London Rain
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- £6.49
Publisher Description
May, 1937. Josephine Tey is in London to oversee a BBC radio production of her play, Queen of Scots. Meanwhile, the country is preparing to crown a new king.
At the height of the Coronation celebrations, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose is called in to investigate the murder of one of the BBC's best-known broadcasters. A second victim - his mistress, and the play's leading actress - suggests that the motive lies close to home, but Josephine suspects that the killings are linked to a decade-old scandal.
With Archie's hands tied by politics, and his attention taken by another, seemingly unrelated death, it is left to Josephine to get to the truth - and to confront at first-hand the deadly consequences of love, deceit and betrayal.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The coronation of George VI in 1937 provides the backdrop for Upson's psychologically complex and twisty sixth whodunit featuring real-life mystery writer Josephine Tey (after 2014's The Death of Lucy Kyte). At BBC headquarters in London, where Josephine has come to view the rehearsals of a play of hers that has been adapted for radio and will air as part of the celebration, she happens to be present when Vivienne Beresford, a Radio Times editor, learns that her husband, Anthony, the BBC's leading news announcer, is unfaithful. That revelation sets in motion a series of events that result in murder on the day of the coronation. That case, which is handled by Josephine's close friend at Scotland Yard, Det. Chief Insp. Archie Penrose, seems to be open-and-shut, but that perception changes when a second corpse turns up. 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.
