An Expert in Murder (Josephine Tey No. 1)

March 1934 seems very Victorian in some aspects in this story. Josephine Tey the celebrated author is travelling from Scotland to London for the final week of her best selling theatre production Richard of Bordeaux. She is in a mixed state of mind - on the one hand the success of the play and on the other the conflicts its success has brought to her personal life - almost ending with an attempt on her life and a very twisted law suit which she won. On her train trip to London she encounters a fan - Elspeth theatre struck and delighted to meet the author and Elspeth and Josephine hit it off and the journey is completed happily with plans to meet at the theatre later on. It was a tragic end for Elspeth who was found murdered in her compartment just an hour after Josephine departed for her hotel and then the detective work starts. Going back decades, a very twisted story of revenge, bitterness and a psychopathic father who passed on his leanings to his son the story throws up a number of suspects and then ends in a second murder. Detectives know that the two are connected but how and why are only brought about by very slow unravelling of clues one at a time. The story was a mesmerizing one set in the backdrop of the bright lights of the theatre and drama world and the contrast between that and the dark side of anger and murder are very marked. I enjoyed the read - a slightly slower pace of detection than what is presented today and the characters themselves were all varied. It added a great deal of interest and variety to the story. This was a purchase from Amazon who by the way still does not permit me to post reviews there!