A Shilling for Candles

US: Penguin UK. Paperback. Good. A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey. About the novel In this novel, Tey's second, Inspector Alan Grant investigates the murder o f a famous actress, whose death by drowning had been predicted by a celebri ty clairvoyant. In her characteristically elegant prose, Tey not only delivers an interesti ng piece of Golden Age crime fiction, she also explores the concept of cele brity. Tey's observations on this particular issue still seem fresh today i s both a testament to the strength of the writing and to the fact that some things never change. Alan Grant is a thoughtful and engaging detective, who makes mistakes and s ometimes misjudges people and situations in a very realistic way. Secondary Characters: The secondary characters are also interesting and wel l-drawn, particularly the wonderful Erica Burgoyne. The mystery at the cent er of the novel is engaging enough, with multiple red herrings and a satisf actory resolution. However, the novel does contain multiple instances of the casual anti-semit ism which is a recurrent feature of pre-WWII British crime fiction. It's pr actically another excellent example of "Not your ordinary mystery novel." A body is discovered on a beach, and the immediate assumption of suicide is soon contradicted by the evidence. (I have to say I'm a little impressed that the article found with the body which indicates murder is never mentioned in anything I've read about the book on the internet, and in fact morphed into something else for the film adaptation (1937's Young and Innocent, said to be Hitchcock's personal favorite among his British films); I'm glad to continue to keep the secret.).