This edition published 1st November 2018 by Faber and Faber. Hardback original published 2nd November 2017.
From the cover of the book:
Called to the peaceful wooded churchyard of St-John's-at-Hampstead, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose faces one of the most audacious and unusual murders of his career. The case leads Archie to Cambridge, where, coincidentally, his old friend Josephine Tey has recently settled.
Before long, another body is discovered. In the shadow of King's College Chapel, Archie uncovers a connection twenty-five years old which haunted both victims - as well as some of their living companions. As Archie and Josephine each grapple with savage malefactors intent on making their victims pay, they must race to stop another attack...
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When DCI Archie Penrose is called to a peaceful churchyard in St John's Wood to attend a murder scene, he is shocked to discover that a well-known muscian had been entombed alive. Accompanying the body are some unusual clues, which take Archie to Cambridge. Before long another body is discovered, linked to the first murder via a connection to the choir of King's College Chapel.
Meanwhile, his friend, novelist Josephine Tey is in Cambrridge too in order to supervise the alterations her lover Marta has commisioned for her new home, whilst Marta is in the USA working on a movie project with Alfred Hitchcock. Intending to use her time writing, Josephine is drawn into the hunt for a rapist stalking young women in the city. She is also on hand to assist Archie with his puzzling, and increasingly more bizarre case...
This is the seventh book in the excellent Josephine Tey Mysteries series, and it was such a pleasure to revisit it via the audio book narrated by Sandra Duncan, as it is one of my favourites - even though the story is wreathed in tragedy.
I think possibly for the first time in the series this instalment has Archie and Josephine both taking on sleuthing roles of equal weight, as Josephine is determined to track down a brutal rapist at the same time as Archie puts together the pieces of a very knotty case. Inevitably, them both being in Cambridge means Josephine assists Archie in discovering enlightening clues in his case, and they are able to bounce ideas off each other throughout.
There is a gorgeous slow burn as the separate threads weave together, with a full complement of psychological darkness, shocking sins of the past, and a delicious literary twist around some very famous ghost stories. Time and place thrum with the vibrancy I have come to expect from Upson, and the way events touch on the personal lives of Josephine and Archie is characteristically powerful.
Beautifully evocative, suspenseful, full of echoing themes, and a fabulous read!
About the author:
Nicola Upson was born in Suffolk and read English at Downing College, Cambridge. Her debut, An Expert in Murder, was the first in a series of crime novels to feature Josephine Tey – one of Britain’s finest Golden Age crime writers - and was dramatised for BBC Radio 4. Several of Nicola's novels have been listed for the CWA Gold and Historical Daggers, and Sorry for the Dead was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month. She is a member of the Detection Club, and in 2024 curated the acclaimed Murder by the Book: a celebration of twentieth century British crime fiction at Cambridge University Library.
She is also the author of Stanley and Elsie, a novel about the painter Stanley Spencer, and lives with her partner in Cambridge and Cornwall.
Nicola's latest novel is The Christmas Clue, a festive mystery starring the real-life couple who invented Cluedo.
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