Tey, Josephine – The Bell Bookshop

The man in the queue

Emma — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A long queue had formed for London's favourite musical comedy, but as the line began to move forward, one man keeled over, a small silver dagger neatly plunged into his back. So begins Inspector Alan Grant's first spectacular case.

The daughter of time

Emma — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history. Could such a sensitive, noble face actually belong to one of the world's most heinous villains - a venomous hunchback who may have killed his brother's children to make his crown secure? Or could Richard have been the victim, turned into a monster by the the Tudors? Grant determines to find out once and for all, with the help of the British Museum and an American scholar, what kind of man Richard III really was and who killed the Princes in the Tower.

The Daughter of Time

Emma — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

‘A detective story with a very considerable difference. Ingenious, stimulating and very enjoyable’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘As interesting and enjoyable a book as they will meet in a month of Sundays’ OBSERVER

Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant, recovering from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III, believed to have brutally killed his brother’s children – the Princes in the Tower – to make his crown secure. But is the hunchback with such a sensitive, noble face really one of the world’s most heinous villains? Or was he the victim of one of the most insidious plots in history?

‘One of the best mysteries of all time’ NEW YORK TIMES

‘Suspense is achieved by unexpected twists and extremely competent storytelling . . . credible and convincing’ SPECTATOR

The Franchise Affair

Emma — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

‘An ingenious book’ SARAH WATERS

‘Permanent classics in the detective field . . . no superlatives are adequate’ THE NEW YORK TIMES

Marion Shape and her mother are quiet and ordinary villagers, enjoying a peaceful life in their country home, the Franchise. Everything changes when a local schoolgirl accuses them of kidnap and abuse, describing the attic room of the house as her prison. Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant is called to solve the mystery of the Franchise, but will he fall right in the middle of nightmarish affair that will change a town, and its locals’ lives, forever?

‘Josephine Tey enjoys a category to herself’ NEW STATESMAN

Shilling For Candles

Emma — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Beneath the sea cliffs of the south coast, suicides are a sad but common fact. Yet even the hardened coastguard knows something is wrong when a beautiful young film actress is found lying dead on the beach one morning.

Inspector Grant has to take a more professional attitude: death by suicide, however common, has to have a motive – just like murder…

Franchise Affair

Emma — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000

________________________________
‘An ingenious book’ Sarah Waters, Guardian

The Franchise is a beautiful country home. It’s about to play host to a nightmare.

Marion Sharpe and her mother seem an unlikely duo to be found on the wrong side of the law. Quiet and ordinary, they have led a peaceful and unremarkable life at their country home, The Franchise. Unremarkable that is, until the police turn up with a demure young woman on their doorstep. Not only does Betty Kane accuse them of kidnap and abuse, she can back up her claim with a detailed description of the attic room in which she was kept, right down to the crack in its round window.

But there’s something about Betty Kane’s story that doesn’t quite add up. Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard is stumped. And it takes Robert Blair, local solicitor turned amateur detective, to solve the mystery that lies at the heart of The Franchise Affair…

Daughter Of Time

Emma — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000

_________________________
Josephine Tey’s classic novel about Richard III, the hunchback king whose skeleton was famously discovered in a council car park, investigates his role in the death of his nephews, the princes in the Tower, and his own death at the Battle of Bosworth.

Richard III reigned for only two years, and for centuries he was villified as the hunch-backed wicked uncle, murderer of the princes in the Tower. Josephine Tey’s novel The Daughter of Time is an investigation into the real facts behind the last Plantagenet king’s reign, and an attempt to right what many believe to be the terrible injustice done to him by the Tudor dynasty.

Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history. Could such a sensitive, noble face actually belong to one of the world’s most heinous villains – a venomous hunchback who may have killed his brother’s children to make his crown secure? Or could Richard have been the victim, turned into a monster by the the Tudors?

Grant determines to find out once and for all, with the help of the British Museum and an American scholar, what kind of man Richard III really was and who killed the Princes in the Tower.