The Death of Lucy Kyte

Starred review from April 14, 2014
Lyrical prose (“sheaves of corn stood abandoned, like the forgotten tents of a retreating army”) and subtle plotting make Upson’s fifth novel featuring real-life mystery writer Josephine Tey a worthy successor to Fear in the Sunlight, a PW Best Mystery of 2013. Tey, who’s struggling with writing a biography, is surprised to learn of a bequest from her godmother, actress Hester Larkspur (who was a close friend of Tey’s mother), as she herself barely knew the woman. Larkspur has left her a Red Barn Cottage in Suffolk located near the site of a notorious murder, and the will gives the writer the choice of sorting through its contents, including the actress’s papers, or having them all destroyed unseen. Tey decides to take a look at what she’s inherited, and, in the process, learns some unsettling details about the circumstances of her godmother’s death. In addition, the cottage may be haunted. Upson lays out the suspicious events gradually, but amply rewards her readers’ patience with a satisfying resolution that feels true to life rather than pat. Agent: Gráinne Fox, Fletcher & Co.

April 1, 2014
Three generations of homeowners feel the effects of a violent murder in rural England. Hester Larkspur's will, leaving Red Barn Cottage, in Polstead, Suffolk, to her goddaughter Josephine Tey, has a strange codicil. If Josephine wants the cottage, she must sort out Hester's papers, evaluate their worth and let someone named Lucy Kyte take what she most needs from the cottage. No one, not even Hester's lawyer, knows who or where Lucy is. When Josephine first visits the place, it's in such sad disrepair that she isn't sure she'll get what she needs, either. The cottage was named for the barn where Maria Marten, a willful young Polstead woman, was murdered and buried more than a century ago. In her prime, Hester was a beautiful and popular actress best known for her role in a play based on the murder, and she fueled the legend by writing a diary that's a fictionalized account of Maria's tragic life, as recounted by her best friend. While Josephine gets to know both Maria and Hester through the diary and struggles to make Red Barn Cottage more livable for herself and her lover, Marta Fox, she's increasingly aware that something is amiss. Not only did Hester die while huddled away in a tiny room that fills Josephine with dread, but some restless presence also demands her attention. Marta, like Josephine, an independent and clear-thinking woman of the 1930s, doesn't dismiss the idea of a ghost in the house. But Josephine begins to suspect that a living person has played an important part in the more recent history of the cottage--and may mean harm to its new owner in this carefully crafted tale of heartbreak and haunting. Upson's (Two for Sorrow, 2010, etc.) attempt to engage real-life mystery writer Josephine Tey in a murder is not for those who want a quick-moving story. For more patient readers, the contemplative tone and historical detail yield their own rewards, along with a couple of clever surprises.

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April 1, 2014

Upson's fifth title (after Fear in the Sunlight) in her historical series featuring mystery author Josephine Tey once again ratchets up the psychological suspense. This outing finds Tey in rural Suffolk.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2014
An unusual inheritance lands mystery author Josephine Tey in the midst of a mystery not of her own making. The godmother she hardly knew, actress Hester Larkspur, a dear friend of Josephine's late mother, has died, leaving her Suffolk home, Red Barn Cottage, to Josephine, asking her to decide what stories are worthy of being told from the personal papers Hester also leaves to Josephine. A codicil also bequeaths anything else in the house to Lucy Kyte. Then Josephine discovers that the cottage is on the site of the notorious nineteenth-century murder of Maria Marten by her gentleman lover, William Corder, a crime frequently dramatized on stage (with Hester in the role of Maria) and that seems to have poisoned the atmosphere of the cottage itself. With the help of a nineteenth-century diary and her own keen instincts, Josephine pieces together remaining puzzles surrounding both the old crime and Hester's death. Upson's fifth Tey mystery is a hauntingly atmospheric story based on fact with personal reverberations for Josephine herself. A worthy addition to this intriguing series starring a real-life mystery writer and set in between-the-wars England.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)