Josephine Tey

Josephine Tey was the pen name of Elizabeth Mackintosh, a Scottish crime writer and playwright whose detective novels are celebrated for their intelligence, elegance, and psychological depth. Born in Inverness in 1896, she studied at the Anstey Physical Training College in Birmingham and taught physical education before returning to care for her father. She wrote plays under the name Gordon Daviot and crime fiction as Josephine Tey. Tey published only eight crime novels, but several are considered masterpieces of the genre. The Daughter of Time — in which a hospitalised detective investigates whether Richard III really murdered the princes in the Tower — is frequently voted the greatest mystery novel ever written. A Shilling for Candles features her detective Inspector Alan Grant investigating a murder on the Kent coast. Her novels are distinguished by their wit, their psychological insight, and their refusal to follow the formulaic conventions of golden age detection. She died in 1952. Her audiobooks and books offer listeners and readers crime fiction of rare intelligence and grace — mysteries written by someone who cared more about character and truth than about following the rules of the genre.