The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey

Imagine, that on a Friday afternoon, as you are relaxing, you hear a knock on the door. You open the door and find a policeman with a young and innocent girl around 15 years of age. The girl claims that you have kidnapped her and had her confined in the attic of your home for a fortnight. You had given her severe beatings causing bruises all over her body. She describes your house in some detail. She describes your mother and you and definitely identifies you as the one who had whipped her. How would you prove your innocence? So, why did you kidnap her? Well, you need a maid to do household work. Can you believe this? This is the premise of The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey published in 1948.

Marion Sharpe and her mother are confronted with this situation. While Marion and her mother are eccentric and isolated enough to have done this, there is never even a shadow of doubt about their innocence in Robert Blair's eyes, the lawyer Marion calls for legal and friendly advice. The town condemns them without a trial. Will Blair prove their innocence? How will Blair unmask the feigned innocence and reveal the true nature of the girl? Where was she anyway?

My first thoughts while reading the book was, "Isn't this the story of some Ruth Rendell book? The one with the house with shingles." A little research shows that the book is Harm Done and looks like Rendell took the story to the next level taking up the alternative scenario. Who would kidnap young girls to do household work in modern times? Why would they kidnap? Ruth Rendell even mentions the uncanny resemblance to Wexford's favourite novel, The Franchise Affair. Kidnapping, confinement and forced to do household work, no Harm done , says Inspector Mike Burden.

Now to The Franchise Affair, there is not even a little bit of doubt that the Sharpe women could have done something like that. If there had been a doubt and there was more proof that they may have done something like that, it would have been interesting. So the story is more or less straightforward. Blair has to find out where the girl was when she claimed to have been locked up in the attic.

This is the third Tey book I am reading all featuring Alan Grant. Here Grant makes a brief appearance, this is mostly Blair's scene. Tey explores her favourite hobby here too. Not reading faces, but the colour of the eye. Do you know if your eyes are a particular colour, you are oversexed, and if it is of a different shade you are a liar, oh, maybe a murderer too? I can feel Tey laughing at the reader all along as I felt it in her other books. For the other alternative read Ruth Rendell. Oh! I love Ruth Rendell. Um! This is supposed to be my opinion on Tey's book, it's okay. I love the premise and wish there was some twist or surprise in the end.

The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey

Is it possible to murder somebody in a busy crowded place and get away? In this Josephine Tey novel published in 1929, a man in a overcrowded queue for the last week show of a famous London play is murdered. Before who murdered him and why, the question is why this location? It looks like something done on the spur of the moment, if so do people carry ornate weapons for no purpose? If it was planned, wouldn't the murderer look for a more easy location where the person would have a greater chance to escape? Would nobody in the big long overcrowded queue, notice neither the murderer nor the murder? Why are there no identification papers or marks on the victim? Why is the victim carrying a gun? Who is the victim?

Inspector Alan Grant investigates! On seeing the murder weapon, Grant pronounces that no Englishman would use such an ornate weapon to commit murder or use such a location for murder. Therefore the murder should be a Levantine. After this, I wasn't sure what direction the story would take. Luckily for Grant, a foreigner is found on the immediate vicinity of the murder. Grant goes on a wild goose chase all over remote Scottish highlands before he apprehends his suspect.

I wasn't entirely sure of what to make of this story or Grant. First is the location. What kind of person would choose such an impractical location for murder? Second would any detective start with a prejudice? Englishman or not, if the murderer finds a suitable weapon for his deed, is he not likely to use it?

Another thing that irked me was Grant for all his running about all over England and Scotland does not solve the case. Though the ending is satisfactory and gives a plausible explanation, it wasn't easy for me to buy the story.

It took a very long while for me to understand that Tey is laughing at me. A second reading of the first few chapters brought the humour out to me and the points that irked me the first time brought smile now. It was reading Nicola Upson's An Expert in Murder where Tey is featured and Ruth Rendell's The Saint Zita Society that brought home to me that the location is plausible.

I borrowed the book from Openlibrary. My post for Crime Fiction Alphabet M.

An Expert in Murder by Nicola Upson

How would you like to see your favourite mystery writer in a book solving murders? An Expert in Murder features Josephine Tey, author of several mysteries including The Daughter of Time and a successful play Richard of Bordeaux. Josephine Tey is not exactly my favourite writer but I have read two of her mysteries recently and Alan Grant is quite fresh in mind and this idea piqued my curiosity.

Josephine on her way to London, abroad a train gets acquainted with Elspeth Simmons, a young girl who loves all things theatre and particularly loves Josephine's play. At London's King Cross they part ways and Elspeth is brutally murdered in the empty train. An elaborate scene is set up with dolls that are theatre memorabilia and a flower is left at the crime scene. Who murdered Elspeth and why? Was Tey the intended victim? And why would someone kill someone in a public place like a train?

We get to meet Inspector Archie Penrose, the person on whom Alan Grant is supposedly based on. The real sensitive and no frills or eccentricities detective.

"She had wanted a hard-working, well-meaning police inspector, a credible detective to stand out among the figures of fantasy and wish-fulfilment found in so many other crime novels ...."

We don't get insight into Josephine's mind. But there is another writer a struggling bitter person who is awaiting police interrogations who muses

"It was important for writers to make most of every experience and she often played this game with herself, standing outside life, observing. "

At some point I guessed the killer, there was a huge clue, a give away. There were many points I guessed but still there was enough mystery for me to keep reading. I knew who but I couldn't fathom the why?

One important character who plays an important role is War. War has changed life and to people who had survived the war, it had changed life in different ways. There is a running theme of Dysfunctional couples. Aubrey and Grace, Alice and Walter. How War had altered their relationship and though they contniued to live together as Grace Aubrey points out to Penrose

"It's a terrible thing to admit, but any of the pleasures that I did take from our life together would not have been lessened had he not be there to share them. "

I would have liked to know more about the workings of Tey's mind, she doesn't solve the mysteries but she is there at the end. I had some questions while reading The man in the Queue by Tey. Upson tries to answer them for Tey quite satisfactorily. Reference to Tey's books and her characters are interesting and I am definitely picking up Upson's books.

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

Inspector Alan Grant is bed-borne as he had fallen through a trap-door. He is affected by the 'prickles of boredom'. He is not interested in any of the romances or mysteries his various well-wishers had brought for him to read. How long could one stare at the ceiling and find patterns? He had to do something to keep his mind occupied. Marta Hallard, Grant's actress friend, sends him some pictures to see, as he is interested in faces. One of the faces catches his fancy- that of Richard III.

Do you remember anything about Richard III? I don't. Only British Kings who caught my fancy are the Tudors especially Henry VIII with his five wives. So coming to Richard III, Grant shows the picture to many and asks their opinion on the face and then asks them about Richard III. While all the reports on the face are positive, the reports on Richard III are negative. Wasn't he the one who killed his innocent nephews? Grant with the help of a 'looker-upper' starts his investigation into the death of the boys, the Princes in the Tower.

Did Richard III kill his nephews? What happened to the boys? Who killed them and why?

It wasn't an easy read. It was confusing. Especially with the War of Roses background. Who is the brother of whom? Who had claim to the throne? I had to do a quick wikipedia reference. But that wasn't much help. I thought I would take it easy, read it some more to see if it made any sense. Or else read it some other time after some history reading. Taking it easy seemed to work. Then it kind of flew. Grant sums it up nicely.

I liked Tonypandy. The book is worth reading just to know about Tonypandy. I liked Sainted More too! I liked the ending! What do you need in a book, a satisfactory ending, what else?

This book counts towards various challenges. I picked it up for Getting lost in a Comfortable Book challenge. It counts as the Classic Mystery for the Back to Classics Challenge and Historical Whodunit for the Merely Mystery Reading Challenge. I borrowed the book from my local library.

Theme Thursday

Theme Thursday is a fun weekly Meme hosted at Reading Between the Pages.

This week's theme is Name-The First name you come across while reading.
My snippet is from the opening line of The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.

Grant lay on his high white cot and stared at the ceiling. Stared at it with loathing.