Nominally an Inspector Grant book (number 3 in the 6 book series) this is less about Grant - who barely makes an appearance - and more about Robert Blair, a wills and probate solicitor in a small town. At the beginning of the book, he is becoming aware that he is in a rut and whilst tradition is nice and steady, there is perhaps, something more missing, but he doesnt know what. He is almost out the door when his phone goes. Marion Sharpe is in need of help. She, along with her mother, has been accused of kidnapping and holding a young girl hostage in their decrepit and lonely house. The girl's testimony is both specific and vague enough to be almost impossible to disprove, and a lack of proof that they didnt do it is likewise almost impossible to prove.
Blair agrees to provde legal support as best he can, despite not being a criminal lawyer, and as he gets involved with Marion and the case, finds he wants to continue giving both legal and emotional support. He does everything to help the women out, instigating investigations and doing the checks that the police seem unwilling or constrained not to take forward. Initially the police are not willing to press charges on the basis there is nothing more than one person's word against another. However, the national press get involved and soon whip the reading public's emotions into a frenzy, making the police reinvestigate the issue, and the women’s case makes its’ way into the assizes.
Considering how old this book is (first published in 1948) it’s both interesting and sad how little things have changed – especially around the press, and the general reading public, who takes things on the face of it. As expected the case appears for one day on the front page, they present a judgement on the Sharpes verses the innocent-looking 15 year old Betty, and the letters page (today’s Comment section) is inundated until late the following week with hysteria – which leads to some windows being smashed at The Franchise. However, it has almost died down when another gutter publication (previous heroes including a left wing killer being persecuted by his government who – shock – want to lock him up for being a “patriot” for killing people). Sadly things have not changed much as of today, only the vehicle.
The dénouement comes late in the story and is much of luck as anything. It leads to a showdown in court with the testimony of Betty being pulled apart and the façade of her innocence being shown to be false to all who were willing it to be true.

This book just might make you fall in love with lawyers. Robert Blair is such a well-developed and likable (a lawyer no less) character, as is his Irish lawyer friend, Macdermott, who contributes to the concept of getting justice for Blair's clients. I didn't think that I would like any of Tey's books better than the audiobook of The Singing Sands, yet this one, also skillfully read by Karen Cass, tops it because of Tey's excellent psychological portrayal of the story's protagonist and secondary characters. Anyone who opts for the audiobooks (The Josephine Tey Collection-61 hours of listening to 8 of Tey's works read by Karen Cass) is in for a treat! I highly recommend. ( )

A young girl who has been missing, turns up with bruises and claims to have been kidnapped and beaten by two women. She gives a detailed account of their home, but they claim never to have seen her before. Who is lying? Inspired by an actual case, this is a good story. The pace at times seemed pretty slow, but that may be my mood. At no time did I want to put it down and walk away, although I was tempted a couple of times to skim. I didn't succumb to temptation, and I am glad because the characters and nature of the tale needed the time to build. The ending of the book, not the case, surprised and delighted me a good deal. A case of an author giving the reader their expectations, then taking it away and convincing the reader that was correct for the story, then turning it all topsy-turvy. ( )

This was fine but not really much of an Alan Grant story; Robert Blair does most of the investigating work. I liked that Blair and Marion were of about the same age, and that Marion had a healthy relationship with her mum. The classism was potent, though, and there was a hefty dose of sexism as well. ( )

Josephine Tey approaches Dorothy Sayers' level of literate mysteries. What I mean to say is, she's not just writing a "whodunnit." She's writing people, and they're pretty interesting.
Although, I have to remark that out of three books of hers I've read, she's at 100% for making wild generalizations about someone's character based on eye color, shape of the face, etc. I thought the pseudo-science of phrenology had been abandoned by this time, but I must be wrong. ( )