The Man In The Queue. [Import] [Paperback]

JOSEPHINE. TEY (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books; New Ed edition (1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140045600
• ISBN-13: 978-0140045604
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,619,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Josephine Tey is one of the best-known and best-loved of all crime writers. She began to write full-time after the successful publication of her first novel, The Man in the Queue (1929), which introduced Inspector Grant of Scotland Yard. In 1937 she returned to crime writing with A Shilling for Candles, but it wasn't until after the Second World War that the majority of her crime novels were published. Josephine Tey died in 1952, leaving her entire estate to the National Trust.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Man in the Queue, written in 1929, is amazingly undated., April 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Man in the Queue (Paperback)

The "Man in the Queue", by Josephine Tey, commences on London's West Side, where "Didn't You Know?", the hit musical, is in the last week of its run. Its newly famous star, Ray Marcable, who is London's darling, is leaving for America to seek even greater fame and fortune there. The show has been sold out for weeks, but there is a huge line (the queue of the title) outside, waiting for a chance to get same day only seats for the show. The people in line have been waiting several hours, on the whole good-naturedly, but there is considerable pushing and shoving and re-aligning as the line finally begins to move forward. When a middle-aged woman reaches the ticket booth, she indignantly turns to say something to the man who is pushing hard against her back and is horrified when he falls to the ground dead with a silver dagger sticking out of his back. No one can say when the dead man was stabbed, for the crush of the crowd has supported and carried him forward for some time

When his body is examined by the police, the young man is revealed to be carrying no identification, and has no tags or marks in his clothes. The only item of interest is a service revolver in his pocket, with fingerprints on it that prove not to be the victim's. Inspector Grant of Scotland Yard is assigned the case and the remainder of the book is an absorbing police procedural documenting the painstaking process of his quest to discover first the victim's identity and then his murderer. The search truly does become a quest for Grant, who is moved by something in the face of the victim and angered by the anonymity and callousness of his end.

Although The Man in the Queue was written almost 70 years ago, in 1929, it has aged amazingly well and will not be read as a quaint period piece, even though the war that many of the male characters fought in and the female ones nursed in is The Great War, WWI. One reason for the lack of datedness in the book is the fact that although Tey was writing in the Golden Age of British mysteries, her novels are driven more by the personalities and motivations of her characters than by the tricky kind of puzzles that depend on timetables and exotic poisons. What causes people to commit evil acts is more interesting to her than merely naming a villain. In fact, the subtext of The Man in the Queue is the question of whether there is a villain in the story at all.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dated but a good read still, November 18, 2000

By 

Carol Peterson Hennekens (Colorado Springs, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Man in the Queue (Audio Editions) (Audio Cassette)

Reading this book in context is the key. It's a first book and it was written in 1929 (before the crash). Yes, the language is of a different place and time. Some of it is awkward for a modern ear (the "foreigner" phrase in particular). Still, I enjoy being transported to a different world once in awhile and reading writing from that time is different than when a modern writer writes of history.

The plotting on this is pretty simple - finite number of suspects and such. The ending came a little bit too much from left field for my taste.

Bottom line - an adequate first effort. Don't judge Tey on the basis of this book -- later books are much better.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My First Tey and the First Book of 2003 for Me., January 2, 2003

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Man in the Queue (Paperback)

I read, this my first Tey mystery, because all mystery afficiondos should at least sample her writing. She is famous in the mystery world, and you need to read her in order to determine how we got to where we did with mystery writing. I enjoyed the story. She certainly puts enough twists and turns in her plots. The book is somewhat dated (it was written in 1929) after all, but she has a lot of talent. I liked Inspector Grant even though he really didn't solve this puzzler, but it was fun following him around in his quest for the killer. This is a rather unique format for a "locked room" mystery since the victim was stabbed outside in a theatre queue, but it appeared that no one had the opportunity to do the deed. I want to continue to read the rest of her books. She writes fairly complex stories.