An Expert in Murder (Josephine Tey)

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The morbidity of that postwar world is something about which PD James has written in non-fiction; and she, perhaps rather more than Tey, seems to have been the main literary inspiration for Upson. Laughing, the two women walked out into the street, too engrossed in their conversation to notice the figure now moving towards the train. At six o’clock, when she walked down the steps to the south-bound platform, she expected to find the air of excitement which always accompanies the muddled loading of people and suitcases onto a departing train. We delve more deeply into motivation and the angst of both good guys and criminals than in most of the more action-driven mysteries of today.

I enjoyed the one Tey I’ve read hugely, so maybe I shouldn’t bypass these as I have been guilty of doing. There is plenty of up-front discussion of homosexuality which really isn’t credible for the time in which the book is set. Josephine had heard that engine drivers on this route took a pride in the journey, racing against the timetable and each other to achieve speeds of more than ninety miles an hour, and she was not the only passenger on board to offer up a silent prayer of thanks to the competitive nature which had brought the train to its destination less than an hour behind schedule.

The two strike up a friendship on the journey, as the girl is a fan of Tey's work, and is on her way to see the play again.

Indeed, one of the most impressive features of the novel is the way that Upson alternates between pastiche - the plot involves a locked room, a signature twist in fiction of the period - and the perspectives that distance permits.

Like you, I thought it was pretty dark at times, but then Josephine Tey’s books are much darker than those of Christie, Sayers or Marsh so I was hoping it would reflect that.