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Bestselling author Josephine Tey's classic final mystery featuring
her best-loved character, Inspector Alan Grant, filled with "all
the Tey magic and delight" and now featuring a new introduction by
Robert Barnard.
On sick leave from Scotland Yard, Inspector Alan Grant is planning
a quiet holiday with an old school chum to recover from overwork
and mental fatigue. Traveling on the night train to Scotland,
however, Grant stumbles upon a dead man and a cryptic poem about
"the stones that walk" and "the singing sand," which send him off
on a fascinating search into the verse's meaning and the identity
of the deceased. Grant needs just this sort of casual inquiry to
quiet his jangling nerves, despite his doctor's orders. But what
begins as a leisurely pastime eventually turns into a full-blown
investigation that leads Grant to discover not only the key to the
poem but the truth about a most diabolical murder.
Who really killed the princes in the tower? Was Richard III truly
the ogre of legend and Shakespeare's play. - a wicked uncle who
murdered his nephews to steal the crown of England? Inspector Alan
Grant is not so sure. Laid up in hospital with a broken leg, he
becomes obsessed with unravelling this most enduring of historical
mysteries. As he investigates with the help of an enthusiastic
young American scholar, he unearths long-buried intrigues and comes
to a startling conclusion.
Literary sherry parties were not Alan Grant's cup of tea. But when the Scotland Yard Inspector arrived to pick up actress Marta Hallard for dinner, he was struck by the handsome young American photographer, Leslie Searle. Author Lavinia Fitch was sure her guest "must have been something very wicked in ancient Greece," and the art colony at Salcott St. Mary would have agreed. Yet Grant heard nothing more of Searle until the news of his disappearance. Had Searle drowned by accident or could he have been murdered by one of his young women admirers? Was it a possible case of suicide or had the photographer simply vanished for reasons of his own?
Robert Blair was about to knock off from a slow day at his law firm when the phone rang. It was Marion Sharpe on the line, a local woman of quiet disposition who lived with her mother at their decrepit country house, The Franchise. It appeared that she was in some serious trouble: Miss Sharpe and her mother were accused of brutally kidnapping a demure young woman named Betty Kane. Miss Kane's claims seemed highly unlikely, even to Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, until she described her prison -- the attic room with its cracked window, the kitchen, and the old trunks -- which sounded remarkably like The Franchise. Yet Marion Sharpe claimed the Kane girl had never been there, let alone been held captive for an entire month! Not believing Betty Kane's story, Solicitor Blair takes up the case and, in a dazzling feat of amateur detective work, solves the unbelievable mystery that stumped even Inspector Grant.
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Brat Farrar
Josephine Tey
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R270
R211
Discovery Miles 2 110
Save R59 (22%)
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Ships in 5 - 10 working days
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A stranger enters the Ashby family home posing as Patrick Ashby,
the heir to the family's sizeable fortune. The stranger, Brat
Farrar, has been carefully coached on Patrick's mannerisms,
appearance and every significant detail of Patrick's early life, up
to his thirteenth year when he disappeared and was thought to have
drowned himself. It seems as if Brat is going to pull off this most
incredible deception - until old secrets emerge that threaten to
jeopardise the imposter's plan and his very life...
In the packed queue for a popular West End Theatre in 1920s London,
the crowd surges forward as the doors open at last... But as they
do so, one of their number falls to the ground - a man, stabbed in
the back with a stiletto while people jostled for position in the
throng. There is nothing in the man's clothes or wallet to identify
him, and nothing in his pockets but a revolver... Who is he and who
killed him before melting away unseen into the night? Inspector
Alan Grant investigates, and soon is engaged in a breathless
manhunt that will lead him from London all the way to the Scottish
highlands and back, before the mystery is finally resolved in a way
that not even he can anticipate.
'The new crime and espionage series from Penguin Classics makes for
a mouth-watering prospect' Daily Telegraph Abducted, beaten, hidden
in an attic, a young woman stages an audacious escape. But is her
story everything she claims it to be? Fifteen-year-old Betty Kane
can recall every detail of the room where she says she was held at
the country house known as The Franchise - even the crack in its
round window. But her alleged kidnappers, a quiet-living mother and
daughter, claim they have never seen her before. Somebody has to be
lying. But who? As the case sparks a media frenzy, it is up to
unassuming village solicitor Robert Blair to find out.
Josephine Tey re-creates one of history's most famous -- and vicious -- crimes in her classic bestselling novel, a must read for connoisseurs of fiction, now with a new introduction by Robert Barnard Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history. Could such a sensitive, noble face actually belong to one of the world's most heinous villains -- a venomous hunchback who may have killed his brother's children to make his crown secure? Or could Richard have been the victim, turned into a monster by the usurpers of England's throne? Grant determines to find out once and for all, with the help of the British Museum and an American scholar, what kind of man Richard Plantagenet really was and who killed the Little Princes in the Tower. The Daughter of Time is an ingeniously plotted, beautifully written, and suspenseful tale, a supreme achievement from one of mystery writing's most gifted masters.
In this tale of mystery and suspense, a stranger enters the inner
sanctum of the Ashby family posing as Patrick Ashby, the heir to
the family's sizable fortune. The stranger, Brat Farrar, has been
carefully coached on Patrick's mannerism's, appearance, and every
significant detail of Patrick's early life, up to his thirteenth
year when he disappeared and was thought to have drowned himself.
It seems as if Brat is going to pull off this most incredible
deception until old secrets emerge that jeopardize the imposter's
plan and his life. Culminating in a final terrible moment when all
is revealed, Brat Farrar is a precarious adventure that grips the
reader early and firmly and then holds on until the explosive
conclusion.
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The Daughter of Time (Hardcover)
Josephine Tey; Introduction by David Stuart Davies
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R334
R234
Discovery Miles 2 340
Save R100 (30%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Voted the top crime novel of all time by the UK Crime Writers’
Association, The Daughter of Time is Josephine Tey’s last and
most successful book. Complete and unabridged. Part of the
Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound,
pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers.
These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book
lover. This edition is introduced by writer David Stuart Davies.
Inspector Alan Grant is laid up in hospital with a spinal injury
and he’s bored. Renowned for his ability to read a face, he
passes the time looking at old portraits and one which particularly
grabs his attention is of Richard III, the supposed arch villain
who killed his own nephews, ‘the princes in the tower’. But
Grant doesn’t accept the face in the portrait is the face of a
villain so he sets out to investigate what really happened. An
unusual premise for a crime novel perhaps, but nevertheless an
extremely clever and engrossing one, brilliantly plotted and
written with enormous charm and erudition.
Miss Lucy Pym, a popular English psychologist, is guest lecturer at a physical training college. The year's term is nearly over, and Miss Pym -- inquisitive and observant -- detects a furtiveness in the behavior of one student during a final exam. She prevents the girl from cheating by destroying her crib notes. But Miss Pym's cover-up of one crime precipitates another -- a fatal "accident" that only her psychological theories can prove was really murder.
'A detective story with a very considerable difference. Ingenious,
stimulating and very enjoyable' SUNDAY TIMES 'As interesting and
enjoyable a book as they will meet in a month of Sundays' OBSERVER
Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant, recovering from a broken leg,
becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III,
believed to have brutally killed his brother's children - the
Princes in the Tower - to make his crown secure. But is the
hunchback with such a sensitive, noble face really one of the
world's most heinous villains? Or was he the victim of one of the
most insidious plots in history? 'One of the best mysteries of all
time' NEW YORK TIMES 'Suspense is achieved by unexpected twists and
extremely competent storytelling . . . credible and convincing'
SPECTATOR
'The most interesting of the great female writers of the Golden
Age. This disarmingly low-key tale of a mysterious disappearance is
the perfect introduction to her world' VAL MCDERMID 'The definition
of a classic, a real cut above. It hasn't aged a day' JOSEPH KNOX
When Hollywood-star photographer Leslie Searle disappears from a
remote English village, gifted inspector Alan Grant is called in to
investigate. But what would bring such a successful individual to
the village? And was his vanishing his own doing, or did something
eerie occur at the hands of an unsuspected culprit? 'Will leave you
desperate to re-read' SARAH HILARY 'Worth reading for its ingenious
denouement'TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
'An ingenious book' SARAH WATERS 'Permanent classics in the
detective field . . . no superlatives are adequate' THE NEW YORK
TIMES Marion Shape and her mother are quiet and ordinary villagers,
enjoying a peaceful life in their country home, the Franchise.
Everything changes when a local schoolgirl accuses them of kidnap
and abuse, describing the attic room of the house as her prison.
Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant is called to solve the mystery
of the Franchise, but will he fall right in the middle of
nightmarish affair that will change a town, and its locals' lives,
forever? 'Josephine Tey enjoys a category to herself' NEW STATESMAN
On his train back to Scotland for a well-earned rest, Inspector
Grant learns that a fellow passenger, one Charles Martin, has been
found dead. It looks like a case of misadventure - but Grant is not
so sure. Teased by some enigmatic lines of verse that the deceased
had apparently scrawled on a newspaper, he follows a trail to the
remote Outer Hebrides. And though it is the end of his holiday, it
is also the beginning of an intriguing investigation into the
bizarre circumstances shrouding Charles Martin's death...
Beneath the sea cliffs of the south coast, suicides are a sad but
common fact. Yet even the hardened coastguard knows something is
wrong when a beautiful young film actress is found lying dead on
the beach one morning. Inspector Grant has to take a more
professional attitude: death by suicide, however common, has to
have a motive - just like murder...
A classic murder mystery from the Golden Age of detective fiction,
written by genre legend Josephine Tey. Leys Physical Training
College is famous for its excellent discipline and its
spectacularly athletic students. Miss Lucy Pym, expert
psychologist, is pleased and flattered to be invited to lecture
there - even if the Olympian splendour of the students leaves her
feeling just a little inadequate. But a nasty accident spoils the
occasion, and suddenly Miss Pym must turn her intellect to the
unpleasant suspicion that, among all these healthy young students,
there lurks an incurably sick mind...
Outside a London theatre a throng of people wait expectantly for
the last performance of a popular musical. But as the doors open at
last, something spoils all thought of entertainment: a man in the
queue is found murdered by the deadly thrust of a stiletto...
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