An Expert in Murder
Josephine Tey • Book 1
by Nicola Upson
Why You'll Love This
The real Josephine Tey — one of Golden Age crime's most enigmatic figures — steps off the page and into her own murder investigation.
- Great if you want: Golden Age atmosphere with a real literary figure as sleuth
- The experience: Unhurried and atmospheric — theatre, 1930s London, creeping dread
- The writing: Upson blends historical detail and fictional tension with quiet confidence
- Skip if: You want a fast-paced thriller — this is measured and character-driven
About This Book
London, 1934. Josephine Tey arrives in the city to celebrate the closing run of her hit West End play, only to find herself entangled in a real murder — one that may be connected to her own work. Nicola Upson takes the audacious step of casting the actual historical mystery writer as her detective fiction heroine, placing a real, complicated woman at the center of a crime that feels both intimate and historically charged. The stakes are personal from the first page: a young woman Tey befriended on the train is dead, and the glittering world of 1930s theatre suddenly feels very dangerous indeed.
What distinguishes this novel as a reading experience is Upson's meticulous attention to period atmosphere — the textures of backstage London, the anxious glamour of the interwar years, the way pacifist idealism and creeping dread coexist in the same drawing room. The prose is controlled and observant without calling attention to itself, and the dual portrait of Tey as both creator of fiction and subject of it gives the book a layered quality that straightforward historical mysteries rarely achieve. Readers who appreciate character over sensation will find plenty to linger over here.
