- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Arrow; New edition edition (3 July 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099452022
- ISBN-13: 978-0099452027
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 10.4 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 282,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Franchise Affair
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Product Description
Review
"Los Angeles Times" First-rate mystery, ably plotted and beautifully written.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
Keynote/Publisher's CommentThe classic mystery writer
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is about as perfect an English mystery story that you can imagine. Elegantly written, intriguingly plotted and an immensely satisfying denouement. Robert Blair is a quiet, professional, country solicitor in a quiet, sleepy, English country town until a phone call from a lady in trouble turns his live upside down. The beauty is that it doesn't turn him upside down. He remains Robert the dependable solicitor throughout, just caught up with a serious crime and new passion which makes him take stock of his way of life. Each character is fully drawn, utterly believable and for the most part warm and engaging, with the exception of the criminals of course, who you don't want to like anyway.
Tey's skill shines through in her reflection of English society, in her passion for the study of faces and ultimately in her force of will which means that the mystery, rather than sub-plots or socially commentary, remains paramount at all times. Yet she doesn't need multiple murders or gratuitous volience or complicated plot swings to keep the reader's interest or to keep the plot moving. Scraps of evidence emerge not by chance but as the result of hard detective work and acute observation. An easy and engaging read, this is the perfect way to spend an enjoyable lazy afternoon.
Tey's skill shines through in her reflection of English society, in her passion for the study of faces and ultimately in her force of will which means that the mystery, rather than sub-plots or socially commentary, remains paramount at all times. Yet she doesn't need multiple murders or gratuitous volience or complicated plot swings to keep the reader's interest or to keep the plot moving. Scraps of evidence emerge not by chance but as the result of hard detective work and acute observation. An easy and engaging read, this is the perfect way to spend an enjoyable lazy afternoon.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I first read this as a teenager and was a little underwhelmed: I don't think I really appreciated the rarity of good writing then or the subtle nuances of character which Tey conveys so well. Re-reading it now, I loved this book. It is, undoubtedly, of its time: published in 1949 in conveys a slightly snobbish attitude to the `lower classes' who are either demonised (Betty Kane and her mother) or sentimentalised (Stanley). But leaving that aside, this is a really fun and intriguing mystery.
Robert Blair, a staid solicitor, is drawn into a case involving the odd Sharpe women, mother and daughter, who live alone in their house named The Franchise when they are accused of kidnapping and beating a young teenager. No-one quite believes the story until the girl is brought face-to-face with the Sharpes and reveals details about the house and the room where she was supposedly held that a stranger could not know. But Blair believes the Sharpes are innocent and sets out to prove his case - against all the odds.
Like other `golden age' mystery writers (Dorothy L. Sayer, Ngaio Marsh, Christie) Tey is as interested in her characters as she is in the mystery itself, and the Sharpes, especially, are wonderful creations. Our emotions are manipulated faultlessly as they are moved from being slightly sinister to being amusingly eccentric (old Mrs Sharpe, especially, grew hugely in my affections during this book), and yet there is still always a slight doubt: could their very eccentricity have led to their guilt? Highly recommended.
Robert Blair, a staid solicitor, is drawn into a case involving the odd Sharpe women, mother and daughter, who live alone in their house named The Franchise when they are accused of kidnapping and beating a young teenager. No-one quite believes the story until the girl is brought face-to-face with the Sharpes and reveals details about the house and the room where she was supposedly held that a stranger could not know. But Blair believes the Sharpes are innocent and sets out to prove his case - against all the odds.
Like other `golden age' mystery writers (Dorothy L. Sayer, Ngaio Marsh, Christie) Tey is as interested in her characters as she is in the mystery itself, and the Sharpes, especially, are wonderful creations. Our emotions are manipulated faultlessly as they are moved from being slightly sinister to being amusingly eccentric (old Mrs Sharpe, especially, grew hugely in my affections during this book), and yet there is still always a slight doubt: could their very eccentricity have led to their guilt? Highly recommended.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I saw the film of The Franchise Affair years ago, but have only just tracked down the book. It is, as others have pointed out, an unusual detective story, not having to resort to multiple murders to grab the reader's attention. The pace is deceptively leisurely, very much reflecting the characterisation of the solicitor turned amateur sleuth at the centre of the novel, but I still found it highly compelling. I liked the way the little snatches of evidence appeared, sometimes in favour of the victim and sometimes in favour of the accused, which kept the whole thing very finely balanced. I also very much appreciated the fact that we, as readers, were kept utterly in the dark about the existence and testimony of the last witness; when the final revelations were made, it was as much of a surprise to me as to the assembled court-room. Tey writes extremely well, and I am now on the look-out for other books by her.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Good Read
If you like lots of murders and a fast pace this book is not for you. It is extremely well written, with a gentle pace and believable characters. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Hope
Vivid story-telling
I first heard The Franchise Affair on Radio - a long time ago when I was at school! It always stuck in mind to the extent that over the years every time I saw a house like it, I... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Dorothy M B
The Franchise Affair
I'm a great enthusiast of Josephine Tey's novels: The Daughter of Time, A Shilling for Candles, Brat Farrar and The Franchise Affair and agree with all the reviews praising her. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mrs. G. U. Dunlop
time for a re-read!
It has been more than thirty years since I last read this book- what on earth kept me so long.
As a teenager I must have been put off by the very things that attracted me most... Read more
As a teenager I must have been put off by the very things that attracted me most... Read more
Published 11 months ago by tdk
Classic Crime
Robert Blair is a village solicitor, some who deals with conveyance, wills and all manner things not very criminal. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Joanne D'Arcy
A Nice Cup of Tey
Other reviewers have dealt with the plot very well, but the creation of middle England - the middle class in the middle of the country in the middle of the century - adds a... Read more
Published 21 months ago by John Grimbaldeston
classic crime at its best
Apparently based on a real case in the 18th century when a girl claimed she had been kidnapped by a house of disrepute, Josephine Tey's Franchise Affair has become a classic in the... Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2010 by lovemurakami
Gripping little mystery with a sense of humour
A fifteen year old girl informs the police that she has been kept prisoner in the attic of an old, remote house and beaten repeatedly by the occupants - two women. Read more
Published on 30 Nov 2009 by Book Scout
Gripping little mystery with a sense of humour
A fifteen year old girl informs the police that she has been kept prisoner in the attic of an old, remote house and beaten repeatedly by the occupants - two women. Read more
Published on 30 Nov 2009 by Book Scout
An Unusual Affair
One day, after being missing for a month, a young girl appears with an astonishing tale: that for the past few weeks she was held prisoner and regularly beaten by two women who... Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2009 by Paul D
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