-
Seasonal Offer:
This title is part of our Seasonal Offers promotion.
Two For Sorrow (Josephine Tey Mystery 3)
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'Psychologically compelling.' --Sunday Times
'With a well-made plot and a fascinating cast of female characters, this is an assured addition to an excellent series.' --Guardian
'A heartfelt account of a condemned prisoner, a vivid picture of London life in the thirties and a carefully plotted mystery centered on a ladies' club in London.' --Literary Review
'With a well-made plot and a fascinating cast of female characters, this is an assured addition to an excellent series.' --Guardian
'A heartfelt account of a condemned prisoner, a vivid picture of London life in the thirties and a carefully plotted mystery centered on a ladies' club in London.' --Literary Review
Book Description
Third in the gripping new golden age detective series featuring Josephine Tey
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
In this, Upson's third in her "Josephine Tey" series, Josephine's interest in a historical crime intersects with a truly horrific murder of a beautiful young ex-con who is going straight as a seamstress in the Motleys' charming theatrical/fashion studio. Also involved is one of the first "professional women's clubs" - which is of course where Josephine hangs out for peace and quiet in London. On the purely conventional crime level Upson weaves together scenes from the book which Josephine is writing, and the progress of the case, dropping excellent clues in true Golden Age fashion. At one point I thought I was going to be disappointed, but a final twist (such as the Motleys would use in giving a dress the perfect line and lie!) proved she had caught me napping, and provided a throughly satisfactory solution to the mystery.
But there is rather more than this accomplished Golden Age mystery to her work. Having not at all enjoyed David Roberts' attempts to provide us with new Golden Age detective material I was very sceptical about Nicola Upson's books - but having finally succumbed to them, I am delighted with what appears to be a fascinating series in the making. What seems to me particularly fine is the synthesis of Golden Age and modern styles - some reviewers have cavilled at this (not least in her frankness about the protagonists' love lives - which Tey herself would have hinted at and Sayers cloaked under layers of classical allusions) but I find it a very successful approach - one feels (since one knows for a fact that many of them did not lead conventional lives) as if one were reading what a Golden Age novelist might have said, were it not for the hovering blue pencil of her editor! Other interesting features of this modern/Golden Age combination are the establishment of sympathy with a character before killing him/her (modern!) combined with rather outre killings (GA) and considerable detail of circumstances/nastiness of death/scene (modern). Also worthy of note is the excellent research which seems to lie behind each book - here in addition to the delicious theatrical milieu of Gielgud/Olivier/Coward (the last of whom unusually appears under his own name) the Cowdray club and its atmosphere are fascinatingly evoked - and one gets a sense of greater sisterly solidarity amongst professional women in that era than one ever finds now that the battle for equality is supposedly won.
But possibly the refinement for which I have the most admiration is the exploration of Tey herself, and the fleshing out of her characters which one sees through the books. I always felt that Grant was really someone Tey knew and loved - and the development of Archie Penrose as the inspriation for the character (despite their considerable differences) is a theme which I find very satisfying. Likewise the sidelights on the development of the books and the other recurring characters (eg. Marta Hallard). Interestingly in this book Upson asks us, via Josephine, if what she is doing in recreating Tey and her world is right or wrong when she meditates on the appropriateness of novelising her historical crime when, she admits, she can't know what the women involved were really like. While the answer for Josephine on her facts may be no, I think that the answer for Upson and this series is emphaticaly: Yes. Keep them coming please - I look forward to the next already!
But there is rather more than this accomplished Golden Age mystery to her work. Having not at all enjoyed David Roberts' attempts to provide us with new Golden Age detective material I was very sceptical about Nicola Upson's books - but having finally succumbed to them, I am delighted with what appears to be a fascinating series in the making. What seems to me particularly fine is the synthesis of Golden Age and modern styles - some reviewers have cavilled at this (not least in her frankness about the protagonists' love lives - which Tey herself would have hinted at and Sayers cloaked under layers of classical allusions) but I find it a very successful approach - one feels (since one knows for a fact that many of them did not lead conventional lives) as if one were reading what a Golden Age novelist might have said, were it not for the hovering blue pencil of her editor! Other interesting features of this modern/Golden Age combination are the establishment of sympathy with a character before killing him/her (modern!) combined with rather outre killings (GA) and considerable detail of circumstances/nastiness of death/scene (modern). Also worthy of note is the excellent research which seems to lie behind each book - here in addition to the delicious theatrical milieu of Gielgud/Olivier/Coward (the last of whom unusually appears under his own name) the Cowdray club and its atmosphere are fascinatingly evoked - and one gets a sense of greater sisterly solidarity amongst professional women in that era than one ever finds now that the battle for equality is supposedly won.
But possibly the refinement for which I have the most admiration is the exploration of Tey herself, and the fleshing out of her characters which one sees through the books. I always felt that Grant was really someone Tey knew and loved - and the development of Archie Penrose as the inspriation for the character (despite their considerable differences) is a theme which I find very satisfying. Likewise the sidelights on the development of the books and the other recurring characters (eg. Marta Hallard). Interestingly in this book Upson asks us, via Josephine, if what she is doing in recreating Tey and her world is right or wrong when she meditates on the appropriateness of novelising her historical crime when, she admits, she can't know what the women involved were really like. While the answer for Josephine on her facts may be no, I think that the answer for Upson and this series is emphaticaly: Yes. Keep them coming please - I look forward to the next already!
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have to say I was not quite as enamoured with this book as bookelephant. for very much the same reasons that he/she found the book interesting/enjoyable, I found it a little heavy going. I really wanted the author to get on with the story rather than use it quite so extensively as a vehical to explore the conditions of women prisoners in the early 20th century, attitudes towards women and careers, same sex relationships, class etc. sometimes the story of the murder seemed to be of secondary importance to the exploration of these issues. I also found the "modern" elements occasionally jarring with the golden age aesthetic, for example the swearing. I also feel that with each of the novels in this series the voice of Josephine Tey as a character is diminishing or becoming less distinct or interesting and has been replaced with the authors.
okay thats the negative stuff. I still enjoyed the book. I like the golden age stuff. I like the fact that Noel Coward can waft across the pages and that it can reference Brief Encounter to reflect one of the plot strands. I like the theatricality of the Motley Sisters and their social circle. I like the continuity of so many familiar characters and the odd running gag (poor Hephesbar). I want more of that. I thought there was an interesting twist that like the other reviewer I didn't see coming. I also wanted to know how the various plots would be resolved. so yeah, i enjoyed the book, but not as much as I would have done if the book had had a bit more rigorous editing. but hey, its my opinion and clearly other people love it as it is.
okay thats the negative stuff. I still enjoyed the book. I like the golden age stuff. I like the fact that Noel Coward can waft across the pages and that it can reference Brief Encounter to reflect one of the plot strands. I like the theatricality of the Motley Sisters and their social circle. I like the continuity of so many familiar characters and the odd running gag (poor Hephesbar). I want more of that. I thought there was an interesting twist that like the other reviewer I didn't see coming. I also wanted to know how the various plots would be resolved. so yeah, i enjoyed the book, but not as much as I would have done if the book had had a bit more rigorous editing. but hey, its my opinion and clearly other people love it as it is.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm a huge fan of Nicola Upson's Josephine Tey mysteries and wasn't disappointed by this, the third in the series. It is cleverly written, with a very real sense of time and place, and believable characters. The plot itself is intriguing and there were one or two surprises. I wasn't as keen on the romantic sub-plot (hence 4 stars instead of 5) as it didn't strike me as quite so believable, but it didn't really affect my overall enjoyment of the book. I'll definitely be reading book 4.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Beautifully crafted mystery
A bookseller friend recommended Nicola Upson to me (after having introduced me successfully to Josephine Tey's works). Read more
Published 9 months ago by Neil Hardie
Great read
Another freat read by Nicola Upson, this is the third in the series and I would highly recommed all three
Published 13 months ago by Rodney Stephens
Not a good idea.
Nasty subject nasty book.
Use of Josephine Tey's name lamentable and unnecessary other than as a selling point.
Use of Josephine Tey's name lamentable and unnecessary other than as a selling point.
Published 14 months ago by T. C. Charlesworth
Three stories for the price of 2?
This is the third Nicola Upson book to feature the real life author Josephine Tey (Elizabeth Mackintosh) as a central character within a fictional story that Upson weaves around... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Joanne D'Arcy
chilling from beginning to end and will haunt you long after you have...
Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upson, published by Faber and Faber. Review by Angela Singer.
This book is chilling from beginning to end and will haunt you long after you have... Read more
This book is chilling from beginning to end and will haunt you long after you have... Read more
Published 19 months ago by B. DONNELLY
1930s crime with a very dark heart
London 1930s and a theatrical seamstress is brutally murdered in what seems like a female, spiteful act. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Roman Clodia
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
