I finished Dear Little Corpses the 10th edition of Upson's series, and waiting for the newest book to be available, I started re listening to the series from the beginning. And its pretty fascinating. I'd completely forgotten everyone's backstory - probably because I was less invested in the characters - especially Marta - at the beginning. Re listening there are so many little details that make these great characters. ( )

Felt like the strength of this book was in a convincing presentation of the time period and a solid plot. The characters were certainly developed, and there were a couple of nice touches, particularly liked the train incident at the end ( )

I bought this book as a Christmas present for someone who likes Josephine Tey. I'm not sure if it's a good present - real person fan fic can feel a bit uncomfortable to many people, and it's not very clear how similar the Josephine in these novels is to the real author, or if Tey would have approved of this grisly retelling of her life with added murders. I never quite got into it - I found it dragged a little in places, the large cast of characters were tricky to keep track of, and even the big revelations at the end were surprisingly ungripping - but some of that might be that I was trying to read it around Christmas when I was distracted and stressed. It is strangely in conversation with Black is the Colour of My True Love's Heart, once again the murders are due to a woman having a baby she should not have had, and that same woman trying to re-establish a relationship with the child years later. ( )

A young woman, a fan of the stage, is murdered on the train to London. The detective sets out to determine if it was connected with Josephine Tey’s play soon coming to an end. With a vast cast of characters, both in the play and not, this is an extraordinarily complex murder mystery—sometimes spoilt by having too many people to keep track of, especially in the audiobook. First in a series, I’d read more, but maybe in IRL format. ( )

"In both crimes there was a terrifying lack of humanity, a mockery of the dead which chilled him (Penrose) even more than the loss of life itself."

There is an old-style elegance to this richly atmospheric mystery set in the world of the theatre during the early 1930s. Mystery writer and playwright Josephine Tey is the central character in this story of a shocking murder aboard a train. The investigation slowly reveals a tangled web of events harking back to the Great War, the complexity of which is only illuminated at the end, revealing just about everyone involved to be a victim in the tragedy.

Nicola Upson has written a beautiful and involving mystery which transcends the genre. By framing her novel around Josephine Tey, it allows her to paint a vivid picture of the period, and the emotions still lingering after the Great War. You really feel like you are in Tey's era while reading this. While Tey could have become just a plot device in another author's hand, she becomes a real person, as do many of the other characters, including her romantic interest, Inspector Archie Penrose.

Tey's most successful play, which made Sir John Gieguld a star, is where danger lies. But it is on a train from Scotland to London where Josephine comes into contact with a special young woman full of life and simple charm. On her way to meet her boyfriend, Elspeth will meet evil, and not live long enough to know the reason why. Upson paints a sweet and romantic picture of the times themselves, and Elspeth, giving her murder a poignancy.

As Archie investigates and Josephine mingles, every character is fleshed out in a way we used to see during Tey's era of great mystery writers. Josephine takes a back seat during the middle portion of the book as we are treated to lovers and sickness, old wounds and bitterness. This has the reader wondering how any of this touched the far removed, adopted girl who closed her eyes for the last time aboard a train to London. Then a second particularly vile murder much closer to Josephine's play takes place.

Archie and Josephine begin to untangle the ties which led to the murders from different angles, in the last portion of the mystery. There is a rush to reach the end for the reader, by now aching to discover the entire twisting series of events that began in a tunnel during the war, and ended tragically on a train bound for London. There is a tenderness to the conclusion, showing the anguish and aftermath of the Great War and the many lives it took, some in ways unexpected and far reaching. Archie and Josephine's relationship does not go untouched by events either, giving the reader a thirst for more.

While it isn’t perfect, and at times leans toward literary fiction a bit too much to create genuine excitement, it is a fine and atmospheric mystery with much to offer those who love a period mystery, and/or Josephine Tey. ( )