Some of the more minor threads (Edward Champenis, for example) are wrapped up in a somewhat haphazard way, but this did bother me less than in other books. And while there’s a bit of exceptionalism and not-like-the-other-girls going on, I also found myself charmed by Erica and the strength of her inward compass. It’s nice to see a character who is a little less cerebral and inward-turning that Grant himself. Erica Burgoyne, the daughter of the Chief Constable and a formidable character in her own right, who also acts as a bit of a leavening agent. Unlike most of her Grant books, Tey chooses to give us another point-of-view character. Christine emerges as a complex, warm, vivid character, and Grant’s commitment to solving the mystery of her death makes sense. Tey is remarkably good at this, considering that she pulls it off in two separate books. Like To Love and Be Wise, which revolves around an absent character, A Shilling for Candles partly relies on how much the reader is interested in and believes in the picture of Christine Clay we’re given. And there are some lovely, atmospheric descriptions of the countryside as well. Perhaps this is partly because Grant has been shown to be a shrewd judge of character in other books, but I think it’s also because Tey is so good at quick, vivid character sketches. Obviously I can’t speak for everyone, but this reader did buy it. A lot of this book in particular rests on whether the reader buys Grant’s instinctive liking of Robin Tisdall, despite later events. But we also get perspective from other characters, notably Erica Burgoyne, which opens everything up beyond Grant’s own thoughts and reactions.Īs usual, Tey really shines in her descriptions of character and place. He’s certainly very much the main character, and good chunks of the book are devoted to his finding out information and setting up the twists and turns of the story.
I think this is partly because Tey relies a little less on Grant as the center of the book. While it certainly never reached the level of affection that I have for either Brat Farrar or The Daughter of Time, I did find it engrossing and enjoyable. For me, it’s the most successful of the more traditional mystery books that Tey wrote. I reread almost all of Tey’s books while working on this series (I skipped The Franchise Affair, which I have vague memories of disliking), and I was surprised by how much I liked A Shilling for Candles, given that I had no real recollection of it. There will be spoilers! (But this matters less with Tey than with most mystery writers.) This post is about her 1936 book, A Shilling for Candles, which features Inspector Grant. This month’s Reading Notes series is on books by Josephine Tey (the better-known pen-name of Elizabeth MacKintosh).
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