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Inspector Alan Grant #1-6
Inspector Alan Grant: The Full Collection
The Josephine Tey Collection includes unabridged recordings of all 6 of the novels in the Inspector Alan Grant series.
This audiobook is fully indexed. Once downloaded, each book and chapter will be listed so you can easily navigate to the individual section.
The novels included here are:
The Man in the Queue - Inspector Alan Grant searches for the identity of a man killed in the line at a theatre and for the identity of the killer—whom no-one saw.
A Shilling for Candles - 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, even though the area is notorious for such incidents.
The Franchise Affair - A town full of colourful characters and an impossible disappearance, all threaded through with Tey’s signature psychological probing.
To Love and Be Wise - The incomparable Inspector Alan Grant returns in the latest addition to our enormously popular Josephine Tey series. As well as all the usual delights of Tey’s writing and the Inspector himself, To Love and Be Wise also features one of the most cunning and surprising twists of any of Tey’s novels.
The Daughter of Time - Still Tey’s most enduringly popular mystery. Can a bed-ridden 20th-century detective solve a 500-year-old crime?
The Singing Sands - Centres on the mysterious death of a young man on a train, and the cryptic poem that gradually reveals the greed and envy behind his demise.
This audiobook is fully indexed. Once downloaded, each book and chapter will be listed so you can easily navigate to the individual section.
The novels included here are:
The Man in the Queue - Inspector Alan Grant searches for the identity of a man killed in the line at a theatre and for the identity of the killer—whom no-one saw.
A Shilling for Candles - 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, even though the area is notorious for such incidents.
The Franchise Affair - A town full of colourful characters and an impossible disappearance, all threaded through with Tey’s signature psychological probing.
To Love and Be Wise - The incomparable Inspector Alan Grant returns in the latest addition to our enormously popular Josephine Tey series. As well as all the usual delights of Tey’s writing and the Inspector himself, To Love and Be Wise also features one of the most cunning and surprising twists of any of Tey’s novels.
The Daughter of Time - Still Tey’s most enduringly popular mystery. Can a bed-ridden 20th-century detective solve a 500-year-old crime?
The Singing Sands - Centres on the mysterious death of a young man on a train, and the cryptic poem that gradually reveals the greed and envy behind his demise.
Audiobook
Published April 20, 2023
About the author
Josephine Tey
171 books887 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.
For more on Josephine Tey, see the fan site:
http://www.josephinetey.com/
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.
For more on Josephine Tey, see the fan site:
http://www.josephinetey.com/
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 20, 2026
Inspector Alan Grant Omnibus
A review of the McClelland & Steward eBook edition (November 10, 2016) collecting the six original novels as published from 1929 through to 1952.
I read The Complete Alan Grant Mysteries as part of the 2026 Long Books Challenges (LBC) with several GR friends. That allowed for the opportunity to review my original archival paperbacks which I had rolled into GR from my reading database back in 2010. Based on the dates of those paperbacks I had originally read all of the Alan Grant novels back in the mid 1980s. This re-read in short order gave the impression that Tey was not always completely engaged in writing standard crime and mystery fiction.
In book #1 Grant follows a considerable number of red herrings and the solution comes along out of nowhere. #2 is more of a standard investigation, but Grant is focused on the wrong culprit for most of it. In #3 he only makes a cameo appearance. In #4 he sets out to prove that no crime has even occurred. In #5 he is in a sick bed and attempts to solve a historical mystery. In #6 he is suffering from a nervous breakdown and retreats to the countryside to fish, although he is eventually drawn back to investigate an apparent death by accident. Hardly any of these scenarios fit the standard detective story format. I enjoyed them again due to their variety.
I reviewed each of the six novels individually as linked below. If I had waited until the end of the omnibus I would have otherwise forgotten many of the plot details:
The Man in the Queue (Alan Grant #1 - 1929) reviewed as The Queue Murder.
A Shilling for Candles (Alan Grant #2 - 1936) reviewed as Death on the Beach.
The Franchise Affair (Alan Grant #3 - 1948) reviewed as KIdnap or Frame-up?.
To Love and Be Wise (Alan Grant #4 - 1950) reviewed as Murder, Suicide, Kidnap or None of Them?.
The Daughter of Time (Alan Grant #5 - 1951) reviewed as The Coldest Cold Case.
The Singing Sands (Alan Grant #6 - 1952) reviewed as Grant in the Highlands.
This omnibus edition did not contain any enhanced content such as a biography or general introduction or notes. I switched to this McClelland and Stewart edition, as I became suspicious of my initial selection Inspector Alan Grant Mysteries - Complete Series: Detective Novels: The Daughter of Time / The Man in the Queue / The Franchise Affair… published by e-artnow due to its odd no. of pages (702) which left the impression that it might be abridged in some manner. The six novels printed individually are each usually 200+ pages in length.
Trivia and Links
The works of Josephine Tey (a pseudonym of Elizabeth Mackintosh) are in the Public Domain in Canada (where I am reading from) and can be downloaded at Faded Page. Read the note at the top of the linked page which states that they might not be in the Public Domain in other countries/regions.
Josephine Tey was one of the pseudonyms of Scottish novelist Elizabeth Mackintosh (1896-1952) who also wrote under the penname of Gordon Daviot. Her most popular novel (per GR ratings and reviews) is The Daughter of Time (Alan Grant #5 - 1951) where the detective is recuperating in hospital and uses the downtime to investigate the case of Richard III and the murder of the Princes in the Tower. In 1990, it was voted Number One in the 100 Greatest Crime Novels of All Time by the British Crime Writers Association. See reference at Wikipedia.
The list of the CWA's 100 Greatest Crime Novels of All Time (1990) can be seen at The Greatest Books. The Goodreads Listopia is corrupted (102 books?) and the order is out of wack as the titles are being voted on by GR members, but you can see it here.
A review of the McClelland & Steward eBook edition (November 10, 2016) collecting the six original novels as published from 1929 through to 1952.
She looked at him for a long moment and then said: “You are a very odd sort of policeman.”
“I suspect that it is your idea of policemen that is odd,” Grant said briskly.
I read The Complete Alan Grant Mysteries as part of the 2026 Long Books Challenges (LBC) with several GR friends. That allowed for the opportunity to review my original archival paperbacks which I had rolled into GR from my reading database back in 2010. Based on the dates of those paperbacks I had originally read all of the Alan Grant novels back in the mid 1980s. This re-read in short order gave the impression that Tey was not always completely engaged in writing standard crime and mystery fiction.
In book #1 Grant follows a considerable number of red herrings and the solution comes along out of nowhere. #2 is more of a standard investigation, but Grant is focused on the wrong culprit for most of it. In #3 he only makes a cameo appearance. In #4 he sets out to prove that no crime has even occurred. In #5 he is in a sick bed and attempts to solve a historical mystery. In #6 he is suffering from a nervous breakdown and retreats to the countryside to fish, although he is eventually drawn back to investigate an apparent death by accident. Hardly any of these scenarios fit the standard detective story format. I enjoyed them again due to their variety.
I reviewed each of the six novels individually as linked below. If I had waited until the end of the omnibus I would have otherwise forgotten many of the plot details:
The Man in the Queue (Alan Grant #1 - 1929) reviewed as The Queue Murder.
A Shilling for Candles (Alan Grant #2 - 1936) reviewed as Death on the Beach.
The Franchise Affair (Alan Grant #3 - 1948) reviewed as KIdnap or Frame-up?.
To Love and Be Wise (Alan Grant #4 - 1950) reviewed as Murder, Suicide, Kidnap or None of Them?.
The Daughter of Time (Alan Grant #5 - 1951) reviewed as The Coldest Cold Case.
The Singing Sands (Alan Grant #6 - 1952) reviewed as Grant in the Highlands.
This omnibus edition did not contain any enhanced content such as a biography or general introduction or notes. I switched to this McClelland and Stewart edition, as I became suspicious of my initial selection Inspector Alan Grant Mysteries - Complete Series: Detective Novels: The Daughter of Time / The Man in the Queue / The Franchise Affair… published by e-artnow due to its odd no. of pages (702) which left the impression that it might be abridged in some manner. The six novels printed individually are each usually 200+ pages in length.
Trivia and Links
The works of Josephine Tey (a pseudonym of Elizabeth Mackintosh) are in the Public Domain in Canada (where I am reading from) and can be downloaded at Faded Page. Read the note at the top of the linked page which states that they might not be in the Public Domain in other countries/regions.
Josephine Tey was one of the pseudonyms of Scottish novelist Elizabeth Mackintosh (1896-1952) who also wrote under the penname of Gordon Daviot. Her most popular novel (per GR ratings and reviews) is The Daughter of Time (Alan Grant #5 - 1951) where the detective is recuperating in hospital and uses the downtime to investigate the case of Richard III and the murder of the Princes in the Tower. In 1990, it was voted Number One in the 100 Greatest Crime Novels of All Time by the British Crime Writers Association. See reference at Wikipedia.
The list of the CWA's 100 Greatest Crime Novels of All Time (1990) can be seen at The Greatest Books. The Goodreads Listopia is corrupted (102 books?) and the order is out of wack as the titles are being voted on by GR members, but you can see it here.
July 3, 2023
Very much enjoyed this different kind of crime series.
Currently Reading
May 11, 2026Ever since Mystery Writers of America ranked The Daughter of Time in their Top Ten Mysteries of All Time, I've noticed the writing of Josephine Tey, who was born Elizabeth MacIntosh, and also published under the name Gordon Daviot. I have also periodically researched her biography. If you would like to go down that rabbit hole, I suggest the fan site:
http://www.josephinetey.com/
Which brings me to my current reading project: to read and review each Inspector Grant novel. This single title (which I purchased on Kindle) includes:
The Man in the Queue (1929)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Shilling for Candles (1936)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Franchise Affair (1948)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Franchise Affair was made into a movie in 1951.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042478/
To Love and Be Wise (1950)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Daughter of Time (1951)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
In 1952 Josephine Tey/ Gordon Daviot, Elizabeth MacIntosh, died.
The Singing Sands (1979)
This is a project of pure enjoyment for me, that I am reading in my free time, so I have no deadline.
---
Want to read the Top 10 of the 100 best mysteries of all time by Mystery Writers of America? Start with #10,
And Then There Were None, Christie, 1939
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
http://www.josephinetey.com/
Which brings me to my current reading project: to read and review each Inspector Grant novel. This single title (which I purchased on Kindle) includes:
The Man in the Queue (1929)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Shilling for Candles (1936)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Franchise Affair (1948)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Franchise Affair was made into a movie in 1951.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042478/
To Love and Be Wise (1950)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Daughter of Time (1951)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
In 1952 Josephine Tey/ Gordon Daviot, Elizabeth MacIntosh, died.
The Singing Sands (1979)
This is a project of pure enjoyment for me, that I am reading in my free time, so I have no deadline.
---
Want to read the Top 10 of the 100 best mysteries of all time by Mystery Writers of America? Start with #10,
And Then There Were None, Christie, 1939
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
August 29, 2026
Reflective of the anthology as a whole, this is mediocre. Easy-listening, formulaic stories that are borderline instantly forgettable. I wanted this year to be about anthologies, so I haven't cheated by logging each individual story/book, but that's massively hindering my book count for the year, and has meant that I've spent time on some books I'd otherwise have left. It also means that whilst there were a couple of the stories I enjoyed, the overall score is low
November 22, 2025
A Nice Collection of Stories
I like that her hero isn't perfect. Almost as perfect as all her contemporaries heros, but not quite. She appears at some points to try and make him a multiple personality, with his part 'that looked on' making comments of its own, but didn't do itvalit, thankfully.
I like that her hero isn't perfect. Almost as perfect as all her contemporaries heros, but not quite. She appears at some points to try and make him a multiple personality, with his part 'that looked on' making comments of its own, but didn't do itvalit, thankfully.
November 15, 2025
The Man in the Queue ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A Shilling for Candles ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Franchise Affair ⭐⭐⭐⭐
To Love and Be Wise ⭐⭐⭐
The Daughter of Time ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Singing Sands ⭐⭐⭐
22 stars/6 novels = 3.67 stars
A Shilling for Candles ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Franchise Affair ⭐⭐⭐⭐
To Love and Be Wise ⭐⭐⭐
The Daughter of Time ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Singing Sands ⭐⭐⭐
22 stars/6 novels = 3.67 stars
April 7, 2025
Josephine Tey does it again. another stellar mystery
Somehow I had missed this classic Golden Age mystery in my reading. Don't t make my mistake. Get a copy immediately and enjoy!
Somehow I had missed this classic Golden Age mystery in my reading. Don't t make my mistake. Get a copy immediately and enjoy!
November 25, 2024
I listened to the audiobook version of this title, narrated amazingly well by Karen Cass.
THE MAN IN THE QUEUE:
This is the first time that I’ve come across this author and this series. It’s amazing. I’m writing these reviews as I read each chapter because, to try to summarise them at the conclusion of the entire series would be unfair and unjust.
This case is solved relatively quickly, but not relatively easily and yet you don’t get the impression that the police procedure was slapdash or insubstantial. It’s a really good story, with really good characters. For a first foray, this is really, really clever. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the series.
A SHILLING FOR CANDLES:
I really like Inspector Grant. He has a personality that everyone likes (even the Jammy reporter 😄)!
These stories are really interesting and novel. Bizarre situations and unlikely protagonists (I like that the obvious ones are not the actual ones - at least not in the two that I’ve read to date), even though ALL of the evidence points to them! This is the twist that I like. I also like that a lot of work goes into the seeking of evidence and elimination of alibi’s. These are very interesting stories.
THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR:
Phew! This is a GREAT Story! Inspector Grant hardly features in this tale at all! (That’s not what makes it a great story). I HAD to listen to this telling all in one sitting, because I just truly had to know how this panned out!
And even when I reached the highly satisfactory conclusion, I still wanted to know more! There could have been another 4 or 5 chapters to sign off on the storylines of the other fascinating supporting characters who were encountered in this tale.
This story will really grab you. A truly satisfying journey.
TO LOVE AND BE WISE:
After the excitement and intrigue of the previous tale, this one is interesting and intriguing, but more in the vein of a mystery without a body. Another good tale.
THE DAUGHTER OF TIME:
Unfortunately, even though this is purportedly a most popular tale, it’s not for me - history is not my go-to subject, so the story of Richard lll and the two poor boys, holds no interest for me. DNF
THE SINGING SANDS:
DNF…
This last narrative spent far too much time discussing the local areas, activities and makeup of the country and only lightly dealt with the crime. I got halfway through the story with little to no progress. It wouldn’t encourage me to try any other titles in this series, but apparently this is it!
I’m grateful that this entire collection is included in the Audible Plus Library.
THE MAN IN THE QUEUE:
This is the first time that I’ve come across this author and this series. It’s amazing. I’m writing these reviews as I read each chapter because, to try to summarise them at the conclusion of the entire series would be unfair and unjust.
This case is solved relatively quickly, but not relatively easily and yet you don’t get the impression that the police procedure was slapdash or insubstantial. It’s a really good story, with really good characters. For a first foray, this is really, really clever. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the series.
A SHILLING FOR CANDLES:
I really like Inspector Grant. He has a personality that everyone likes (even the Jammy reporter 😄)!
These stories are really interesting and novel. Bizarre situations and unlikely protagonists (I like that the obvious ones are not the actual ones - at least not in the two that I’ve read to date), even though ALL of the evidence points to them! This is the twist that I like. I also like that a lot of work goes into the seeking of evidence and elimination of alibi’s. These are very interesting stories.
THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR:
Phew! This is a GREAT Story! Inspector Grant hardly features in this tale at all! (That’s not what makes it a great story). I HAD to listen to this telling all in one sitting, because I just truly had to know how this panned out!
And even when I reached the highly satisfactory conclusion, I still wanted to know more! There could have been another 4 or 5 chapters to sign off on the storylines of the other fascinating supporting characters who were encountered in this tale.
This story will really grab you. A truly satisfying journey.
TO LOVE AND BE WISE:
After the excitement and intrigue of the previous tale, this one is interesting and intriguing, but more in the vein of a mystery without a body. Another good tale.
THE DAUGHTER OF TIME:
Unfortunately, even though this is purportedly a most popular tale, it’s not for me - history is not my go-to subject, so the story of Richard lll and the two poor boys, holds no interest for me. DNF
THE SINGING SANDS:
DNF…
This last narrative spent far too much time discussing the local areas, activities and makeup of the country and only lightly dealt with the crime. I got halfway through the story with little to no progress. It wouldn’t encourage me to try any other titles in this series, but apparently this is it!
I’m grateful that this entire collection is included in the Audible Plus Library.
February 13, 2024
Pretty amazing to have all 6 complete books in one collection available on Hoopla!!! Pleasant listening, but does takes awhile to get through. The narrator is excellent and rather endearing. The mysteries are well-crafted and the author seems to excel w/ conversation. She also has fun w/ the precocious children in several stories.
February 11, 2024
What a class act! great stories and great early 20th century characters. The detective protagonist is a well developed person. The thing about these stories is, they are more than just detective tales, they all have interesting and deeply researched backgrounds.
May 31, 2022
This is a compendium of six mystery novels featuring Inspector Detective Alan Grant.
I first met Inspector Grant in The Daughter of Time, which is a real intellectual tour de force and one of the best books I ever read.
The Man in the Queue is not Tay’s best, and may be one of her earlier works. The story is clever and and Tay takes you with Grant down a rat hole following a suspect. But since it’s a mystery you know there are other suspects. I had my theory but I was wrong. And the solution comes as too much of a surprise at the end.
I first met Inspector Grant in The Daughter of Time, which is a real intellectual tour de force and one of the best books I ever read.
The Man in the Queue is not Tay’s best, and may be one of her earlier works. The story is clever and and Tay takes you with Grant down a rat hole following a suspect. But since it’s a mystery you know there are other suspects. I had my theory but I was wrong. And the solution comes as too much of a surprise at the end.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews