Nine Lessons

September 1, 2017

In Upson's latest "Josephine Tey" mystery (after London Rain), DCI Archie Penrose finds himself in Cambridge, England, chasing a killer who dispatches victims in a macabre and gruesome manner. His longtime friend, mystery writer Josephine Tey, has recently relocated to Cambridge with her lover Marta Fox. The university town itself is under the shadow of a series of attacks against women. As Archie attempts to unravel a mystery that has its roots in the King's College choir prior to World War I, Josephine struggles with a secret that she knows will change Archie's life forever. The threads of the story weave in and out; sometimes breaking into two separate tales, sometimes twisting together. The culture of England between the two World Wars come vividly to life. VERDICT Fans of historical British mysteries, such as Jacqueline Winspear's "Maisie Dobbs" series, will delight in this old-fashioned whodunit starring characters with depth and heart.--Terry Lucas, Shelter Island P.L., NY

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Starred review from August 28, 2017
A series of murders inspired by the ghost stories of English author M.R. James challenges Scotland Yard’s Det. Chief Insp. Archie Penrose in Upton’s superlative seventh outing for Penrose and his close friend and investigative assistant, real-life mystery author Josephine Tey (after 2016’s London Rain). One day in 1937, Penrose is summoned to St. John’s-at-Hempstead, a north London graveyard, where the body of church organist Stephen Laxborough was found in a tomb with the stone slab on top pushed back a little. The dead man was evidently buried alive, based on the horrific evidence of his desperate efforts to escape the tomb. Compounding the mystery is the presence in the grave of a torn photograph depicting a manor house; scrawled on a piece of paper in the victim’s breast pocket is the sentence: “What is this that I have done?” This evidence leads Penrose to Cambridge, where his lover, Bridget Foley, and Josephine have both recently settled. A series of attacks on women in the university town ups the ante. Upson successfully incorporates moving and complex interpersonal conflicts involving her main characters into an intricate, credible whodunit story line. Agent: Gráinne Fox, Fletcher & Co.