Nicola Upson

For fans of classic detective stories, including the mysteries of Agatha Christie, comes this brilliant first novel set in the exotic world of British theater in the 1930s.

An Expert in Murder

An expert in murder

Summer, 1936. The writer, Josephine Tey, joins her friends in the holiday village of Portmeirion to celebrate her fortieth birthday. Alfred Hitchcock and his wife, Alma Reville, are there to sign a deal to film Josephine's novel, A Shilling for Candles, and Hitchcock has one or two tricks up his sleeve to keep the holiday party entertained - and expose their deepest fears.But things get out of hand when one of Hollywood's leading actresses is brutally slashed to death in a cemetery near the village. The following day, as fear and suspicion take over in a setting where nothing - and no one - is quite what it seems, Chief Inspector Archie Penrose becomes increasingly unsatisfied with the way the investigation is ultimately resolved. Several years later, another horrific murder, again linked to a Hitchcock movie, drives Penrose back to the scene of the original crime to uncover the shocking truth.

Fear in the Sunlight

Angel with two faces

Inspector Archie Penrose invites Josephine Tey down to his family home in Cornwall so she can recover from the traumatic events depicted in An Expert in Murder. Josephine welcomes the opportunity, escpecially since Archie's home is near the famous Minack open-air theatre perched on the cliffs overlooking the sea.

Angel with Two Faces

Josephine Tey, a sharp-witted amateur sleuth based on the celebrated Golden Age mystery writer, returns in the seventh in Nicola Upson's critically acclaimed series, perfect for readers of Agatha Christie and Jacqueline Winspear.

A Josephine Tey Mystery

Nine Lessons

'Haunting . . . Superlative.' Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month 'A terrific novel.' A. N. Wilson Summer, 1915: a young woman falls to her death at Charleston Farmhouse on the Sussex Downs. But was it an accident? Twenty years later, Josephine Tey is faced with the accusation that it was murder, and that she was complicit in the crime. Can she clear her name and uncover the truth, exposing the darkest secrets of that apparently idyllic summer?

Sorry for the Dead

The Dead of Winter

They were the most horrific crimes of a new century: the murders of newborn innocents for which two British women were hanged at Holloway Prison in1903. Decades later, mystery writer Josephine Tey has decided to write a novel based on Amelia Sach and Annie Walters, the notorious “Finchley baby farmers,” unaware that her research will entangle her in the desperate hunt for a modern-day killer. A young seamstress—an ex-convict determined to reform—has been found brutally slain in the studio of Tey’s friends, the Motley sisters, amid preparations for a star-studded charity gala. Despite initial appearances, Inspector Archie Penrose is not convinced this murder is the result of a long-standing domestic feud—and a horrific accident involving a second young woman soon after supports his convictions. Now he and his friend Josephine must unmask a sadistic killer before more blood flows—as the repercussions of unthinkable crimes of the past reach out to destroy those left behind long after justice has been served.

A New Mystery Featuring Josephine Tey

Two for Sorrow

An unexpected inheritance plunges beloved British mystery author Josephine Tey into a disturbing puzzle of dark secrets connecting the present and the past in this intriguing historical mystery brimming with psychological tension. When Josephine Tey unexpectedly inherits Red Barn Cottage from a godmother she barely knows, the will stipulates that she must personally claim the house in the Suffolk countryside. But Josephine is not the only benefactor—a woman named Lucy Kyte is also in Hester's will. Sorting through the artifacts of her godmother's life, Josephine is intrigued by an infamous murder committed on the cottage's grounds a century before. This old crime—dubbed the Red Barn murder—still haunts the tight-knit village and its remote inhabitants. Is it superstition, or is there a very real threat that is frightening the locals? And is the truth related to the mysterious Lucy Kyte, whom no one in the village admits to knowing? Surrounded by the shadows of obsession, abuse, and deceit, with a palpable sense of evil thickening around her, Josephine must untangle historic tragedy from present danger to prevent a deadly cycle from beginning once again.

The Death of Lucy Kyte

Intrepid writer and amateur sleuth Josephine Tey returns in this sixth installment of Nicola Upson’s popular series—perfect for fans of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot and Jaqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs—that unfolds in 1930s London as England prepares to crown a new king. London, 1937. Following the gloomy days of the abdication of King Edward VIII, the entire city is elated to welcome King George. Just one of the many planned festivities for the historic coronation is a BBC radio adaptation of Queen of Scots, and the original playwright, Josephine Tey, has been invited to sit in on rehearsals. Soon, however, Josephine gets wrapped up in another sort of drama. The lead actress has been sleeping with Britain’s most venerable newsman, Anthony Beresford—and his humiliated wife happens to work in the building. The sordid affair seems to reach its bloody climax when Beresford is shot to death in his broadcasting booth at the deafening height of the coronation ceremony. Josephine’s dear friend, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose, has the case wrapped up before long. But when a second, seemingly related murder throws Penrose for a loop, it falls to Josephine to unravel a web of betrayal, jealousy, and long-held secrets… caught all the while in a love triangle of her own making. Charming and provocative, thick with the atmosphere of prewar England, London Rain is a captivating portrait of a city on the edge—and an unforgettable woman always one step ahead of her time.

London Rain

The Christmas Clue

'More than just a brilliant mystery . . . wonderful.' Ian Moore, author of Death and Croissants 'Kept me guessing. Bravo!' Martin Edwards, author of The Lake District Mysteries It takes a village to bury a child. 1 September, 1939. As the mass evacuation takes place across Britain, thousands of children leave London for the countryside, but when a little girl vanishes without trace, the reality of separation becomes more desperate and more deadly for those who love her. In the chaos and uncertainty of war, Josephine struggles with the prospect of change. As a cloud of suspicion falls across the small Suffolk village she has come to love, the conflict becomes personal, and events take a dark and sinister turn. 'A class above the usual crime fiction.' Independent

Dear Little Corpses

A snowy Christmas gathering on an island off the Cornish coast goes murderously wrong in this festive Golden Age mystery. December 1938, and storm clouds hover once again over Europe. Josephine Tey and Archie Penrose gather with friends for a Cornish Christmas, but two strange and brutal deaths on St. Michael's Mount--and the unexpected arrival of a world famous film star, in need of sanctuary--interrupt the festivities. Cut off by the sea and a relentless blizzard, the hunt for a murderer begins. Pivoting on a real moment in history, the ninth novel in the Josephine Tey series draws on all the much-loved conventions of the Golden Age Christmas mystery, while giving them the contemporary twist which has come to distinguish the books so far.

The Secrets of Winter

A compelling novel reimagining the sordid family life of famed painter Stanley Spencer The First World War is over, and in a quiet Hampshire village, artist Stanley Spencer is working on the commission of a lifetime, painting an entire chapel in memory of a life lost in the war to end all wars. Combining his own traumatic experiences with moments of everyday redemption, the chapel will become his masterpiece. When Elsie Munday arrives to take up position as housemaid to the Spencer family, her life quickly becomes entwined with the charming and irascible Stanley, his artist wife Hilda and their tiny daughter Shirin. As the years pass, Elsie does her best to keep the family together even when love, obsession and temptation seem set to tear them apart ... AUTHOR: Nicola Upson was born in Suffolk and read English at Downing College, Cambridge. She has worked in theatre and as a freelance journalist, and is the author of two non-fiction works and the recipient of an Escalator Award from the Arts Council England. Her debut novel, An Expert in Murder, was the first in a series of crime novels to feature Josephine Tey - one of the leading authors of Britain's age of crime-writing. The book was dramatised by BBC Scotland for Woman's Hour. Nicola lives with her partner in Cambridge and Cornwall. SELLING POINTS: * By a winner of the Arts Council of England's Escalator Award * By the author of the Josephine Tey murder mystery series, the first of which was dramatised by BBC Scotland for Woman's Hour

Stanley and Elsie

March 1934. Revered mystery writer Josephine Tey is traveling from Scotland to London for the final week of her play Richard of Bordeaux, the surprise hit of the season, with pacifist themes that resonate in a world still haunted by war. But joy turns to horror when her arrival coincides with the murder of a young woman she had befriended on the train ride—and Tey is plunged into a mystery as puzzling as any in her own works. Detective Inspector Archie Penrose is convinced that the killing is connected to the play, and that Tey herself is in danger of becoming a victim of her own success. In the aftermath of a second murder, the writer and the policeman must join together to stop a ruthless killer who will apparently stop at nothing.

London, 1903. Two women are hanged in Holloway Prison for killing babies. More than thirty years later, Josephine Tey sets out to write a novel about Amelia Sach and Annie Walters, the notorious Finchley baby farmers. Meanwhile, her friend, Inspector Archie Penrose is investigating the sadistic murder of a young seamstress, found dead in the Motley sisters' studio, amid preparations for a star-studded charity gala. The girl's death seems to be the result of a long-standing domestic feud, but Archie is unconvinced; and when a second young woman is involved in an horrific accident soon afterwards, the search begins for a vicious killer who will stop at nothing to keep the past where it belongs.

Nicola Upson blends biography and fiction, excitement and menace, and a touch of Alfred Hitchcock in Fear in the Sunlight, a mystery starring real-life writer Josephine Tey. Summer, 1936: Josephine Tey joins her friends in the resort village of Portmeirion to celebrate her fortieth birthday. Alfred Hitchcock and his wife, Alma Reville, are there to sign a deal to film Josephine’s novel, A Shilling for Candles, and Alfred Hitchcock has one or two tricks up his sleeve to keep the holiday party entertained—and expose their deepest fears. But things get out of hand when one of Hollywood’s leading actresses is brutally slashed to death in a cemetery near the village. The following day, fear and suspicion take over in a setting where nothing—and no one—is quite what it seems. Based in part on the life of Josephine Tey—one of the most popular, best-loved crime writers of the Golden Age, Nicola Upson’s Fear in the Sunlight features legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock as a prominent character—and features the classic suspense and psychological tension that fans of Hitchcock films love.

Nicola Upson

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