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Published Mar 2016
336 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
Intrepid writer and amateur sleuth Josephine Tey returns in this sixth installment of Nicola Upson's popular series - perfect for fans of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Jaqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs - that unfolds in 1930s London as England prepares to crown a new king.
London, 1937. Following the gloomy days of the abdication of King Edward VIII, the entire city is elated to welcome King George. Just one of the many planned festivities for the historic coronation is a BBC radio adaptation of Queen of Scots, and the original playwright, Josephine Tey, has been invited to sit in on rehearsals.
Soon, however, Josephine gets wrapped up in another sort of drama. The lead actress has been sleeping with Britain's most venerable newsman, Anthony Beresford - and his humiliated wife happens to work in the building. The sordid affair seems to reach its bloody climax when Beresford is shot to death in his broadcasting booth at the deafening height of the coronation ceremony.
Josephine's dear friend, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose, has the case wrapped up before long. But when a second, seemingly related murder throws Penrose for a loop, it falls to Josephine to unravel a web of betrayal, jealousy, and long-held secrets… caught all the while in a love triangle of her own making.
Charming and provocative, thick with the atmosphere of prewar England, London Rain is a captivating portrait of a city on the edge - and an unforgettable woman always one step ahead of her time.
"Starred Review. Upson adroitly confounds the reader's expectations, and her subtle and emotionally intelligent exploration of Josephine's relationship with her lover, Marta Hallard, adds depth." - Publishers Weekly
"A deft and agreeably darker addition to the series." - Booklist
"Although Upson (The Death of Lucy Kyte, 2014, etc.) keeps her readers anticipating action nearly as long as British subjects wait for the crowning of their king, the complexity of the overlapping relationships and a burst of momentum make her fictionalized heroine's sixth case a worthy sequel to its predecessors." - Kirkus
"Historical crime fiction at its very best." - Sunday Times (UK)
"Lovely...For fans of the British puzzle mystery, there's a murder in a locked room, a secret passageway, a surfeit of clues, red herrings, and hidden identities." - The Boston Globe
"Upson…possesses great skills in creating character-driven novels that evoke a strong sense of place, spins this sad but seductive story with grace and intelligence." - Richmond Times-Dispatch
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Nicola Upson was born in Suffolk and read English at Downing College, Cambridge. She has worked in theatre and as a freelance journalist, and is the author of two non-fiction works and the recipient of an Escalator Award from the Arts Council England. Her debut novel, An Expert in Murder, was the first in a series of crime novels to feature Josephine Tey--one of the leading authors of Britain's age of crime-writing. Her research for the books has included many conversations with people who lived through the period and who knew Josephine Tey well, most notably Sir John Gielgud. The book was dramatised by BBC Scotland for Woman's Hour, and praised by PD James as marking "the arrival of a new and assured talent". Nicola lives with her partner in Cambridge and Cornwall.
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