Top Three Josephine Tey Books: What to Read First
Get to know Josephine Tey, a Scottish mystery novelist who often broke the rules of Golden Age detective fiction. Here’s one bookworm’s recommendation for the top three must-read books by Josephine Tey, so you know which to try first!
Guest post by Michelle Quinn
Every summer when I was a child my family would pile into our car and drive across our huge province to Vancouver to visit my grandma. Her condo held a treasure trove of things to look at and I would spend my first day revisiting favourite tchotchkes before heading over to her bookshelves. My fingers would itch for all her Agatha Christie paperbacks but I’d wonder about the books tucked in amongst the Marple and Poirot–authors like Ngaio Marsh and Josephine Tey.
I wouldn’t read my first Tey until my twenties. I found The Daughter of Time in Paris at The Shakespeare Book Company and quickly devoured it. But it would be another twenty years before a chance line in a Mary Stewart book about a mystery called Brat Farrar made me finally decide to read those mysteries my grandma loved so much.
Josephine Tey (one of two noms de plume of Elizabeth MacIntosh) never wanted to conform to the rules of Golden Age Mysteries. She never joined the Detection Club for mystery authors and her books broke established mystery norms of the time. She has a mystery without a murder, a mystery with twins/doubles as the main character, and a mystery where the crime happened hundreds of years ago. In another of her mysteries, Detective Inspector Alan Grant is only in two tiny scenes.
And the undercurrent running through all eight of Tey’s mysteries is not the whodunnit but the why. What aspects of a person’s personality make them commit crime? Mystery author Val McDermid believes Tey’s psychological plotlines “cracked open the door” for writers like Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendall.
Have I piqued your interest? Here are my top three Josephine Tey mysteries to try:
The Three Best Josephine Tey Mysteries (what to read first)
The Franchise Affair
The Franchise Affair opens in 1940s England with comfortably settled estate solicitor Robert Blair picking up a fateful phone call. The mother and daughter living out in a big, gloomy house called ‘The Franchise’ have been accused of kidnapping, imprisoning and beating a teenage girl. All the clues point to their guilt and they desperately need help.
So begins a taut, psychological thriller. In its psychology and sympathies, it’s very post-WWII but it has a running commentary about the press that is quite applicable today, as well as a thoroughly modern ending. The Crime Writers’ Association ranked The Franchise Affair #11 of the top crime novels of all time and it’s my favourite Tey.
The Daughter of Time
Written in 1951 and ranked first in The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time, The Daughter of Time finds Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant flat on his back in the hospital. He’s deeply embarrassed to have fallen through a trap door whilst chasing down a criminal. Now he’s unable to do anything but look through the latest books his friends and colleagues have dropped by his hospital room. His friend Marta Hallard finally figures out what would pique his interest. She brings him a selection of historical portraits.
The one thing constant in the Inspector Grant novels is his feeling that he can tell someone’s demeanour just by looking at them. In this case, it’s the portrait of King Richard III that stands out to him. The king doesn’t look like someone who would kill his nephews for the throne, and that starts Grant on a journey through research papers and history books trying to figure out just who Richard III was. Josephine Tey had a similar journey when she was researching a play that she was writing on the Plantagenets. The Daughter of Time was a bestseller and helped shed light on the supposed hunchbacked, murdering king.
Brat Farrar
Published in 1949, Brat Farrar is one of Tey’s two standalone mysteries. The reader discovers the crime and the culprit from the very beginning. Brat Farrar has been chosen for a role because of his uncanny resemblance to the heir of a wealthy family who disappeared several years ago. If he can convince the family he’s the lost Patrick Ashby, Farrar and his accomplice will be rich. This thriller is very mid-century British and filled with charming characters, set on a horse breeding farm in southern England. There is also a nice romance running through all the suspense.
Once you’ve read these three best Josephine Tey novels, you’ve got five other great stories to try next. Join psychologist Lucy Pym and immerse yourself in the politics and behind-the-scenes machinations in a girl’s physical training college in Miss Pym Disposes. (The college was based on Josephine Tey’s own schooling.) Or get to know the enigmatic Detective Inspector Alan Grant more in The Man in the Queue, A Shilling for Candles, To Love and Be Wise and The Singing Sands. Whichever Josephine Tey book you choose, I hope you enjoy it!
Have you read anything by Josephine Tey? What do you think is the best Josephine Tey book?
More Reading for Mystery Lovers:
- Every Agatha Christie Book in Order, with Summaries – This is your ultimate guide to Agatha Christie and her detectives!
- Solving the Mystery: What I Love and Hate About the Mystery Genre – A bookworm and author’s thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of the mystery genre.
- 11 Things Nancy Drew Taught Me About Life – Life lessons from the sleuth many of us grew up with!
About the author
Michelle Quinn, a lover of books and make-believe, was born and raised in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada and continues to live there with her husband and grown twins. Building on her love of reading, Michelle became a primary teacher and has taught for twenty-five years. When not reading, Michelle loves to travel, write, go for long drives and needle-felt little book-loving animal figures for her Etsy shop. You can find her on Instagram at @noraandedie or at her website noraandedie.ca.
Other posts by Michelle on Tea and Ink Society:
I’ve never read a Josephine Tey novel, but each one of these sounds intriguing! Thank you for the post!
I think my favourite of the ones I’ve read is Brat Farrar.
I love Josephine Tey and would put Miss Pym Disposes up there in her best. My parents had a book of collected mysteries which included the Franchise Affair in the bookshelf at home and I read it several times as a teen, but didn’t come across her others until living in England in my twenties. I re-read these four regularly. There is also an excellent biography, Josephine Tey: a Life by Jennifer Morag Henderson, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
Thank you for that recommendation!
So excited to try these out! Thank you!
I’ve read only one of Josephine Tey’s books: the daughter of time. I loved it so much that I bought the rest of her books. I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet, but now I will. Thank you for the reminder!
I haven’t read that one yet, but it’s on my short-term TBR!
I read The Franchise Affair recently and loved it!! I think the first Tey book I read was The Daughter of Time and I should really reread it soon… perhaps after I read Brat Farrar!
I love the village setting of The Franchise Affair, and all the “good guy” characters are just fantastic. Mrs. Sharpe is definitely in the running for “Best Supporting Heroine” for my Book Oscars this year!
I can’t wait to get to the library and pick up these mysteries! I’m a fan of Christie, George, and Sayers, but have never heard of Tey until now. SO excited…thanks so much!!!!
You’re in for a treat!
I’ve read all of Josephine Tey’s books; The Daughter of Time is my favorite. I didn’t know someone wrote a biography of the author; I’ll have to add that to my TBR list.
My favourite so far is Brat Farrar, with The Franchise Affair a close second. I haven’t read Daughter of Time, though!