Reviews

‘My favourite type of mystery, suspenseful, and where everyone is not what they appear . . . Christine is great at creating atmosphere . . . she evokes the magic of the stage, and her characters [have] a past to be uncovered before the mystery is solved.’ [Stage Fright]

- Lizzie Hayes, MYSTERY WOMEN

Josephine Tey, P.D. James – and me

Posted on Jul 7, 2025 in Donna Tartt, Gladys Mitchell, Josphine Tey, Laurels are Poison, Miss Pym Disposes, P. D. James, Shroud for a Nightingale, The Secret History | 2 Comments

DEATH AMONG THE DONS Part 2 One of my favourite novels with an academic setting is Josephine Tey’s Miss Pym Disposes (1946), which is set in an female physical training college. Hers is in many ways an affectionate portrait. Tey had herself attended just such a college, Anstey Physical Training College in Birmingham, and had […]

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Desert Island Crime Fiction

Posted on May 13, 2014 in Crime novels, Desert Island, Dorothy L Sawyers, Frederic Brown, G. K. Chesterton. Rennie Airth, Josphine Tey, Michael Gilbert, Simeon, Sjöwall and Wahlöö | 2 Comments

I’m off to Crimefest – see crimefest.com – on Thursday where I am moderating a panel on the Contemporary Cosy. This has set me thinking about my all-time favourite crime novels and I’ve drawn up a desert island selection of eight classic crime novels or collections of stories that I’d be very happy to read again. In […]

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