The Franchise Affair

This is a great book with an excellent mystery at its core that raises a fascinating question: when people seem to have information they shouldn't know unless some claim they're making is true, and yet seem to be lying about who they've come by that information, what is one to do? The mystery in this book, which was inspired by real events, is about a young girl who claims that she was kidnapped and held hostage in an attic room of a house in England. The owners of the house swear that not only is this not the case, but that 1) this girl has never set foot in their house, and 2) they have never seen her before. A character in the book seems to think that the owners of the house are telling the truth, only, there's one problem: the girl can describe details concerning the interior of the house. Does this fact prove that her story is true? No, obviously it does not. Why it does not is an important lesson, and is one that surely extends beyond the confines of this mystery. The answer, for instance, has much to do with how con artists fool people into thinking they are "psychic." Though The Daughter of Time is often hailed as Tey's greatest accomplishment, I must disagree. I found The Franchise Affair to be a far superior novel. This is must reading for mystery fans.

This is not your typical murder mystery; in fact, the crime is not murder, but possibly a worse one: false accusation of a kidnapping and beating. The resolution may be a little disappointing in that a portion of it comes about not as a result of sleuthing, but pretty much out of the blue. Nonetheless, the characterizations are finely drawn, and the suspense maintained to the end. At the end one might suspect that this has not really been a mystery at all, but another kind of fiction in the form of a mystery. My own rereading tends to confirm this idea at least for myself. It also confirms that the mystery elements have been dealt with fairly by the author, including the suitcases, which are explained within a few paragraphs of their introduction. Along the way, the author takes more than a few potshots at "woolly thinking", entertaining in their own right. It's a pity we have only about eight novels from her, since half are outstanding in their own sui-generis way.

Teenager Betty Kane, bruised and sore after being missing for weeks, claims that she was abducted by two women and coerced into doing maid service for them before she managed to escape. The young girl is very innocent looking and has a spotless reputation. Furthermore, she describes the place of her imprisonment with great accuracy, although the two women, mother and daughter, claim that they have never seen her before. Robert Blair, suddenly bored with the routine law practice which has been in the family for generations, takes on the case for the two women, the younger of whom becomes more and more attractive to him. He is totally convinced of their innocence and develops a burning passion not only to prove them blameless but also to expose the girl as a brazen fraud. But after a scandal sheet exposes the case to the world, public opinion is so strong against the ladies that they and their property are in constant danger.There are some weaknesses in the plot. For instance, after long and diligent investigation by a top-notch private detective, the solution just drops in out of the blue from a most unexpected source. But Tey handles the whole thing so well that it seems perfectly plausible. The characterizations are excellent, and the reader will have a strong sympathy for the women and for Blair. The second half of the book is a real page turner. And the ending has a very nice, satisfying touch. This novel is almost as good as Tey's BRAT FARRAR.

The Franchise Affair introduced me to Josephine Tey. What a wonderful introduction! The characters she created in this wonderful book are well developed, full of life, and complex in so many ways. The flow of the book kept me wanting more, and the final scene made me smile for a very long time. I would recommend this book over and over to all my friends who love English mysteries. A must read!

A teenage girl, missing for weeks, reappears with a story of being kidnapped and imprisoned by an eccentric mother and daughter; the latter enlists a bored country lawyer to defend them. Tey's Inspector Alan Grant takes a back seat in this book to the main characters. The plot is based on an actual eighteenth-century case, but Tey updates it and makes it fully believable. Not only are all the characters (even minor ones) beautifully drawn, but the various settings in which the story takes place are memorably described. The book is not only a whacking good mystery with a thoroughly satisfying solution, but also a vivid picture of post-WW II Britain, and a commentary on the power of the popular press that's more pertinent than ever today. This one is high on my Top 10 Mysteries of All Time list.