A Shilling for Candles: An Inspector Alan Grant Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Got free time?
Review: This book was pretty interesting. I was never into reading mysteries because I haven't actually read many. One of the reviews on the back of my version of the book caught my attention. It mentions, Balkan politics, crackpot religion and astrology. So I read it. It wasn't a waste of time (like some other books I've read).

Rating:
Summary: Literate, exciting, and fun
Review: When a beautiful, successful movie star who's "getting away from it all" in the country is found murdered, Inspector Alan Grant is overwhelmed with suspects: the unstable young man who's just run through the last of his fortune and whom she took in on impulse, her husband the adventure-seeker, an elusive Balkan revolutionary, rival actresses, her hypocritical brother, an enigmatic songwriter, a wealthy monastery, and the self-styled "astrologer to the stars." (Throw in a couple of art dealers and it'd sound a lot like Santa Fe!) Tey blends all these disparate characters into a complex, entertaining tale, and tops it off with one of the most delightful adolescent tomboys the reader is ever likely to meet. The solution is shocking but believable, and the conclusion of the book is charming. Greatly enjoyable, and the points she makes in passing about the pitfalls of fame and the power of the press are still relevant even if the technology is dated.