Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
New York: Macmillan, 1953
Description
The first of Josephine Tey's Inspector Grant mysteries concerns the murder of a man, standing in a ticket queue for a London musical comedy. With his customary tenacity, Grant pursues his suspects through the length of Britain and the labyrinth of the city.
User reviews
LibraryThing member atimco
The Man in the Queue, first published in 1929, is Josephine Tey's first novel. It introduces Inspector Alan Grant, a dapper little Scotland Yard man with a keen eye for detail. When a man is murdered while waiting in the queue for a popular play, Grant is given the case. But how often is a man
(Please note that there are mild spoilers in this review.)
It's interesting that Tey should start her mysteries with her detective's failure to unravel the case. Grant does have an uneasy feeling about the man he tracks down for the murder, but besides that he really doesn't figure out the tangle. I think I like that, actually. Grant can make mistakes like any other person; he isn't the omniscient Holmes or Poirot who always knows the answer and dazzles us all senseless at the end. Tey muses on the fact that an innocent man would have been hanged but for "a woman's fair dealing." It is astonishing (and sobering) how convincing a case can be built from circumstantial evidence. Sometimes justice does miscarry.
And that's what I've come to appreciate about Tey, who is certainly not as flashy as some of her fellow murder-mystery authors. Her stories feel like they really could happen. The detective makes real mistakes. The events are mundane and the murders generally unspectacular. But through these stories the characters become more memorable because they don't have to compete with the staging of the murder or live up to the stereotype of the superhuman detective.
I love Tey's distinction of the "looker-on" in Grant that makes cool observations from a detached part of his consciousness. It is, perhaps, what Terry Pratchett likes to call his Third Thoughts. Tey's style is subtly artistic, unassuming but deft. Most of the time she is occupied with the events of the story, but sometimes something fanciful slips in, like this:
At noon London made you a present of an entertainment, rich and varied and amusing. But at midnight she made you a present of herself; at midnight you could hear her breathe.
For readers new to Tey, this isn't a bad place to start (though I prefer The Franchise Affair or Miss Pym Disposes), and with it Tey claims her place among the brighter talents of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Recommended.
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murdered — with a dagger, no less — in such a public place? There are a hundred suspects, and none at all. (Please note that there are mild spoilers in this review.)
It's interesting that Tey should start her mysteries with her detective's failure to unravel the case. Grant does have an uneasy feeling about the man he tracks down for the murder, but besides that he really doesn't figure out the tangle. I think I like that, actually. Grant can make mistakes like any other person; he isn't the omniscient Holmes or Poirot who always knows the answer and dazzles us all senseless at the end. Tey muses on the fact that an innocent man would have been hanged but for "a woman's fair dealing." It is astonishing (and sobering) how convincing a case can be built from circumstantial evidence. Sometimes justice does miscarry.
And that's what I've come to appreciate about Tey, who is certainly not as flashy as some of her fellow murder-mystery authors. Her stories feel like they really could happen. The detective makes real mistakes. The events are mundane and the murders generally unspectacular. But through these stories the characters become more memorable because they don't have to compete with the staging of the murder or live up to the stereotype of the superhuman detective.
I love Tey's distinction of the "looker-on" in Grant that makes cool observations from a detached part of his consciousness. It is, perhaps, what Terry Pratchett likes to call his Third Thoughts. Tey's style is subtly artistic, unassuming but deft. Most of the time she is occupied with the events of the story, but sometimes something fanciful slips in, like this:
At noon London made you a present of an entertainment, rich and varied and amusing. But at midnight she made you a present of herself; at midnight you could hear her breathe.
For readers new to Tey, this isn't a bad place to start (though I prefer The Franchise Affair or Miss Pym Disposes), and with it Tey claims her place among the brighter talents of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
There are some interesting subtexts in this story of love, obsession and murder. A man in a queue for the final performance of a particular actress in this run of her play before she goes to the US falls over dead and no-one remembers him being murdered. Inspector Alan Grant has to uncover the
It's full of details that to today's sensibilities are not too correct but it's an interesting look into the life and times and methods. It hasn't aged quite as well as some of her contemporaries and as other commentors have said the ending is a bit of a let-down, but in some ways quite realistic.
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clues and follow a few red herrings before discovering the truth. It's full of details that to today's sensibilities are not too correct but it's an interesting look into the life and times and methods. It hasn't aged quite as well as some of her contemporaries and as other commentors have said the ending is a bit of a let-down, but in some ways quite realistic.
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LibraryThing member trinityofone
Only in Britain could you create a murder mystery that revolves around queuing. I adore Tey’s "The Daughter of Time," but I’d never read any other books by her. This is her first novel (originally published under a male pseudonym; ‘Tey’ is actually a pseudonym, too) and it introduces Alan
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Grant, who’s the detective in "Daughter of Time," too. He’s an enjoyable, if not especially vivid character to me—"Time" is fantastic because of its plot, which involves an investigation of whether Richard III was framed—but here, where the plot is less solid, the fact that Grant is (to make the obvious comparison) no Peter Wimsey is especially and unfortunately apparent. The ending was additionally disappointing—an unprompted confession? Lame! All in all, while this was a light, quick read, it was not an especially memorable one. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
Josephine Tey is one of my favorite authors, easily the equal of Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie. Sadly, she wrote only eight mystery novels. I find half of those eight (Miss Pym Disposes, The Franchise Affair, Brat Farrar and The Daughter of Time) absolutely brilliant and two others (To Love
Which doesn't mean it isn't worth reading. I was struck at the start at just how strong is Tey's prose, as she describes a queue of people waiting to buy tickets for a London musical comedy. When the line moves forward, a man keels over, a stiletto in his back, and the seven people near him are detained by the police but all of them claim to have witnessed nothing. As it turns out, the corpse has nothing to identify him, so the first order of business is finding out just who was the man in the queue.
Investigating is Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, and he's a rather bland figure in this novel. Likable, but he doesn't have the quirks or emotional complexities or flashy brilliance that mark out a Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot or Lord Peter Wimsey from the start. There are also ethnic stereotypes expressed by Grant in this novel, no question. The introduction by Robert Barnard that appears in new editions of the Tey novels, even accuses Tey of being anti-semitic and anti-working class. I don't see that in my reread of four of the Tey novels so far, and don't remember it in the ones I haven't read for decades. However, I'd say there's a difference between a novel or its author being bigoted, and the characters expressing prejudice. And I'd note that Grant's assumptions based on such stereotypes prove wrong.
There are other flaws. Towards the end traces of first person appear out of the blue, as if there was originally a frame that was dropped but a few "I" statements got missed being edited out. I think the main complaint veteran mystery readers will have is that Tey doesn't play fair and allow you to solve the mystery along with her detective. The resolution, although it doesn't conflict with what we've known and makes sense of the complexities of the case, does come out of the blue. I still enjoyed this--Tey is always a pleasure to read. And if I don't rate this higher, that's because her first novel really just doesn't match her best. She's one who got stronger as she went along. But that just means that if you start here, you only have better to look forward to.
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and Be Wise, The Singing Sands) very, very good indeed. Unfortunately, I find Man in the Queue, her first novel, merely good.Which doesn't mean it isn't worth reading. I was struck at the start at just how strong is Tey's prose, as she describes a queue of people waiting to buy tickets for a London musical comedy. When the line moves forward, a man keels over, a stiletto in his back, and the seven people near him are detained by the police but all of them claim to have witnessed nothing. As it turns out, the corpse has nothing to identify him, so the first order of business is finding out just who was the man in the queue.
Investigating is Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, and he's a rather bland figure in this novel. Likable, but he doesn't have the quirks or emotional complexities or flashy brilliance that mark out a Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot or Lord Peter Wimsey from the start. There are also ethnic stereotypes expressed by Grant in this novel, no question. The introduction by Robert Barnard that appears in new editions of the Tey novels, even accuses Tey of being anti-semitic and anti-working class. I don't see that in my reread of four of the Tey novels so far, and don't remember it in the ones I haven't read for decades. However, I'd say there's a difference between a novel or its author being bigoted, and the characters expressing prejudice. And I'd note that Grant's assumptions based on such stereotypes prove wrong.
There are other flaws. Towards the end traces of first person appear out of the blue, as if there was originally a frame that was dropped but a few "I" statements got missed being edited out. I think the main complaint veteran mystery readers will have is that Tey doesn't play fair and allow you to solve the mystery along with her detective. The resolution, although it doesn't conflict with what we've known and makes sense of the complexities of the case, does come out of the blue. I still enjoyed this--Tey is always a pleasure to read. And if I don't rate this higher, that's because her first novel really just doesn't match her best. She's one who got stronger as she went along. But that just means that if you start here, you only have better to look forward to.
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LibraryThing member mmyoung
Although an “interesting” first mystery novel -- and a very promising one -- this book has a number of flaws. It is unclear what “type” of mystery novel Tey (Elizabeth Mackintosh) was attempting to write. Was it a police procedural? An action adventure? A discourse on the realities of
Tey’s writing shows great promise and even with the technical difficulties mentioned above this is certainly a book that would be enjoyed by most fans of the British murders mysteries written in the 1920s.
Spoilers ahead.
The last few lines of the book ask the reader to consider the question of who has been the villain. The person we finally come to realize did the murder? Most people would argue no. The person who was murdered? One could make a good argument that that was the case. Or are we to think of the person whose actions motivated the behaviour of the murderer? It is perhaps only in retrospect and after years of public education that readers are likely to realize that the core story of this novel is that of a man who continues to feel ownership of a woman who has long since left him behind. One might even say that he becomes a stalker. Certainly at the time this was first published there would have been many who would have felt far more sympathy for the man whose disappointment in love leads him to suicide than for the woman who rejected him. Indeed the writer, and the major characters, do not seem to be excessively concerned that this man was willing to kill a woman rather than “lose" her.
When once one realizes that this is a story about a woman lashing out to protect another woman from a man who is willing to commit murder-suicide then the story changes from one of cozy murder into a frightening glimpse of how little things have really changed in the last 100 years.
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justice? Insightful examination of the moral and intellectual quandaries of a detective? All these different types of mystery novels seemed to have been wedged together into one and unfortunately, the seams do show. At different times in the book the writer functions as a disinterested observer of life, as the omniscient recorder of the thoughts of all the characters and as a disembodied “I” who knows and interacts with the detective. Tey’s writing shows great promise and even with the technical difficulties mentioned above this is certainly a book that would be enjoyed by most fans of the British murders mysteries written in the 1920s.
Spoilers ahead.
The last few lines of the book ask the reader to consider the question of who has been the villain. The person we finally come to realize did the murder? Most people would argue no. The person who was murdered? One could make a good argument that that was the case. Or are we to think of the person whose actions motivated the behaviour of the murderer? It is perhaps only in retrospect and after years of public education that readers are likely to realize that the core story of this novel is that of a man who continues to feel ownership of a woman who has long since left him behind. One might even say that he becomes a stalker. Certainly at the time this was first published there would have been many who would have felt far more sympathy for the man whose disappointment in love leads him to suicide than for the woman who rejected him. Indeed the writer, and the major characters, do not seem to be excessively concerned that this man was willing to kill a woman rather than “lose" her.
When once one realizes that this is a story about a woman lashing out to protect another woman from a man who is willing to commit murder-suicide then the story changes from one of cozy murder into a frightening glimpse of how little things have really changed in the last 100 years.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
The first book in Josephine Teys’ series that introduces Scotland Yard’s Inspector Alan Grant, The Man In the Queue is a fascinating look at the solving of a murder in the days before forensics and computers. A deceptively simple murder of a man standing in line for a theatre performance.
The story follows along as the Inspector painstakingly tracks down each miniscule clue in order to firstly identify the man that was stabbed in the back, and then to build a picture of his life and who was in it that could possible be the murderer.
The story, the language and it’s careless and casual racism are all a bit dated, but it is interesting to look at this early mystery of hers simply for the influence she has had on future writers. Her many references to World War I, even years after that event, certainly highlight the impact this war had on a generation. Although the ending seems to come out of the blue, the clues are there, but as we are so firmly embedded in Alan Grant’s mindset, we, like him, don’t pick them up.
The story, like the solving of this murder, tends to plod along until we switch to the Scottish Highlands, at that point the story took off for me, and I read avidly to the end. I would say not the best of her work, but certainly interesting enough to encourage me to continue with the series.
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Unfortunately neither the identity of the victim or the murderer will come easy to Inspector Grant.The story follows along as the Inspector painstakingly tracks down each miniscule clue in order to firstly identify the man that was stabbed in the back, and then to build a picture of his life and who was in it that could possible be the murderer.
The story, the language and it’s careless and casual racism are all a bit dated, but it is interesting to look at this early mystery of hers simply for the influence she has had on future writers. Her many references to World War I, even years after that event, certainly highlight the impact this war had on a generation. Although the ending seems to come out of the blue, the clues are there, but as we are so firmly embedded in Alan Grant’s mindset, we, like him, don’t pick them up.
The story, like the solving of this murder, tends to plod along until we switch to the Scottish Highlands, at that point the story took off for me, and I read avidly to the end. I would say not the best of her work, but certainly interesting enough to encourage me to continue with the series.
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LibraryThing member emanate28
This is the first time I'd heard of Josephine Tey or read one of her books. It was a rather odd mystery, as Inspector Grant spends the entire time zeroing in on a particular suspect and feeling like something was not quite right...and then the twist comes at the end and the truth is revealed but no
For a huge Agatha Christie fan, this felt tame as a mystery, but I found the characters intriguing and drawn subtly enough to keep my interest.
I see that some of Ms. Tey's other works have gotten higher ratings here, so maybe I will try one of them some time.
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thanks to his abilities as a police inspector.For a huge Agatha Christie fan, this felt tame as a mystery, but I found the characters intriguing and drawn subtly enough to keep my interest.
I see that some of Ms. Tey's other works have gotten higher ratings here, so maybe I will try one of them some time.
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LibraryThing member MusicMom41
This was the first Alan Grant mystery (Elizabeth MacKintosh's first book, 1929) which she originally published under her other pseudonym, Gordon Daviot. The first novel under the Josephine Tey pseudonym was A Shilling for Candles (1936), also an Alan Grant novel. The other Alan Gran novels were To
This first mystery has an ingenious puzzle involving a death by stabbing that happens in the line of people clamoring to get tickets for the final performance of a famous actress who is leaving to go to America the next day. The characters are interesting the clues are very well hidden. Even in this first effort you can see why Tey was considered one of the queens of the Golden Age of detective fiction.
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Love and Be Wise 1950, The Daughter of Time (1951), and The Singing Sands (1952). Also as Josephine Tey she wrote Miss Pym Disposes (1947), The Franchise Affair (1949), and Brat Farrar (1949). She died in London on February 13, 1952. Tey was a master at writing mysteries that contained ingenious puzzles but also equally interesting characters. She was more like Dorothy Sayers than Agatha Christie in that her books were novels that contained mysteries. My favorite Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None, also falls into this category. It is curious that Alan Grant, like Ngaio Marsh's Roderick Alleyn, did not need his salary as a policeman to earn his living as he had a considerable inheritance that would have sufficed for his needs. They both seem to be "gentlemen detectives", but unlike Dorothy Sayer's Lord Peter they were employed by the police.This first mystery has an ingenious puzzle involving a death by stabbing that happens in the line of people clamoring to get tickets for the final performance of a famous actress who is leaving to go to America the next day. The characters are interesting the clues are very well hidden. Even in this first effort you can see why Tey was considered one of the queens of the Golden Age of detective fiction.
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LibraryThing member alexhunter
Excellent read. Well paced English mystery.
LibraryThing member amelish
It's like, you know. Okay.
LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
Rather a disappointment. I had looked forward to reading this book, remembering how much I enjoyed Tey's "The Daughter of Time" which I read as a teenager more than thirty years.
Sadly this book had noting of the sterling qualities of "The Daughter of Time", and subsided into mindless tweeness
Sadly this book had noting of the sterling qualities of "The Daughter of Time", and subsided into mindless tweeness
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lacking any semblance of feasible plot or plausible characters. Show Less
LibraryThing member Figgles
An enjoyable read though not the best Inspector Grant novel. The inspector investigates the death of a man, stabbed in the back in a London theatre queue. Some passages in Scotland remind me of John Buchan, but the ending is a bit of a cheat - from memory both Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers
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mention the problem of the watertight crime in their fiction... Also some of the language is dated and racist. Still if you are a fan of Tey and Grant then it's worth a look - but beginners should start with "Daughter of Time" or "The Franchise Affair". Show Less
LibraryThing member TGPistole
It's hard to believe Tey died 60 years ago. Yes, some of the book is dated (It was first published in 1929!) but that doesn't really detract from the enjoyment. A good read.
LibraryThing member jkdavies
felt more disjointed and dated than other Tey's I have read, but intriguing to see how it all played out anyway
LibraryThing member mstrust
The introduction to Tey's sleuth,Inspector Alan Grant, who I loved so much in Daughter of Time. In this book, Tey's first published, Grant must figure out who stabbed an apparently friendless man in the line for a popular London musical.
While I felt it dragged on a little, I can see how this book
While I felt it dragged on a little, I can see how this book
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launched Tey's career. The ending really was unforeseeable so the mystery is there until the end. I'll continue with the other Grant mysteries. Show Less
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
This is Tey's first detective story, and it's excellent. There are a couple odd things - what appear to me to be errors in British society, which seems very odd - isn't Tey British? Grant thinks casually (not happily, but casually) of confronting a criminal gun-to-gun. Are the CID normally armed?
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It's rather a major point in a lot of the mysteries I read that American police are armed and British are not. Similarly, Grant's housekeeper bemoans the Scots pronunciation of 'scone' as 'skon', which I think is the way it's pronounced in England too. Oh, and a woman is described as being 'Scotch' rather than Scots - all the kind of errors Americans tend to make about Britain (I've made them and had them corrected, and seen them being corrected in others, many times). Those aside, an interesting story - I had read it before and had some clue as to the outcome, though I had completely forgotten who the murderer actually was. Ratcliff was a complex blind alley - well, so was most of the evidence and suspicion in the whole case. Solved by an unsolicited confession - sheesh! Though Grant did know something was wrong with it, though he was completely stopped on what - in fact, that chapter is probably the most eloquent expression of total frustration I have ever read. Overall. a good story - definitely not one of my favorites, but worth reading and rereading. Show Less
LibraryThing member JonRob
Tey's first published detectiive story (it was originally attributed to her pseudonym "Gordon Daviot" under which she had written the hit play "Richard of Bordeaux") and as usual it has some memorable characters, including the policeman Alan Grant himself, the suspect whom he pursues to a remote
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Scottish island, the actress Ray Marcable and the nurse "Dandie" Dinmont. There is some non-PC language used but hopefully that won't put too many people off this one. Show Less
LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
read for Literary value - and don't give up after first because it is flawed...
LibraryThing member BrokenTune
‘Yes,’ she said; ‘that’s all very well, but look at the long night there’ll be. You never know the minute you’ll waken up hungry and be glad of the sandwiches even if it’s only to pass the time. They’re chicken, and you don’t know when you’ll have chicken again. It’s a
Grant said that Scotland nowadays was very like the rest of Britain, only more beautiful.
‘I don’t know anything about beauty,’ said Mrs Field, putting the sandwiches resolutely away in the rug-strap, ‘but I do know that a cousin of mine was in service there once – she went for the season with her people from London – and there wasn’t a house to be seen in the whole countryside but their own, and not a tree. And the natives had never heard of teacakes, and called scones “skons.”’
‘How barbaric!’ said Grant, folding his most ancient tweed lovingly away in his case.
The Man in the Queue is Tey's first book in the Inspector Grant series and deals with the mystery of a murder that occurs in plain sight but has no witnesses. This is not a spoiler as such as this literally happens within the first few pages.
From there on we are introduced to Scotland Yard's Alan Grant, who is the Inspector investigating the case. Grant is a great character - he is funny, contemplative, but also does not shirk away from action.
Some of the funniest parts of this story are build around the dialogue that Grant has with various other characters. And the best part is that they are meant to be funny. They are not just funny because they are quaint - there is some freshness to the dialogues.
‘No time is wasted that earns such a wealth of gratitude as I feel for you,’ said Struwwelpeter. ‘I was in the depths when you arrived. I can never paint on Monday mornings. There should be no such thing. Monday mornings should be burnt out of the calendar with prussic acid. And you have made a Monday morning actually memorable! It is a great achievement. Sometime when you are not too busy breaking the law come back and I’ll paint your portrait. You have a charming head.’
Of course, this should not come as a surprise when we know that before writing this book, Tey had already become a successful writer of plays and other stories under her pseudonym of Gordon Daviot. But it was a bit of a surprise to me, because quite a few reviews of The Man in the Queue did mention that the book had not aged well, a criticism which also seems to be linked with the use of the slur "Dago" throughout the book.
I can of course understand that criticism. However, having read two of her other novels in this series also, I am beginning to wonder whether Tey's use of satire and irony may have been at play here, too. She uses the term "Dago" so abundantly to refer to main suspect that I began to wonder whether this over-use was intended to show the assumptions that Tey may have suspected her readers at the time to make as being blinded by stereotype rather than the analysis of the facts.
There are some other parts in the book that lead me to believe that Tey may actually have tried to dispel some of the stereotypes found in the pulp fiction of her time. (And of course, in her most famous work A Daughter of Time, we get to question again whether appearances really tell us anything about facts at all!)
Notably, Tey includes a dinner conversation in which she shows up a character who is a racist as an ignorant bigot:
"His race was a fetish with him, and he compared it at length with most of the other nations in Western Europe, to their extreme detriment. It was only towards the end of tea that Grant found, to his intense amusement, that Mr Logan had never been out of Scotland in his life. The despised Lowlanders he had met only during his training for the ministry some thirty years ago, and the other nations he had never known at all."
I have no biographical proof for this notion of mine. Tey was a private person. Even Josephine Tey is a nom de plume. However, I am looking forward to finding out more about Tey and see whether I can put some meat on this bone in the course of reading more by and about her.
As for The Man in the Queue, it is not a great mystery - which is another reason I am inclined to believe that Tey's interest lay more with the creation of ambiguity than with a plot that would thrill lovers of puzzles. There are no clues that would lead the reader to the ultimate solution of the murder. In fact, the ending and solution comes quite out of the blue. In that sense, I would even say that it might work as a mockery of the detective genre. (Maybe that is the reason why it took another 7 years for the next book in the series? I have no answers.)
Still I found it very much worth reading.
"Well, he would find out from the Yard if there was anything new, and if not, he would fortify himself with tea. He needed it. And the slow sipping of tea conduced to thought. Not the painful tabulations of Barker, that prince of superintendents, but the speculative revolving of things which he, Grant, found more productive. He numbered among his acquaintances a poet and essayist, who sipped tea in a steady monotonous rhythm, the while he brought to birth his masterpieces. His digestive system was in a shocking condition, but he had a very fine reputation among the more precious of the modern littérateurs."
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terribly poor country, Scotland. Goodness only knows what you’ll get to eat!’Grant said that Scotland nowadays was very like the rest of Britain, only more beautiful.
‘I don’t know anything about beauty,’ said Mrs Field, putting the sandwiches resolutely away in the rug-strap, ‘but I do know that a cousin of mine was in service there once – she went for the season with her people from London – and there wasn’t a house to be seen in the whole countryside but their own, and not a tree. And the natives had never heard of teacakes, and called scones “skons.”’
‘How barbaric!’ said Grant, folding his most ancient tweed lovingly away in his case.
The Man in the Queue is Tey's first book in the Inspector Grant series and deals with the mystery of a murder that occurs in plain sight but has no witnesses. This is not a spoiler as such as this literally happens within the first few pages.
From there on we are introduced to Scotland Yard's Alan Grant, who is the Inspector investigating the case. Grant is a great character - he is funny, contemplative, but also does not shirk away from action.
Some of the funniest parts of this story are build around the dialogue that Grant has with various other characters. And the best part is that they are meant to be funny. They are not just funny because they are quaint - there is some freshness to the dialogues.
‘No time is wasted that earns such a wealth of gratitude as I feel for you,’ said Struwwelpeter. ‘I was in the depths when you arrived. I can never paint on Monday mornings. There should be no such thing. Monday mornings should be burnt out of the calendar with prussic acid. And you have made a Monday morning actually memorable! It is a great achievement. Sometime when you are not too busy breaking the law come back and I’ll paint your portrait. You have a charming head.’
Of course, this should not come as a surprise when we know that before writing this book, Tey had already become a successful writer of plays and other stories under her pseudonym of Gordon Daviot. But it was a bit of a surprise to me, because quite a few reviews of The Man in the Queue did mention that the book had not aged well, a criticism which also seems to be linked with the use of the slur "Dago" throughout the book.
I can of course understand that criticism. However, having read two of her other novels in this series also, I am beginning to wonder whether Tey's use of satire and irony may have been at play here, too. She uses the term "Dago" so abundantly to refer to main suspect that I began to wonder whether this over-use was intended to show the assumptions that Tey may have suspected her readers at the time to make as being blinded by stereotype rather than the analysis of the facts.
There are some other parts in the book that lead me to believe that Tey may actually have tried to dispel some of the stereotypes found in the pulp fiction of her time. (And of course, in her most famous work A Daughter of Time, we get to question again whether appearances really tell us anything about facts at all!)
Notably, Tey includes a dinner conversation in which she shows up a character who is a racist as an ignorant bigot:
"His race was a fetish with him, and he compared it at length with most of the other nations in Western Europe, to their extreme detriment. It was only towards the end of tea that Grant found, to his intense amusement, that Mr Logan had never been out of Scotland in his life. The despised Lowlanders he had met only during his training for the ministry some thirty years ago, and the other nations he had never known at all."
I have no biographical proof for this notion of mine. Tey was a private person. Even Josephine Tey is a nom de plume. However, I am looking forward to finding out more about Tey and see whether I can put some meat on this bone in the course of reading more by and about her.
As for The Man in the Queue, it is not a great mystery - which is another reason I am inclined to believe that Tey's interest lay more with the creation of ambiguity than with a plot that would thrill lovers of puzzles. There are no clues that would lead the reader to the ultimate solution of the murder. In fact, the ending and solution comes quite out of the blue. In that sense, I would even say that it might work as a mockery of the detective genre. (Maybe that is the reason why it took another 7 years for the next book in the series? I have no answers.)
Still I found it very much worth reading.
"Well, he would find out from the Yard if there was anything new, and if not, he would fortify himself with tea. He needed it. And the slow sipping of tea conduced to thought. Not the painful tabulations of Barker, that prince of superintendents, but the speculative revolving of things which he, Grant, found more productive. He numbered among his acquaintances a poet and essayist, who sipped tea in a steady monotonous rhythm, the while he brought to birth his masterpieces. His digestive system was in a shocking condition, but he had a very fine reputation among the more precious of the modern littérateurs."
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LibraryThing member Cassandra2020
The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey - Good
I seem to be in a bit of a rut at the moment in that I have now read eight books, this year, that are 'preserved in aspic' ie written decades ago but set in their present as opposed to written now about the past.
Josephine Tey's crime novels fall into the
Interesting little mystery with a few twists and turns along the way. Still of the cosy variety - no blood or forensic detail, but quite enjoyable.
I seem to be in a bit of a rut at the moment in that I have now read eight books, this year, that are 'preserved in aspic' ie written decades ago but set in their present as opposed to written now about the past.
Josephine Tey's crime novels fall into the
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same era(s) as Agatha Christie. They share a little in that some words and phrases are now not-pc and certainly, in this book, the word she used to describe the suspect made me shudder. Other than that, they could not be more different. None of the cosy, little grey cells of Poirot or Miss Marple, Inspector Grant is a man of action. A Police Inspector that interviews witnesses, puts men undercover to get information and chases suspects across hill and dale.... or in this case across London and Glen.Interesting little mystery with a few twists and turns along the way. Still of the cosy variety - no blood or forensic detail, but quite enjoyable.
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LibraryThing member antiquary
A man in the queue to buy a ticket for a popular London show dies with a knife in his back . Inspector Grant investigates --a difficult case as the man is unidentified.
LibraryThing member ffortsa
I read this many years ago, along with Tey's other Alan Grant books, and remember loving it. But this reread showed all the faults. Stereotypes and prejudices abound, Grant overtly dismisses many cues, fails to reinterview interested parties, and misreads many clues. I knew way before the end who
If I'd read this today for the first time, I wouldn't have bothered with the following books, and missed [The Daughter of Time], which I remember quite fondly. But I don't think it worthwhile to reread the series unless I'm caught in a snowstorm with only old mysteries on the shelf.
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was really pertinent to the murder, and only couldn't put my finder on the doer because the person in question was so 'disguised' as harmless.If I'd read this today for the first time, I wouldn't have bothered with the following books, and missed [The Daughter of Time], which I remember quite fondly. But I don't think it worthwhile to reread the series unless I'm caught in a snowstorm with only old mysteries on the shelf.
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LibraryThing member bcrowl399
There was a lot of suspense in the story, but it started to wear me out toward the end. Not sure if I want to read more of Tey's work.
LibraryThing member Fliss88
A murder committed in the crush of a queue. There's no obvious suspect, there are no clues. There's a murder weapon, it's stuck in the back of the victim. Who did it and why? Kept me guessing and I didn't pick the truth!
LibraryThing member ChazziFrazz
People are lined up for one of the last performances of “Didn’t You Know,” a popular musical comedy. People are packed together and when the line starts to move, a man falls forward, landing on his face. He is dead and the weapon is sticking out of his back.
Detective Inspector Alan Grant is
Grant finds the dead man is named Sorrell and was a small time bookmaker (as in betting). Sorrell shared living space with another bookmaker named Lamont. While questioning Lamont, Grant notices some possible clues pointing to Lamont as the killer, but there are other clues that are contrary. Grant is not 100% sure of Lamont’s guilt, but feels that Lamont must be the killer.
Grant nabs Lamont in Scotland, but on the way back to London, Brant starts have stronger second thoughts. It looks to be a solid case, but there are things that don’t jibe. Grant has a gut feeling that he could be wrong and is overlooking or missing something. Grant must make a decision.
This is the first book in the Inspector Grant series by Josephine Tey. There were only six and I have one more to read to have read the series. I am looking forward to it. She did not write simple plots.
Detective Inspector Alan Grant is
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given the case. When he questions those who were around the dead man, it seems no on saw or heard anything. No one even knows who the man is. Any identification has been removed from the man.Grant finds the dead man is named Sorrell and was a small time bookmaker (as in betting). Sorrell shared living space with another bookmaker named Lamont. While questioning Lamont, Grant notices some possible clues pointing to Lamont as the killer, but there are other clues that are contrary. Grant is not 100% sure of Lamont’s guilt, but feels that Lamont must be the killer.
Grant nabs Lamont in Scotland, but on the way back to London, Brant starts have stronger second thoughts. It looks to be a solid case, but there are things that don’t jibe. Grant has a gut feeling that he could be wrong and is overlooking or missing something. Grant must make a decision.
This is the first book in the Inspector Grant series by Josephine Tey. There were only six and I have one more to read to have read the series. I am looking forward to it. She did not write simple plots.
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Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1929
Physical description
213 p.; 21 cm