Saturday, December 03, 2011

A Shilling for Candles

A Shilling for Candles. Josephine Tey. 1936. 240 pages.

First sentence: It was a little after seven on a summer morning, and William Potticary was taking his accustomed way over the short down grass of the cliff-top. Beyond his elbow, two hundred feet below, lay the Channel, very still and shining, like a milky opal.
A man discovers the body of an actress...and it is up to Inspector Grant to find her murderer.

This is the third Josephine Tey mystery novel I've read, and, it happens to be my least favorite. And I'm not even sure why I found it so disappointing. Inspector Grant has charmed me in the past, and I've appreciated the way he's gone about solving mysteries or crimes. In this one, he didn't seem to shine. In fact he seemed to disappear for chapters a time.  I don't know if I was just imagining that or if it  was really the case. There was just a great  disconnect in this one. I didn't find it satisfying at all.

I did love Daughter of Time. And I enjoyed The Man in the Queue.


© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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