Josephine Tey

Josephine Tey (1896–1952), Scottish writer of mystery novels. Five feature Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant, the rest a variety of Amateur Sleuths.

Several of her novels have been adapted for film or television. A Shilling For Candles was adapted (very loosely) as the Alfred Hitchcock film Young and Innocent.

Probably her most widely known novel is The Daughter of Time, in which Inspector Grant, stuck in hospital with a broken leg, fends off boredom by re-investigating the historical case of the Princes in the Tower, concluding that Richard of Gloucester wasn't the one who done it.


 * The Daughter of Time
 * A Shilling For Candles

"Astride the farther lion was a small boy clad in a leopard-skin rug with green baize edging, a seaside pail worn helmet-wise, and nothing else that was visible. A very long brass poker stood up lance-wise from its rest on his bare foot. 'It's all right,' Eleanor said. 'You did see it.' 'That comforts me quite a bit.'"
 * Amateur Sleuth
 * Blitz Evacuees: Betty Kane in The Franchise Affair
 * Character Overlap: The lawyer Kevin Macdermott appears in both The Franchise Affair and Brat Farrar; The Franchise Affair also has Inspector Grant in a supporting role.
 * Dead Person Impersonation
 * Did You See That Too: In Brat Farrar:

"It was a very good orphanage; a great deal happier than many a home he had seen in passing since. The children had loved it. They had wept when they left and had come back for visits; they had sent contributions to the funds; they had invited the staff to their marriages, and brought their subsequent children for the matron's approval. There was never a day when some old girl or boy was not cluttering up the front door."
 * Door Step Baby: The title character in Brat Farrar was left on the doorstep of an orphanage.
 * Driven to Suicide
 * Gut Feeling: Inspector Grant is a good instinctive judge of character.
 * High-Class Glass: Great-Uncle Charles in Brat Farrar wears one, "in either eye, according to which hand Charles had free at the moment".
 * Identical Stranger
 * Imaginary Love Triangle
 * Orphanage of Love: Mentioned in Brat Farrar:


 * Present Day Past
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: Twin sisters Jane and Ruth in Brat Farrar
 * Weather Report Narration: The opening of The Franchise Affair -- "It was four o'clock of a spring evening; and Robert Blair was thinking of going home."