Book Summary and Reviews of Angel with Two Faces by Nicola Upson

Angel with Two Faces by Nicola Upson

Angel with Two Faces

A Mystery Featuring Josephine Tey

by Nicola Upson

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  • Published:
  • Jul 2010, 448 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Paperback Original. Exhausted and disillusioned with the world of theater in May 1935, Josephine Tey has traveled to Cornwall to spend the summer with her friends the Motleys at their run-down but beautiful country estate. Ready to begin work on her second mystery novel, Tey finds much to inspire her in the landscape and its legends. Meanwhile, the Motleys have become involved in an amateur production at the nearby Minack Theater.

Detective Inspector Archie Penrose has returned to his roots in Cornwall to attend the funeral of a family friend, a young estate worker who died in a tragic riding accident. Penrose has a few questions about the circumstances surrounding the fatal occurrence. And when the Minack Theater proves to be the stage for a real-life tragedy, Penrose and Tey together must investigate an audacious murder and confront an evil suggesting that there are darker things than death.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. The subtle prose succeeds both at evoking the quiet splendor of the Cornish landscape and in capturing the tragedy and torment that plague many of the characters. " - Publishers Weekly

"You'd have to be daft not to savor Cornwall in the '30s and the fictional sleuthing of real-life mystery writer Josephine Tey." - Kirkus Reviews

This information about Angel with Two Faces was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Nicola Upson Author Biography

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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