A Shilling for Candles

This book just proves that great writing is timeless. It isn't gory and it doesn't have lots of action. But the characters are very well drawn and the investigation into a murder includes lots of twists and turns to keep your interest. Police procedures, the life of those who work on the stage, evangelicals, rags to riches - there are so many little stories in this larger story that it isn't ever boring. It will make you want to read more of her work in order to know more about some of these characters. This would be an excellent book for those times you have to wait - traveling or visiting doctors or waiting for kids to finish school/games. It is good for men, women and teens - anyone who would like a well written novel.

There is a dead body. Where is her car? Why is she swimming alone? It seems her body is expensively cared for. A young man appears on the scene, weeping. It seems that he had taken her car. The name of the drowned woman is Christine Clay. Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard is called to the scene by a worried constabulary. The young man, Robin Stannaway or Robert Tisdall, the name had been changed to Tisdall to please a relative, stayed with Chris. She had picked him up when hitchhiking, saying that she was alone. The boy clearly has charm.Grant and others determine that it is probable murder. Christine Clay had worked her way up from a lace factory in Nottingham. About every six months she was in a different social sphere. Her real name was Christina Gotobend. She was married to Lord Edward Champneis. There was a button in Christine Clay's hair and evidence of a struggle. Tisdall had lost his coat. It had been made in Los Angeles and was, therefore, in its absence, unsuitable for button comparison. Edward Champneis is very dignified.In her will Christine Clay left her brother Herbert a shilling for candles. When Grant discovers there is a codicil with a provision for Tisdall, he hastens to Scotland Yard. Grant regrets his inclination to like Tisdall. They seek to arrest him who appears to have no knowledge of the codicil in his favor. He escapes via a fire escape. Robert is befriended by another woman or girl, to be more precise. They think the solution to his problem is to find his missing overcoat to show there is no missing button. A clue is that an alcoholic china mender may have lifted the coat. The book suffers from having the most likeable characters mainly off-stage or dead. In other respects, of course, it is wonderful, given that Josephine Tey was one of the best people writing in the genre.

Josephine Tey is a marvellous mystery writer, but she does use the Golden Age formula. In this book there are actually three plot strands (one of which is a murder). In true "Golden Age" fashion we don't get the answer to any of the three until the end when the murderer is unmasked. Even though she uses the formula, it is apparent in this book anyway that she likes to flout the rules. It's that hint of the unexpected that makes her books such a treasure. And her titles!! They say so much in so few words. In this book Inspector Grant is looking into the drowning death of a famous film star. There are no shortage of suspects, and there is so much extraneous information that he gets quite frustrated trying to unravel it. But he peseveres and discovers the murderer in the end.

If you want actual detection, as opposed to character studies, this is the Tey book to read. Her later books have some interest, but more as straight novels than as mysteries.