Reading the Detectives discussion

Our first group read for 2019 is The Singing Sounds by Josephine Tey. Published in 1952, this is the sixth in the Inspector Alan Grant series.

On his train back to Scotland for a well-earned rest, Inspector Grant learns that a fellow passenger, one Charles Martin, has been found dead. It looks like a case of misadventure - but Grant is not so sure. Teased by some enigmatic lines of verse that the deceased had apparently scrawled on a newspaper, he follows a trail to the remote Outer Hebrides.

And though it is the end of his holiday, it is also the beginning of an intriguing investigation into the bizarre circumstances shrouding Charles Martin's death...

Please do not post spoilers in this thread. Thank you.

I thought this was a fine mystery - although it is one of the Grant series, it works fine as a standalone, I'd say, so it doesn't matter if you haven't read the others.

Grant has been a bit in the background in some of the previous books, but here, where he is suffering from nerves, he becomes a more interesting character in his own right - so sad that Tey didn't live to write more mysteries with him as the detective.

That crypic poem at the start is certainly catchy. I found it running through my brain when I was reading this book!

Just to add, this was Josephine Tey's last novel, with the manuscript being found among her papers and published posthumously, so she might well have done some more editing and rewriting before publication if she had lived. It reads very well all the same.

I got a little head start and must say the opening paragraphs are wonderfully written--vividly evoking the scene, every word just the right one. And I like being more inside Inspector Grant than in earlier books!

Abigail wrote: "I got a little head start and must say the opening paragraphs are wonderfully written--vividly evoking the scene, every word just the right one. And I like being more inside Inspector Grant than in earlier books."

Yes, and I really like the way his relationships with his family - Laura and Patrick, especially - are portrayed. It makes an interesting change from the novels where Grant's interacting with the 'artistic' community.

I hope this doesn't count as a spoiler, but I find it interesting that Wee Archie is not considered a real Highlander despite his efforts to wear tartan and speak Gaelic since he's from Glasgow, in the same way that Campbell's not considered properly Scottish in Sayers' Five Red Herrings because he's from Glasgow and has a Northern Irish mother. It's an interesting contrast with Grant, who doesn't feel the need to prove his Highland credentials and in fact doesn't seem to even have a Scottish accent (Tey briefly gives us Pat's phonetics and states that they are no pleasanter on the eye than on the ear and reverts to standard English phrasing, so I assume Grant has an English accent).

Judy wrote: "Just to add, this was Josephine Tey's last novel, with the manuscript being found among her papers and published posthumously, so she might well have done some more editing and rewriting before pub..."

I read that on the flap of the library edition I had. I would not have noticed it needed editing without that knowledge, but knowing it I did think there were spots where it was weaker and could have benefited from a little work.

I also really like getting to know Grant in this book. I hardly remember him from the earlier books we read. Actually I had to keep reminding myself he was not Marsh's Alleyn. I am one of the readers who enjoys the personal side of the detective.

I found this a very literary read and wished Tey had lived to write more.

Sandy wrote: "Actually I had to keep reminding myself he was not Marsh's Alleyn."

That's funny as I had to keep reminding myself that he's not DI Archie Penrose in the Nicola Upson mysteries that feature Josephine Tey - the original stories and the Tey-as-character have got muddled up in my head.

I agree that Tey is one of the most stylish prose writers of the GA that I've read.

Roman Clodia wrote: "Sandy wrote: "Actually I had to keep reminding myself he was not Marsh's Alleyn."

That's funny as I had to keep reminding myself that he's not DI Archie Penrose in the Nicola Upson..."

Confusing Grant and Penrose is probably a compliment to Upson.

I posted an article that appeared on the back cover of the edition I read, but thought I'd share the cover here.

Sandy wrote: "Confusing Grant and Penrose is probably a compliment to Upson."

Yes - but I kept expecting 'Josephine Tey' to pop up with intricate knowledge of the poem or something!

Reading now. After such a great start it is starting to meander a bit for my tastes.

That's a great cover, Elizabeth.

Much better than my cover, which shows, bafflingly, a sultry blonde in close-up.

Abigail wrote: "Much better than my cover, which shows, bafflingly, a sultry blonde in close-up."

I remember my father commenting on Perry Mason covers that they were to sell books, not illustrate the story (probably in reaction to my young self's disgust at his reading choices).

Jeez, you guys are lucky! I got the 1953 Macmillan edition from my library, no cover, just grey with a blue line drawing of some sort of plant... . Not exactly that, but darker.

I have a beautiful folio society hardback with illustrations-a pleasure to read .

I'm about a third of the way through-I don't think I've read any other Grant novel apart from The Daughter of Time and it seems to work fine as a stand alone.

Yes, I’m about halfway through - couldn’t get into it at first, but it’s picking up now that Grant is feeling better and investigating the dead man on the train. I have my suspicions, but I can’t see the connection!

Meanwhile, I’ll just enjoy Grant and his family and the lovely scenery (I’m not a fisherman, but I just imagine myself sitting comfortably on the bank with a good book...)