Rating: 
Summary: One of the all-time greats
Review: A teenage girl, missing for weeks, reappears with a story of being kidnapped and imprisoned by an eccentric mother and daughter; the latter enlists a bored country lawyer to defend them. Tey's Inspector Alan Grant takes a back seat in this book to the main characters. The plot is based on an actual eighteenth-century case, but Tey updates it and makes it fully believable. Not only are all the characters (even minor ones) beautifully drawn, but the various settings in which the story takes place are memorably described. The book is not only a whacking good mystery with a thoroughly satisfying solution, but also a vivid picture of post-WW II Britain, and a commentary on the power of the popular press that's more pertinent than ever today. This one is high on my Top 10 Mysteries of All Time list.
Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable!
Review: I enjoyed this story of The Franchise Affair very much. The author does a nice job of describing the various characters and also the British setting, and the mystery is engrossing.
Rating: 
Summary: A Supplement to my other review & I AM GIVING AWAY THE END.
Review: I have just had a thought. There is no explanation as to how horrible Betty Kane actually found out so much about the insides of The Franchise to be able to describe it in so much detail. They made it obvious that she had never been in the house with the whole view from the attic not including the circular drive thing. But how about all the suitcases and the intimate details about the kitchen and the attic? I was thinking that she may have had some help from the thieving maid, but it would not appear so. So how did she describe everything so accurately? Does anyone have any ideas? Please email me if you do. I am very perturbed, disturbed and frustrated!
Rating:
Summary: A Supplement to my other review & I AM GIVING AWAY THE END.
Review: I have just had a thought. There is no explanation as to how horrible Betty Kane actually found out so much about the insides of The Franchise to be able to describe it in so much detail. They made it obvious that she had never been in the house with the whole view from the attic not including the circular drive thing. But how about all the suitcases and the intimate details about the kitchen and the attic? I was thinking that she may have had some help from the thieving maid, but it would not appear so. So how did she describe everything so accurately? Does anyone have any ideas? Please email me if you do. I am very perturbed, disturbed and frustrated!
Rating:
Summary: A great read for thriller/mystery lovers.
Review: I was introduced to Josephine Tey by a friend who gave me a copy of 'The Daughter of Time' which I thought was brilliant! 'The Franchise Affair' is equally so. I spent yesterday in bed reading this. I couldn't put it down until I found out that the odious Betty Kane got her just desserts. I must say that I was a little disappointed. I thought Tey could have made her suffer a little more, or at least depicted her as suffering a little more for the benefit of readers like me who detested her immensely and wanted a revenge you could taste. I was very unsatisfied with the description of her in the court room, a vision of outward calm and passivity. I wanted her raging and carrying on like a pork chop in front of all those newspaper people. But other than that, this is a fabulous book. I am going to be searching for more Josephine Tey books to enjoy on my days off.
Rating:
Summary: A great read for thriller/mystery lovers.
Review: I was introduced to Josephine Tey by a friend who gave me a copy of 'The Daughter of Time' which I thought was brilliant! 'The Franchise Affair' is equally so. I spent yesterday in bed reading this. I couldn't put it down until I found out that the odious Betty Kane got her just desserts. I must say that I was a little disappointed. I thought Tey could have made her suffer a little more, or at least depicted her as suffering a little more for the benefit of readers like me who detested her immensely and wanted a revenge you could taste. I was very unsatisfied with the description of her in the court room, a vision of outward calm and passivity. I wanted her raging and carrying on like a pork chop in front of all those newspaper people. But other than that, this is a fabulous book. I am going to be searching for more Josephine Tey books to enjoy on my days off.
Rating:
Summary: Opaque dark blue eyes
Review: Josephine Tey is remarkable for the broad subject range of her books and for fine writing. A similarity in her books is that she writes about people with insecure identities. It begins as a story of kidnapping and assault and is improbable given the characteristics of the two women who live at The Franchise. Robert Blair, solicitor for Mrs. and Miss Sharpe, sees a look of triumph on the alleged victim's face when she manages to describe some luggage accurately. Robert's aunt feels that odd people live at The Franchise. The maid in the aunt's house is having a round of excessive religious enthusiasm Robert finds. Robert wonders whether his life is so placid that a stranger's jeopardy stirs him. The girl is a prosecuting counsel's dream of a victim. A tabloid then blows the matter wide open. An observer feels the Sharpes are incapable of insane conduct. The case is not sub judice and so the press is free to comment. The tabloid story actually supports a defense investigation since the girl's picture is published and anyone who knows something about her absence for a month may view it. It is discovered that the victim has a photographic memory. The victim's mother had gone dancing with officers during World War II. The girl did go bus-riding during her vaction. Robert determines that she could have seen the details of the house from the top of a double decker bus.
Rating:
Summary: Opaque dark blue eyes
Review: Josephine Tey is remarkable for the broad subject range of her books and for fine writing. A similarity in her books is that she writes about people with insecure identities. It begins as a story of kidnapping and assault and is improbable given the characteristics of the two women who live at The Franchise. Robert Blair, solicitor for Mrs. and Miss Sharpe, sees a look of triumph on the alleged victim's face when she manages to describe some luggage accurately. Robert's aunt feels that odd people live at The Franchise. The maid in the aunt's house is having a round of excessive religious enthusiasm Robert finds. Robert wonders whether his life is so placid that a stranger's jeopardy stirs him. The girl is a prosecuting counsel's dream of a victim. A tabloid then blows the matter wide open. An observer feels the Sharpes are incapable of insane conduct. The case is not sub judice and so the press is free to comment. The tabloid story actually supports a defense investigation since the girl's picture is published and anyone who knows something about her absence for a month may view it. It is discovered that the victim has a photographic memory. The victim's mother had gone dancing with officers during World War II. The girl did go bus-riding during her vaction. Robert determines that she could have seen the details of the house from the top of a double decker bus.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Novel
Review: Josephine Tey's 1949 THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR is frequently described as a mystery or a detective novel. In fact, it is nothing of the kind; it is instead a tale of the emotional tension and legal maneuvering that occurs in the wake of a highly publicized false accusation.Elderly Mrs. Sharpe and her highly individualistic daughter Marion reside on the outskirts of a rural English community in a decaying mansion known as Franchise. Although considered eccentric by locals, they are tolerated--until an attractive schoolgirl named Betty Kane claims that she was kidnapped, beaten, and held prisoner by the Sharpes for a month. Betty Kane's story is convincing enough to draw both the interest of Scotland Yard and the national press, but Sharpe's solicitor recognizes her for what she is: a vicious creature eager to conceal her real activities from her unsuspecting family. And even as the press comes down hard on the side of the girl and the locals turn on the Sharpes, he sets out to expose Betty Kane before the world for the liar she is. The story itself is extremely credible, the characters remarkably well drawn, and Tey writes in a very elegant style that offers enough detail to perfectly capture the story, characters, and locales without overplaying into excess. A truly enjoyable work; recommended. --GFT (Amazon Reviewer)--
Rating:
Summary: A great mystery novel!
Review: Teenager Betty Kane, bruised and sore after being missing for weeks, claims that she was abducted by two women and coerced into doing maid service for them before she managed to escape. The young girl is very innocent looking and has a spotless reputation. Furthermore, she describes the place of her imprisonment with great accuracy, although the two women, mother and daughter, claim that they have never seen her before. Robert Blair, suddenly bored with the routine law practice which has been in the family for generations, takes on the case for the two women, the younger of whom becomes more and more attractive to him. He is totally convinced of their innocence and develops a burning passion not only to prove them blameless but also to expose the girl as a brazen fraud. But after a scandal sheet exposes the case to the world, public opinion is so strong against the ladies that they and their property are in constant danger. There are some weaknesses in the plot. For instance, after long and diligent investigation by a top-notch private detective, the solution just drops in out of the blue from a most unexpected source. But Tey handles the whole thing so well that it seems perfectly plausible. The characterizations are excellent, and the reader will have a strong sympathy for the women and for Blair. The second half of the book is a real page turner. And the ending has a very nice, satisfying touch. This novel is almost as good as Tey's BRAT FARRAR.
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