Miss Pym Disposes

This isn't so much a cosy mystery as it is a rather compact and elegant study of social group psychology in the setting of a plain, honest English boarding school for girls, specifically a Physical Training College, with some masterful writing of tension.

In fact, the actual incident of the mystery only happens after the 75% mark of the book. For most of this you're invited to slowly get to know our protagonist, honest little Miss Lucy Pym, a little sympathetic in how small her life is that she is taken aback by her sudden celebrity after publishing a book on psychology, and the cohort of Senior girls in the College, Lucy's alma mater and where she is briefly staying at as a guest lecturer at the request of her old school friend, Henrietta Hodge, now Principal of the College.

Josephine Tey was a cosy mystery writer writing from the Golden Age, and I'm well up enough in my Agatha Christie and my Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy Sayers to feel like I was well equipped to spot the typical formulae of the plot. This book pretty much turned that upside down. By 20% of the book, I was a little confused as to where the plot was going. By 40%, I was wondering if there was ever going to be a mystery at all, but felt strangely compelled to keep on going. Throughout the whole book, while you are getting comfortably settled in to this cast of characters, there's an underlying tension that is very subtly and increasingly alluded to as the plot moves on with sinister inevitability like an unstoppable slow train bound towards a cliff's edge. By the time the incident happens, you almost feel relieved. When the culprit is revealed, I'm pretty sure it doesn't take anyone by surprise - but keep on going, because Tey has more tricks up her sleeve.

This is one of those mysteries that should be wholly unremarkable on paper (even the incident in itself is not particularly dramatic compared to many cosy mysteries I've read) and where there just isn't a lot of action going on throughout the whole, but it really sticks with you. It's not only because of the masterful way the tension is teased out so slowly both within the text and as the reader waiting for the axe to fall in a mystery novel, but also because Tey focuses much more so on the psychology (or the popular concepts of her day) of her characters, the group dynamics, and their motivations.

This was such a treat. Why isn't Josephine Tey better known?! It was perfect - started out like one of the mid-century women's books I like and turned into a really well done mystery. The mystery is so late in the book I just didn't see how it would all happen and be resolved so quick! The long set up is so perfect as you really get to know the characters much better than you might in a whodunnit that happens much earlier on. I loved it. I was already interested in other Teys but now I'm really looking forward to them!