Thursday 10 January 2002

Josephine Tey: The Singing Sands (1952)

Edition: Pan, 1959
Review number: 1031

In this Alan Grant detective story, the last to be published in Tey's lifetime, the Inspector is forced to take a reluctant holiday for health reasons. He goes to stay with his cousin and her family, aiming to spend a relaxing time trout fishing in Scotland. However, he discovers a body on the Scottish sleeper train, and though it appears that Charles Martin died an accidental death while drunk, there is something which intrigues him - odd things like a French citizen doodling a poem in English on the margin of his newspaper.

The Singing Sands - a line from this poem - is not the most striking nor the most ingenious of Tey's novels, but remains an interesting detective novel by any standard.

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