THE MAN IN THE QUEUE

Having loved Brat Farrar and Miss Pym Disposes so very much, of course I decided I have to go read everything else Josephine Tey has ever written, even though I’m already busy reading all of Madeleine L’Engle, my annual Dickens tome, the usual irresistible library books, all the books I own but haven’t read yet, and supposedly some of the books I own that I’ve read but don’t remember and am not sure if I want to keep. So obviously it’s the perfect time to embark on another reading project! Fortunately (only for my time management, not for the world at large) Tey’s oeuvre is managably small: aside from Ferrar, Pym, and The Franchise Affair, which I read some years ago, there are only five other mysteries, all of which feature Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant as the protagonist.

The Man in the Queue, published in 1929 under the pseudonym Grant Daviot, is Tey’s first novel. It’s a much more traditionally structured mystery than Pym or Ferrar, but Grant is a likable character and Tey’s writing elevates it above your standard whodunit; she seems much more interested in exploring her characters’ personalities than constructing a clever puzzle for the reader to solve. While it’s definitely not as memorable as Pym or Ferrar, I found it enjoyable, particularly in passages like this one, where Grant enlists the help of a suspect’s neighbor to gain entry to the suspect’s flat:

“I might tell you that you are conniving at a felony. This is housebreaking and entirely illegal.”
“It is the happiest moment of my life,” the artist said. “I have always wanted to break the law, but a way has never been vouchsafed me. And now to do it in the company of a policeman is a joy that I did not anticipate my life would ever provide.”