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Crime Novels: Miss Pym Disposes / The Franchise Affair / Brat Farrar
This 674 page volume contains the first mysteries of Josephine Tey to be published in this country, complete and unabridged. All three have been out of print for some time; all three have become collector's items. Here is a book to delight not only dedicated fans but casual admirers of detective fiction at its best, by one the finest practitioners of her craft.
660 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1949
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276 people want to read
About the author
Josephine Tey
139 books852 followersJosephine Tey was a pseudonym of Elizabeth Mackintosh. Josephine was her mother's first name and Tey the surname of an English Grandmother. As Josephine Tey, she wrote six mystery novels featuring Scotland Yard's Inspector Alan Grant.
The first of these, The Man in the Queue (1929) was published under the pseudonym of Gordon Daviot , whose name also appears on the title page of another of her 1929 novels, Kif; An Unvarnished History. She also used the Daviot by-line for a biography of the 17th century cavalry leader John Graham, which was entitled Claverhouse (1937).
Mackintosh also wrote plays (both one act and full length), some of which were produced during her lifetime, under the pseudonym Gordon Daviot. The district of Daviot, near her home of Inverness in Scotland, was a location her family had vacationed. The name Gordon does not appear in either her family or her history.
Elizabeth Mackintosh came of age during World War I, attending Anstey Physical Training College in Birmingham, England during the years 1915 - 1918. Upon graduation, she became a physical training instructor for eight years. In 1926, her mother died and she returned home to Inverness to care for her invalid father. Busy with household duties, she turned to writing as a diversion, and was successful in creating a second career.
Alfred Hitchcock filmed one of her novels, A Shilling for Candles (1936) as Young and Innocent in 1937 and two other of her novels have been made into films, The Franchise Affair (1948), filmed in 1950, and 'Brat Farrar' (1949), filmed as Paranoiac in 1963. In addition, a number of her works have been dramatised for radio.
Her novel The Daughter of Time (1951) was voted the greatest mystery novel of all time by the Crime Writers' Association in 1990.
Miss Mackintosh never married, and died at the age of 55, in London. A shy woman, she is reported to have been somewhat of a mystery even to her intimate friends. While her death seems to have been a surprise, there is some indication she may have known she was fatally ill for some time prior to her passing.
The first of these, The Man in the Queue (1929) was published under the pseudonym of Gordon Daviot , whose name also appears on the title page of another of her 1929 novels, Kif; An Unvarnished History. She also used the Daviot by-line for a biography of the 17th century cavalry leader John Graham, which was entitled Claverhouse (1937).
Mackintosh also wrote plays (both one act and full length), some of which were produced during her lifetime, under the pseudonym Gordon Daviot. The district of Daviot, near her home of Inverness in Scotland, was a location her family had vacationed. The name Gordon does not appear in either her family or her history.
Elizabeth Mackintosh came of age during World War I, attending Anstey Physical Training College in Birmingham, England during the years 1915 - 1918. Upon graduation, she became a physical training instructor for eight years. In 1926, her mother died and she returned home to Inverness to care for her invalid father. Busy with household duties, she turned to writing as a diversion, and was successful in creating a second career.
Alfred Hitchcock filmed one of her novels, A Shilling for Candles (1936) as Young and Innocent in 1937 and two other of her novels have been made into films, The Franchise Affair (1948), filmed in 1950, and 'Brat Farrar' (1949), filmed as Paranoiac in 1963. In addition, a number of her works have been dramatised for radio.
Her novel The Daughter of Time (1951) was voted the greatest mystery novel of all time by the Crime Writers' Association in 1990.
Miss Mackintosh never married, and died at the age of 55, in London. A shy woman, she is reported to have been somewhat of a mystery even to her intimate friends. While her death seems to have been a surprise, there is some indication she may have known she was fatally ill for some time prior to her passing.
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August 20, 2016
More than Nostalgia
One of the great pleasures of reading classic English mysteries is the indulgence of a gentle nostalgia for a bygone world. In defiance, perhaps, of the changes presaged by the First War and brought about by the Second, they represent an England that is still predominantly rural, held together by custom and civility, and where everybody understands his or her place in the social order. There are also technical reasons for this, in that the classic mystery requires stability as a backdrop for mayhem. These books are typically set within relatively closed communities; Agatha Christie, for example, focused on the inhabitants of a country village in her Miss Marple series, and in more extreme examples featured guests at an isolated house party, passengers on a Wagon Lits coach, or tourists on a Nile cruise. Although the genre has largely been swept away by the police procedural and its gritty derivatives, a few more recent writers still continue the tradition, such as PD James, Colin Dexter, or Elizabeth George. Only the tradition of the amateur or at least private detective seems to have dropped out, although all three authors mentioned go to some lengths to give their policemen a private life which makes them as different as possible from the stereotype.
The three novels in this volume were written by Elizabeth MacKintosh in the years immediately following WW2, and published under the pen name of Josephine Tey. They are all, in their way, hymns to a vanishing England; they all have rural settings, and deal with a relatively restricted community; and although there is a peripheral police presence in some of them, the detective figure, if any, is an amateur. But you don't read these books primarily as whodunits; Tey was less ingenious in plot construction than Christie; indeed she confessed to having difficulty in writing original stories, and two of these novels are based on historical events. But she is a far better writer, with a feel for the countryside, a fine ear for dialogue, a straightforward style, and a nice sense of humor.
Miss Pym Disposes (1947), the earliest book of the three, literally inhabits a closed community, a residential physical education college for women. Miss Pym, who has achieved a certain fame as the author of a book of pop psychology, is the only outsider. The artificiality of the setting cannot be denied, and the conversations among the students, referring to one another only by last names, seem strange to modern ears. But the relative isolation from outside laws is essential to the ending of the story, whose outcome Miss Pym, not the police, must decide. The Franchise Affair (1948) also features an isolated house, but this one is bleak and forbidding, set behind walls some distance from a market town. It is the kind of place to start rumors, and indeed its current inhabitants—an older woman and her adult daughter—are accused of kidnapping and maltreating a young girl. But the main focus of the book is the interplay between these outsiders and the locals; the go-between, our reluctant hero and eventual detective, is a fortyish country lawyer, hitherto set in his ways and approaching a comfortable middle age of his own. An isolated country house also forms the main setting for the third and best book, Brat Farrar (1949). But, in contrast to the Franchise, this is a centuries-old horse farm in the South Downs, and the book as a whole is a luxuriant celebration of the traditions of English country life.
Seen purely as mysteries, all three books have unusual qualities. The ending of Miss Pym Disposes is strikingly different from that of most crime stories; I should not say more. The death does not occur until three-quarters of the way into the book; most of the novel is spent building up the character relationships, as Miss Pym herself becomes fonder of the young students, and gradually extends her stay at the school. But because these characters are the hardest to translate into the modern world, this book is now the least effective of the three. The crime in The Franchise Affair is not a murder, but at first it seems an open-and-shut case, and one of the most interesting things about it is the length of time that the question of guilt and innocence hangs in the balance. Technically, Brat Farrar is even more audacious. It is the story of a long-lost son come back to claim his inheritance; the boy had gone missing in his early teens, apparently drowned in the sea, whether by accident or suicide; but the death could also have been faked by a determined runaway. The young man who presents himself, who now uses the name of Bratt Farrar, closely resembles the surviving twin brother. Yet the reader knows very early on that the claimant is in fact an impostor, coached by an unscrupulous neighbor who hopes to share in the inheritance. So where is the mystery? Ah!
Classic mysteries, finally, often contain an element of romance. These three Tey books, however, are unusual in the form the romance takes. In The Franchise Affair, the most normal of the three, the attraction develops almost against the intentions of the people involved, but the story takes an unexpected twist where you might expect a conventional ending. The ending of Brat Farrar is even more oblique; and, given the incestuous overtones of the growing feeling between a young woman and a man who claims he is her brother, it is amazing that Tey can extract herself from the erotic morass with the delicacy that she does. Miss Pym Disposes is the strangest of the lot; although there is no overt romance between any of the characters in this all-female cast, a faint hint of Sapphic affection is palpable throughout, and it is hard to imagine that the author was not aware of this (though perhaps this may just be a post-modern deconstruction).
Josephine Tey's novels are dated, yes. But there is much charm in their idealized vision of what was in reality a rather gray period. And, whether as an author of mysteries or explorer of emotions, Tey's writing is more complex and personal than the outer appearance of her novels might suggest. Definitely worth another look!
One of the great pleasures of reading classic English mysteries is the indulgence of a gentle nostalgia for a bygone world. In defiance, perhaps, of the changes presaged by the First War and brought about by the Second, they represent an England that is still predominantly rural, held together by custom and civility, and where everybody understands his or her place in the social order. There are also technical reasons for this, in that the classic mystery requires stability as a backdrop for mayhem. These books are typically set within relatively closed communities; Agatha Christie, for example, focused on the inhabitants of a country village in her Miss Marple series, and in more extreme examples featured guests at an isolated house party, passengers on a Wagon Lits coach, or tourists on a Nile cruise. Although the genre has largely been swept away by the police procedural and its gritty derivatives, a few more recent writers still continue the tradition, such as PD James, Colin Dexter, or Elizabeth George. Only the tradition of the amateur or at least private detective seems to have dropped out, although all three authors mentioned go to some lengths to give their policemen a private life which makes them as different as possible from the stereotype.
The three novels in this volume were written by Elizabeth MacKintosh in the years immediately following WW2, and published under the pen name of Josephine Tey. They are all, in their way, hymns to a vanishing England; they all have rural settings, and deal with a relatively restricted community; and although there is a peripheral police presence in some of them, the detective figure, if any, is an amateur. But you don't read these books primarily as whodunits; Tey was less ingenious in plot construction than Christie; indeed she confessed to having difficulty in writing original stories, and two of these novels are based on historical events. But she is a far better writer, with a feel for the countryside, a fine ear for dialogue, a straightforward style, and a nice sense of humor.
Miss Pym Disposes (1947), the earliest book of the three, literally inhabits a closed community, a residential physical education college for women. Miss Pym, who has achieved a certain fame as the author of a book of pop psychology, is the only outsider. The artificiality of the setting cannot be denied, and the conversations among the students, referring to one another only by last names, seem strange to modern ears. But the relative isolation from outside laws is essential to the ending of the story, whose outcome Miss Pym, not the police, must decide. The Franchise Affair (1948) also features an isolated house, but this one is bleak and forbidding, set behind walls some distance from a market town. It is the kind of place to start rumors, and indeed its current inhabitants—an older woman and her adult daughter—are accused of kidnapping and maltreating a young girl. But the main focus of the book is the interplay between these outsiders and the locals; the go-between, our reluctant hero and eventual detective, is a fortyish country lawyer, hitherto set in his ways and approaching a comfortable middle age of his own. An isolated country house also forms the main setting for the third and best book, Brat Farrar (1949). But, in contrast to the Franchise, this is a centuries-old horse farm in the South Downs, and the book as a whole is a luxuriant celebration of the traditions of English country life.
Seen purely as mysteries, all three books have unusual qualities. The ending of Miss Pym Disposes is strikingly different from that of most crime stories; I should not say more. The death does not occur until three-quarters of the way into the book; most of the novel is spent building up the character relationships, as Miss Pym herself becomes fonder of the young students, and gradually extends her stay at the school. But because these characters are the hardest to translate into the modern world, this book is now the least effective of the three. The crime in The Franchise Affair is not a murder, but at first it seems an open-and-shut case, and one of the most interesting things about it is the length of time that the question of guilt and innocence hangs in the balance. Technically, Brat Farrar is even more audacious. It is the story of a long-lost son come back to claim his inheritance; the boy had gone missing in his early teens, apparently drowned in the sea, whether by accident or suicide; but the death could also have been faked by a determined runaway. The young man who presents himself, who now uses the name of Bratt Farrar, closely resembles the surviving twin brother. Yet the reader knows very early on that the claimant is in fact an impostor, coached by an unscrupulous neighbor who hopes to share in the inheritance. So where is the mystery? Ah!
Classic mysteries, finally, often contain an element of romance. These three Tey books, however, are unusual in the form the romance takes. In The Franchise Affair, the most normal of the three, the attraction develops almost against the intentions of the people involved, but the story takes an unexpected twist where you might expect a conventional ending. The ending of Brat Farrar is even more oblique; and, given the incestuous overtones of the growing feeling between a young woman and a man who claims he is her brother, it is amazing that Tey can extract herself from the erotic morass with the delicacy that she does. Miss Pym Disposes is the strangest of the lot; although there is no overt romance between any of the characters in this all-female cast, a faint hint of Sapphic affection is palpable throughout, and it is hard to imagine that the author was not aware of this (though perhaps this may just be a post-modern deconstruction).
Josephine Tey's novels are dated, yes. But there is much charm in their idealized vision of what was in reality a rather gray period. And, whether as an author of mysteries or explorer of emotions, Tey's writing is more complex and personal than the outer appearance of her novels might suggest. Definitely worth another look!
aborted
December 8, 2013Tey has one of those writing styles I simply can't tolerate. After five pages I begin producing antibodies. But I keep reading - it's supposed to be a mystery, one of my genres. The decade of Miss Pym Disposes is perhaps the thirties or forties, and Miss Pym, author of a bestselling tome on psychology (though an amateur) has been invited by her friend Henrietta to lecture at a girl's college where the curriculum seems to be entirely physical education. After 38 pages, filled mostly with the chirpy, contentless palaver of these upper class gals (who have nicknames like "Nut Tart"), and also Miss Pym taking a bath in the dormitory, I bailed, suffocated by the estrogen and choking on the twee.
February 2, 2014
I was delighted by this book that should be read with a cup of tea and crumpets sitting on a lawn in a sunlit garden.
What a shame that I could not give this book 3.5 because it is what I think it deserves. Or better still I could rate each of the stories that make up this book separately.
Miss Pym Dispose : 3.0
The Franchise Affair : 3.5
Brat Farrar : 4.0
Not that the three stories have nothing in common. They do. All of them feature strong, independent, bright single women. The stories were written in the late 1940’s and one can assume that after two bloody wars there were probably many such women at the time.
All three stories involve gossip, lost reputation and moral dilemma. The characters morals are often infer, rightly or wrongly, from their physical characteristics. In each story people believe what they want to believe about their fellow human beings even though the facts might be weak or even contradict them.
Together they offer us an interesting foray in a different place and time.
Miss Pym Dispose
The first story of the book is set in a girl’s boarding school and, therefore, all the characters are woman or girls. This charming story has at it’s center a bright but naïve an impetuous Miss Pym who’s invited by Henrietta, the director and an old friend, to give a lecture at the boarding school and who chooses to stay until “Demonstration Day”. The books takes it’s time before anything happens beside the daily routine of the school and the incident comes as a surprise for the characters and the reader. Also for Miss Pym who has to make a difficult decision.
The weakness of this story is that the decision appears to be a difficult one for Miss Pym. The reader would have known right away what the right thing to do was and would not have tergiversated for pages at the time like Miss Pym.
Still it’s a lovely story which would appeal to women who love mysteries that are old-fashioned and so English, with lively slightly amusing characters.
The Franchise Affairs
This time the character who has to foil the machination of the evil-intended is Robert Blair a country lawyer who, at the beginning of the story, leads a very boring life illustrated by his tea-tray.
The upheaval comes in the form of a call for help from Marion Sharpe who, together with her sharp-tongue mother, is accused of having abducted a young girl. The story is a lot lighter than the crime might let it suppose and most of the tension comes from the attraction Robert Blair feels towards the mysterious Marion.
It is lovely to encounter, in a mystery, a hero who is not dark and dashing but persistent and dependable. I have to admit that I just love stories where someone’s his challenged out of the routine existence by fate such as in Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene and couldn’t help rooting for Mister Blair.
Brat Farrar
This story is the darker and better one. It does have some touch of humour here and there but at its heart it has a real dilemma. Brat Farrar is an imposter and logically he should be the villain rather than the hero of this story. It’s to the author’s credit that he’s a very likeable character.
He impersonates Patrick the oldest son of the Ashby family who disappeared at thirteen and who was presumed to having committed suicide 8 years ago. If he can pull it off he is to inherit Latchetts the family's land and all the money. It’s hard to say more about this story without giving too much away. I think it can best be summarized what the rector told Brat. Now if only Miss Pym had talked to the rector in our first story.
What a shame that I could not give this book 3.5 because it is what I think it deserves. Or better still I could rate each of the stories that make up this book separately.
Miss Pym Dispose : 3.0
The Franchise Affair : 3.5
Brat Farrar : 4.0
Not that the three stories have nothing in common. They do. All of them feature strong, independent, bright single women. The stories were written in the late 1940’s and one can assume that after two bloody wars there were probably many such women at the time.
All three stories involve gossip, lost reputation and moral dilemma. The characters morals are often infer, rightly or wrongly, from their physical characteristics. In each story people believe what they want to believe about their fellow human beings even though the facts might be weak or even contradict them.
Together they offer us an interesting foray in a different place and time.
Miss Pym Dispose
The first story of the book is set in a girl’s boarding school and, therefore, all the characters are woman or girls. This charming story has at it’s center a bright but naïve an impetuous Miss Pym who’s invited by Henrietta, the director and an old friend, to give a lecture at the boarding school and who chooses to stay until “Demonstration Day”. The books takes it’s time before anything happens beside the daily routine of the school and the incident comes as a surprise for the characters and the reader. Also for Miss Pym who has to make a difficult decision.
The weakness of this story is that the decision appears to be a difficult one for Miss Pym. The reader would have known right away what the right thing to do was and would not have tergiversated for pages at the time like Miss Pym.
Still it’s a lovely story which would appeal to women who love mysteries that are old-fashioned and so English, with lively slightly amusing characters.
The Franchise Affairs
This time the character who has to foil the machination of the evil-intended is Robert Blair a country lawyer who, at the beginning of the story, leads a very boring life illustrated by his tea-tray.
“At 3:50 exactly on every working day Miss Tuff bore into his office a lacquer tray covered with a fair white cloth and bearing a cup of tea in blue-patterned china, and, on a plate to match, two biscuits, petit-beurre Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, digestive Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.”
The upheaval comes in the form of a call for help from Marion Sharpe who, together with her sharp-tongue mother, is accused of having abducted a young girl. The story is a lot lighter than the crime might let it suppose and most of the tension comes from the attraction Robert Blair feels towards the mysterious Marion.
It is lovely to encounter, in a mystery, a hero who is not dark and dashing but persistent and dependable. I have to admit that I just love stories where someone’s his challenged out of the routine existence by fate such as in Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene and couldn’t help rooting for Mister Blair.
Brat Farrar
This story is the darker and better one. It does have some touch of humour here and there but at its heart it has a real dilemma. Brat Farrar is an imposter and logically he should be the villain rather than the hero of this story. It’s to the author’s credit that he’s a very likeable character.
He impersonates Patrick the oldest son of the Ashby family who disappeared at thirteen and who was presumed to having committed suicide 8 years ago. If he can pull it off he is to inherit Latchetts the family's land and all the money. It’s hard to say more about this story without giving too much away. I think it can best be summarized what the rector told Brat. Now if only Miss Pym had talked to the rector in our first story.
March 11, 2022
Josephine Tey was fascinated by people who are not what they seem; these three tales feature scheming schoolgirls, twins and impostors, and young women driven by ambition. The subtitle could be “watch out for young people,” and you could interpret these as responses to a postwar world in which youth were overturning long-held traditions, with all the moral and ethical conundrums that go along with that upheaval. ‘Miss Pym Disposes’ successfully recreates the world of a girls’ school; mystery doesn’t come into it until 2/3 of the way through, but the creation of their world is still compelling. In ‘Brat Farrah,’ the heir to Latchetts comes back from the dead—we know he’s an impostor from the beginning, but who else knows and what will they do about it? This one’s a slow burn and it’s the characters and relationships that keep you reading. I struggled a bit more with ‘The Franchise Affair,’ kind of a baggy story with less-than-compelling characters. Out of the blue, a teenaged girl accuses two elderly ladies of unspeakable crimes against her and the community takes up arms when the prosecutor finds insufficient evidence for a trial. An interesting idea that looks at the responsibility of police and the newspaper in meting out justice, but somehow it doesn’t quite gel. Still, Tey at her best.
August 8, 2012
Just finished "Miss Pym Disposes." Why don't I have the courage of my convictions?! When I think I know who did it, I should stick with that assumption! Skilled author has many tricks. I liked this slow story because of my good experience living four months in an English village. Think many readers of modern mysteries would grow impatient with characterizations of too many students and staff of this girls' school.
Will take a break and read the other two mysteries at another time.
It's July and I just finished Brat Farrar. Again the plot was predictable, but I so enjoyed Tey's literary style. I was especially interested in how she had Brat comparing American and British ways. Wondered if she spent much time in the United States.
Finished (in early August) the third of the mysteries in this volume. "The Franchise Affair" really not anything special as a mystery, but again I enjoyed the humor. Amusing character studies!
Will take a break and read the other two mysteries at another time.
It's July and I just finished Brat Farrar. Again the plot was predictable, but I so enjoyed Tey's literary style. I was especially interested in how she had Brat comparing American and British ways. Wondered if she spent much time in the United States.
Finished (in early August) the third of the mysteries in this volume. "The Franchise Affair" really not anything special as a mystery, but again I enjoyed the humor. Amusing character studies!
October 8, 2014
I was pretty meh on Miss Pym, and I'd already read the Franchise Affair (which I liked). But Brat Farrar blew me away. I'd avoided it, having heard the general premise and decided it was silly. I'm glad I read it. Even though I pretty much figured out the mystery (not because I'm clever, she really didn't hide much--no twist in this one), this was an excellent book. I actually checked this out from the library but I will track down a copy of Brat Farrar to own.
June 1, 2011
Rereading (again). Each time I begin reading these three, I wrestle with which story is my favorite. I am still undecided -- the best answer I can give is the one I'm reading at the time. They are not mysteries or even suspenses, although there is a mystery at the heart of each. They are more psychological portraits of characters and exposes what drives us to make the choices we make. Each time, I am sad to finish this book, but it is always worthwhile.
March 5, 2008
Can't believe I have gone this long without reading Brat Farrar.
April 11, 2018
From an old journal entry (April 10, 1981), when I was preparing to move across the country for a new job, aged 24 (and apparently, as a single working woman, able to read a book a day).
"I also read 'The Franchise Affair' by Josephine Tey--a superb book, beautifully written. Yesterday it was 'Miss Pym Disposes,' also by Tey. She is probably one of the best writers of mysteries, from the point of view of craftsmanship and style, that there is." Six days later, I wrote, "I've been reading (rereading, for the most part) a lot of mysteries lately--[Agatha] Christie & Tey--and have been interested to notice, again, that in books the murders always take place within an enclosed area (a train, a school, a small village) or within a specific, narrow group of people. Obviously, that makes it easier to develop characterizations & to solve the crime. In books someone rarely gets knifed on the streets of a big city (unless he's in a specific group there, like a queue for a theater [a reference to Tey's 'The Man in the Queue'], or does someone get killed at a family reunion of 70 people, say. That's too many people to have to consider in a book. Not that this is wrong, but it's slightly unrealistic. But I still enjoy reading mysteries--Christie, Tey, [Ngaio] Marsh, & [Dorothy] Sayers in particular."
The Tey book I used was "Three by Tey," which I probably purchased at a library booksale. (Her other mysteries--unlike Christie, she wasn't very prolific--were collected in "Four, Five and Six by Tey.") My mother, a lifelong mystery reader, introduced me to these writers when I was teenager.
Below are links to articles about Tey:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/20...
"I also read 'The Franchise Affair' by Josephine Tey--a superb book, beautifully written. Yesterday it was 'Miss Pym Disposes,' also by Tey. She is probably one of the best writers of mysteries, from the point of view of craftsmanship and style, that there is." Six days later, I wrote, "I've been reading (rereading, for the most part) a lot of mysteries lately--[Agatha] Christie & Tey--and have been interested to notice, again, that in books the murders always take place within an enclosed area (a train, a school, a small village) or within a specific, narrow group of people. Obviously, that makes it easier to develop characterizations & to solve the crime. In books someone rarely gets knifed on the streets of a big city (unless he's in a specific group there, like a queue for a theater [a reference to Tey's 'The Man in the Queue'], or does someone get killed at a family reunion of 70 people, say. That's too many people to have to consider in a book. Not that this is wrong, but it's slightly unrealistic. But I still enjoy reading mysteries--Christie, Tey, [Ngaio] Marsh, & [Dorothy] Sayers in particular."
The Tey book I used was "Three by Tey," which I probably purchased at a library booksale. (Her other mysteries--unlike Christie, she wasn't very prolific--were collected in "Four, Five and Six by Tey.") My mother, a lifelong mystery reader, introduced me to these writers when I was teenager.
Below are links to articles about Tey:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/20...
July 6, 2020
Very interesting. The mysteries are not really front and center here. These are much more about the English society, manners, etc. Miss Pym is a guest lecturer at an all girls' school when a young girl dies in the gymnasium. She determines that the death was not accidental and solves the mystery. But, should she tell her friend the head of the school or the police? Big twist at the end. The Franchise Affaire is a story about Robert Blair, a solicitor. He receives a call from Marion Sharpe who lives with her mother in The Franchise, a house in his town. Marion and her mother are being accused of kidnapping a 15 year old girl and beating her because she won't become their housekeeper. Marion swears that they've never seen the girl before. Brat Farrar is the name of a young man who agrees to pretend to be an heir who has been missing for 7-8 years and is presumed dead. His "aunt" and "twin brother" are really not sure; but he looks so much like a member of the family and he knows things that a stranger wouldn't know.
October 12, 2017
A friend gifted me with a much-beloved copy of Three By Tey (author Josephine Tey, pen name of Scottish writer Elizabeth MakKintosh 1896-1952) a few months ago. I recently read The Franchise Affair, one of the three stories within, and look forward to delving into Miss Pym Disposes and Brat Farrar. Usually in a 1940s/'50s mystery whodunit, there will be a body or two lying about. I would say that The Franchise Affair is a nonviolent mystery. Somewhat leisurely paced, the telling of the tale held my interest; I could easily imagine the countryside and the activity of the characters as they went about their business as the mystery unfolded. A very enjoyable read.
January 9, 2018
4.5 really. It was a book that had always been on my parents' book shelves. I'm glad I kept my curiosity for it and didn't give it away when we closed up their houses. It is another delightful read. I liked it better than the Agatha Christie compilation I read, because Tey (Mackintosh) is much more interested in other things besides plot. Lots of observing people in all their vagaries and an interesting look into to post WW2 England and not gorey at all, thankfully, just trying to work through various challenges of the human condition.
January 4, 2020
Plots: virtually non-existent. And yet, i didn't mind at all. This will drive many readers crazy and cause them to give up on the stories. And I wouldn't blame them. You have to be in the right relaxed mood to enjoy these stories. These about 200 page stories, if written by a modern author, would probably fill 50 pages, max. She just writes so well I didn't mind going down these rambling paths.
January 15, 2019
Miss Pym Disposes; The Franchise Affair; and Brat Farrar. All 3 great fun, beautifully written.
March 31, 2009
I've read the first of the three, and it charmed me. The women's college, the women at the college, and Miss Pym herself provided me with the perfect Friday night read and kept me reading until I was done on Saturday.
Perhaps the book was too quaint. I'm not sure I would agree, for the character studies were deep, and the lack of drastic and violent action in the plot was studied, not lazy. The ending was just unsatisfactory enough for real life, neither pat nor aggressively unresolved. If indeed it is quaint, it's quaintness only added to the charm.
Miss Pym Disposes isn't great literature, but it is great leisure reading. Can't wait for the next book.
Later: The Franchise Affair was pleasant, but not nearly as good as Miss Pym Disposes, partly because of the absence of Miss Pym. It was also not very memorable--I just had to think for a couple of minutes to remember what happened.
Brat Farrar was a slow start but ended up being a pleasant read. Warm and comfortable and more memorable than Franchise but not nearly as satisfying as Miss Pym.
Overall, I really like the way Tey plays themes of love and justice against each other and brings them to a satisfying reconciliation.
Perhaps the book was too quaint. I'm not sure I would agree, for the character studies were deep, and the lack of drastic and violent action in the plot was studied, not lazy. The ending was just unsatisfactory enough for real life, neither pat nor aggressively unresolved. If indeed it is quaint, it's quaintness only added to the charm.
Miss Pym Disposes isn't great literature, but it is great leisure reading. Can't wait for the next book.
Later: The Franchise Affair was pleasant, but not nearly as good as Miss Pym Disposes, partly because of the absence of Miss Pym. It was also not very memorable--I just had to think for a couple of minutes to remember what happened.
Brat Farrar was a slow start but ended up being a pleasant read. Warm and comfortable and more memorable than Franchise but not nearly as satisfying as Miss Pym.
Overall, I really like the way Tey plays themes of love and justice against each other and brings them to a satisfying reconciliation.
March 20, 2011
Reading all three together (though I'm just halfway through Brat Farrar for the nth time) displays her tics as well as her strengths. She is a master character builder and knows how to deceive the reader without cheating. Each book shows an obsession with faces, most notably in Daughter of Time, of course, but also here, where the surprise murderer in Miss Pym Disposes has a face that contradicts her nature; where the horrid Betty Kane looks sweet as can be to most people but has a face that signals trouble to less naive viewers in The Franchise Affair; and of course, in Brat Farrar, where an almost identical twin turns up after being presumed dead, the whole thing hinging on Brat's remarkable resemblance to Simon. Good reads that are even more rewarding for readers who know the deception and can appreciate how Tey sets the trap. In fact, I've just upped this collection from four to five stars!
July 1, 2012
Not for me. I tried reading the first two books (Miss Pym Disposes and The Franchise Affair) and never got more than a third of the way through. Didn't even try the third (Brat Farrar).
I've tried to figure out why, since so many people really love her writing, especially The Franchise Affair. I think it has to do with the long, involved descriptions of everything. Walkways and rooms, people and animals, life and events. It takes a long time for anything to happen and I just got bored waiting for some actions.
Not going to try her again.
I've tried to figure out why, since so many people really love her writing, especially The Franchise Affair. I think it has to do with the long, involved descriptions of everything. Walkways and rooms, people and animals, life and events. It takes a long time for anything to happen and I just got bored waiting for some actions.
Not going to try her again.
July 10, 2013
It had been a long time since I read Josephine Tey, but she is well worth rereading. She's such an intelligent stylist that it's a pleasure to read every word. All three of these books are good and I recommend them highly.
I just finished the third novel in this book club collection edition today and loved the ending. The tension was all in waiting for the main character to be caught--but not wanting him to be punished for his crime! Justice comes in the end, in a somewhat surprising and wonderful way.
I just finished the third novel in this book club collection edition today and loved the ending. The tension was all in waiting for the main character to be caught--but not wanting him to be punished for his crime! Justice comes in the end, in a somewhat surprising and wonderful way.
March 27, 2015
I really enjoyed these three stories. They are rather old-fashioned, think Agatha Christie, but they do have a surprise twist to them. Not quite as light as Christie though, Tey's characters are more complex and her world-building is more detailed. Nothing happens quickly here, so if you like mysteries that have a lot of atmosphere and not so much action, these stories should appeal to you. I will definitely be reading more of her work.
June 5, 2008
It's hard to review a book with three short stories; the first one (Miss Pym) I hated, the second one (The Franchise Affair) I loved. So a 'Liked It" rating seems to even them all out. Josephine Tey is definitely an old-school British mystery writer; I enjoyed The Man in the Queue more than these as it had more plot development and suspense.
Want to read
April 12, 2010Only read Brat Farrar before I had to return the book to the library (it was requested by someone else). The story was the best 'is he the missing heir' that I have ever read. If you like English stories based in the early part of last century, this story is for you. A great character piece, scenery candy aplenty and a possible murder....
December 28, 2011
I enjoy all of this author's old-fashioned mysteries. I like it when Miss Pym says about herself, "As an investigator, she would make a very good teacher of French," or a similar remark. Her sleuth makes mistakes.
Brat Farrar was made into a PBS "Mystery" series in the late 80s or early 90s. As far as I know, it has not been repeated after that season.
Brat Farrar was made into a PBS "Mystery" series in the late 80s or early 90s. As far as I know, it has not been repeated after that season.
September 2, 2022
I adore all three novels, and I read them again and again. The Franchise Affair is possibly my favorite. I love the writing and I love the characters. I would like to add, in 2022, that my favorite of these three seems to change every time I read it. This last time it was Brat Farrar. This is a favorite "comfort read" of mine.
June 16, 2008
I read Miss Pym Disposes and The Franchise Affair (my original target) and skimmed through most of Brat Farrar. I enjoyed the characters the most, especially Robert Blair's underling (whose name escapes me), evolving from an insensitive fop to a Decent Guy.
July 26, 2009
When I found an old list of books I'd read inthe 50's-60's, I discovered that I had read these mysteries back then as well. But I didn't remember them when I read them again in 2005 and I'm glad I enjoyed them twice!
July 19, 2009
The Franchise Affair was wonderful; Brat Farrar was OK, somewhat predicatable and the 'how-done-it' isn't really explained; Miss Pym Disposes was good, not a typical mystery, but an interesting look at life in a girl's school.
December 7, 2012
"Three" by Josephine Tey contains: Brat Farrar, The Franchise Affair, and Miss Pym Disposes. In my opinion, Brat Farrar and The Franchise Affair are two of her best works, which makes this volume worth owning for anyone looking to buy their first Tey...
January 28, 2016
3 1/2 stars. I guess Tey rhymes with "three" because my version of the book has a title with a pun on "tea."
I enjoyed Brat Farrar: Talented Mr. Ripley meets English Country Living. So far Daughter of Time is good, too.
I enjoyed Brat Farrar: Talented Mr. Ripley meets English Country Living. So far Daughter of Time is good, too.
October 27, 2014
I enjoyed all three selections in this book. Each story had its own charms. For someone looking for a classic whodunit, this is not your author. Tey takes her time with the characters and their surroundings. The mystery is almost an after thought or a means to an end. Very British stories.
June 10, 2016
It's all about good, old-fashioned character building. These three novels are meant to be savored and enjoyed at leisure and their entire cast of characters move into your upstairs room for weeks on end.
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