Book two in the mystery series featuring Josephine Tey and Detective Inspector Archie Penrose. Tey was a real person, and Upson uses elements of her life as well as historical events of the mid 1930s as jumping off points for these mysteries. In this episode Tey has been invited to join her friends the Motleys in Cornwall where they’ve gotten involved in the local Minock Theatre. Archie arrives in the same area to attend the funeral of a family friend, and then is convinced to take on the role the friend was to play in the community dramatic performance.

There are more family secrets here than Carter has pills. I had a difficult time at first keeping the characters straight, in part because of their interconnectedness and in part due to everyone’s tendency to speak in riddles and half-truths. Josephine and Archie have different approaches to gathering information, but complement one another in their efforts to ferret out the truth. There are a couple of shocking reveals and more than one twist to the plot.

As mysteries go, this was somewhat slow to get started. The action picks up once the murder happens (on page 200). It is more of a psychological drama than anything else. I’m willing to continue the series, but I hope the action picks up. ( )

1935, and Inspector Archie Penrose and Josephine Tey arrive separately in Cornwall to visit his family home. On arrival Penrose attends the funeral of an estate worker -Harry Pinching - who drowned in the local pond. Josephine becomes aware that they are many secrets on the estate, but how many will lead to harm.
I enjoyed this slow moving mystery and the style of writing. ( )

A mystery set in a small English village where Josephine (the writer of Daughter of Time) has come at the invitation of her friends. She arrives after a funeral of a local golden boy and inadvertantly gets caught up in the intruge and secrets that have strained all the ties that bind the once closekint community together. Warning: not for the squeamish as one of the major storylines is, well, a bit on the creepy side, but a well written book. ( )

If it had not been for Covid-19 and the public library being closed, I might not have finished this book. It was slow getting started and since I had the time, I did finish it. Too many characters that I really only straightened out in the last 1/3 of the book. I do think that I will try the third book in the series when we are all sprung from self-isolation.

I wanted to like it more. I don't want to give things away, but there is a crime, which I hope is uncommon, that two people are guilty of---that seemed at least one too many for a small community. ( )