out.