To Love and Be Wise

Rating:
Summary: I'm Left Wondering Why?
Review: I really didn't care for this story. Tey is a good writer, and this book is superlative when it comes to characterizations, but the mystery(?) is less than exciting. Grant is wonderful, and here we see an urbane Grant who has to go to the country to follow up the disappearance of a young man that he had met once at a cocktail party. He follows all clues, and comes up empty (even to dragging the river twice), but once back at home in London after awhile, the pieces come together and he figures it out. The denouemnet is quite good in this book, but again, the book didn't excite me.

Rating:
Summary: I'm Left Wondering Why?
Review: I really didn't care for this story. Tey is a good writer, and this book is superlative when it comes to characterizations, but the mystery(?) is less than exciting. Grant is wonderful, and here we see an urbane Grant who has to go to the country to follow up the disappearance of a young man that he had met once at a cocktail party. He follows all clues, and comes up empty (even to dragging the river twice), but once back at home in London after awhile, the pieces come together and he figures it out. The denouemnet is quite good in this book, but again, the book didn't excite me.

Rating:
Summary: Ambiguity
Review: Marta Hallard is an actress, Alan Grant a Detective-Superintendent at Scotland Yard. Grant is useful as an escort. Leslie Searle, an American and a photographer, is invited to spend the weekend at Salcott St. Mary at the home of Lavinia Fitch and Walter Whitmore and other family members. Leslie Searle seems to be famous. Lavinia's sister, Emma, dislikes him. Emma's daughter Liz, secretary to her Aunt Lavinia, likes him very much.

Toby Tullis, an actor, has a place in Salcott. He is so famous he is surprised that Searle has never heard of him. Perhaps Searle, who photographs celebrities, is having him on. Walter and Searle decide to do a book together. Walter is a broadcaster for the BBC. His trademark is an unself-conscious friendliness. Liz is engaged to Walter.

Lavinia feels a wrongness and a fascination with Searle. Liz is clearly fascinated. The book plan is for Walter to do the text and for Searle to provide the illustrations. It is to be a portrait of a particular river its entire length, from the source to the sea. The pair intends to use a canoe. The work is to have the title CANOES ON THE RUSHMERE.

At the start they are to sleep in a cave. Five days later they walk into the pub, the Swan, where they usually drank. The men seemed to have been having a personal discussion and none of the others ventured to their area. Afterwards Searle said that Walter left in order to avoid throttling him. Searle disappears.

Alan Grant arrives to question the BBC commentator, Walter Whitmore. He reported the disappearance the morning following the evening at the pub. Grant thinks the disppearance has an aspect of the sawn lady about it. Grant asks Walter if Searle is the person he purports to be, a photographer of celebrities. Perhaps Searle lost his way in the dark and fell into the river.

The room Searle occupied is devoid of atmosphere. Walter Whitmore seems to be deteriorating, visibly. The press has reached him. Grant's friend Marta functions as a sounding board. The next development is that Searle's shoe is discovered. The solution to the mystery is another instance of Josephine Tey's (Elizabeth McKintosh's) resourceful use of an identity theme.

Rating:
Summary: Ambiguity
Review: Marta Hallard is an actress, Alan Grant a Detective-Superintendent at Scotland Yard. Grant is useful as an escort. Leslie Searle, an American and a photographer, is invited to spend the weekend at Salcott St. Mary at the home of Lavinia Fitch and Walter Whitmore and other family members. Leslie Searle seems to be famous. Lavinia's sister, Emma, dislikes him. Emma's daughter Liz, secretary to her Aunt Lavinia, likes him very much.

Toby Tullis, an actor, has a place in Salcott. He is so famous he is surprised that Searle has never heard of him. Perhaps Searle, who photographs celebrities, is having him on. Walter and Searle decide to do a book together. Walter is a broadcaster for the BBC. His trademark is an unself-conscious friendliness. Liz is engaged to Walter.

Lavinia feels a wrongness and a fascination with Searle. Liz is clearly fascinated. The book plan is for Walter to do the text and for Searle to provide the illustrations. It is to be a portrait of a particular river its entire length, from the source to the sea. The pair intends to use a canoe. The work is to have the title CANOES ON THE RUSHMERE.

At the start they are to sleep in a cave. Five days later they walk into the pub, the Swan, where they usually drank. The men seemed to have been having a personal discussion and none of the others ventured to their area. Afterwards Searle said that Walter left in order to avoid throttling him. Searle disappears.

Alan Grant arrives to question the BBC commentator, Walter Whitmore. He reported the disappearance the morning following the evening at the pub. Grant thinks the disppearance has an aspect of the sawn lady about it. Grant asks Walter if Searle is the person he purports to be, a photographer of celebrities. Perhaps Searle lost his way in the dark and fell into the river.

The room Searle occupied is devoid of atmosphere. Walter Whitmore seems to be deteriorating, visibly. The press has reached him. Grant's friend Marta functions as a sounding board. The next development is that Searle's shoe is discovered. The solution to the mystery is another instance of Josephine Tey's (Elizabeth McKintosh's) resourceful use of an identity theme.

Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable mystery
Review: This is one of Josephine Tey's lesser known mysteries. "Daughter of Time" and "The Franchise Affiar" are, perhaps better known. This novel is in the Inspector Grant series and concerns the disappearance of a young man whom Grant had met briefly at a party.

The writing and atmosphere of this novel are both excellent. Unlike some other Tey novels, I enjoyed this one more for the characters and setting, rather than plotting. Tey has a fine ear for dialogue and humor and Grant is a pleasure to go detecting with.

Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable mystery
Review: This is one of Josephine Tey's lesser known mysteries. "Daughter of Time" and "The Franchise Affiar" are, perhaps better known. This novel is in the Inspector Grant series and concerns the disappearance of a young man whom Grant had met briefly at a party.

The writing and atmosphere of this novel are both excellent. Unlike some other Tey novels, I enjoyed this one more for the characters and setting, rather than plotting. Tey has a fine ear for dialogue and humor and Grant is a pleasure to go detecting with.

Rating:
Summary: Not one of her greatest, but fun.
Review: This is one of Tey's more by-numbers mysteries. She departed from formula with the great Daughter of Time, Franchise Affair and Miss Pym Disposes, all of which break new ground in utterly different ways. But this one gets weirder as it goes along. As well as a puzzle, it is a critique of the popular novels of the day. Does it come before or after Daughter of Time? Here we meet the authors whose works the bedridden Grant finds unreadable in Daughter. Silas Wheatley, whose speciality is the agricultural saga with added dirt. The charming Lavinia Fitch, who has no illusions about the soppiness of her heroines. Conveniently they, and actress Marta Hallard (also a character in Daughter) all live in the same quaint village they have gleefully discovered.