While [a:Josephine Tey|44023|Josephine Tey|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1193918690p2/44023.jpg]’s most well-known detective, Inspector Alan Grant, features in six of her eight mystery novels, Miss Pym Disposes is not one of them.

This book features the eponymous Miss Lucy Pym, a quiet, non-assertive, intelligent woman who has written a best-selling psychology book (shades of Chicken Soup for the Soul). She is invited to a girls’ school by its headmistress, a former schoolmate, for as a guest lecturer.

Thinking this was another of Tey’s Inspector Grant book, I kept waiting for the requisite murder and his arrival. I was three-quarters through the book when I surfaced and checked the internet, since I was enjoying the novel that much. Once confirming what I now suspected (that this is not an Inspector Grant novel at all), I dove back in and read to the finish in one sitting.

This book is unlike Tey’s previous two mysteries, not only in the absence of Inspector Grant but also in that the “murder event” does not occur until nearly the end of the book. Instead of being the driving force of the book and central reason the characters come together, in Miss Pym Disposes it exists to cause an existential discussion on the meanings of justice and the law. Though shocking, it becomes a life-changing event for very few of the characters.

Mostly this is an observational book from the point of view of Miss Pym as she adjusts to her new status as Celebrity and reevaluates her relationship with people based on the feedback she gets from the various students and teachers at the College. She self-identifies as “a bit of a rabbit”, yet the Senior students to whom she lectures take to her immediately. Miss Pym, through her “psychological lens”, gives us an outsider view of the close-knit community of the College. Presumably, we are expected to use this intimate knowledge of the participants to come to a decision regarding the causes that lead to the nasty accident.

As with Tey’s other books, there are several colloquial words and references that date the book, reflecting the specific time and culture at a private English school. And as with her other books, Miss Pym Disposes is no less enjoyable for that. At a minimum, I got a few great Scrabble words out of it!

Very good. ( )

Second time through. This time an audiobook. It has been over 10 years, so I was surprised again by the ending. I really appreciate that this book is really a study of all of the characters before there is any evidence of a crime very late in the book. Great to get to know all these folks. Loved the Nut-Tart! ( )

This is the first book I have read by British Golden Age mystery author Josephine Tey.

Lucy Pym dabbles in psychology. Having read thirty books on the subject, she wrote her own book and became a popular speaker. Her old friend asked her to speak at the school where she is the headmistress – a sort of physical college for dancers, gymnasts and those interested in healing through physical movement.

Lucy Pym is intrigued by the school and delighted by her acceptance there. She decides to stay on for several more weeks and she is especially interested in the senior girls who are readying for their graduation with a show of their skills.

More than half way through the book, a girl is found dead who had been honing her routine early mornings on a dangerous piece of equipment. Although it’s considered an accident, Lucy Pym believes something more happened, and finds several clues pointing that way. The headmistress, however, is more interested in having the closing ceremonies be accomplished flawlessly than finding the truth.

Unfortunately, although I enjoyed reading this novel, I found the twists at the end unbelievable. Would I read more by this author – yes. I was somewhat surprised to find this book isn’t the beginning of a series about Lucy Pym. ( )

I've gone back and forth on my thoughts of this a lot. First, it's not a traditional mystery - the thing doesn't happen for ages and there's very little detecting. There's a few instances of nasty casual racism just randomly dropped in. The "main" story is... weird.

I liked the writing and characterisation a lot - they're very good for a genre novel. I liked that the characters were almost all women. I found the description of life in a physical education college surprisingly interesting. I felt pretty caught up in it all. And then the book just sort of comes to a halt without a good wrap-up - things are *explained* but it just feels cut short with a lot happening even in the last few pages. Massive ending spoilers and all book discussion So Innes took the blame for Beau murdering Rouse just super casually. The only reason Miss Pym "discovered" Innes was the criminal because she was wearing the *exact same shoes* that had a thing missing from them that was the only clue she found. Which was really weird? Did Innes borrow them from Beau? What? And then Beau super casually links herself to this only piece of evidence right at the end. Innes was willing to choose a shitty career option as "penance" for something she hadn't done to save her friend who's a murderer (taking a shitty career option seems an awfully casual penance for a murder, too). And the whole set up for this murder seems bizarre - Rouse seriously needed to practice the same thing over and over every morning for like... a week or something? Even though her apparent one skill is being incredibly good at the physical stuff, she suddenly had trouble with this exact 1 thing. And the whole thing where Rouse is apparently hated by EVERY SINGLE PERSON except the principal and Innes is loved by EVERY SINGLE PERSON except the principal is frustrating. The whole thing where Henrietta is gonna give Rouse the most amazing possible job result even after being given good reason to believe Rouse is cheating in tests (although not being given evidence because for some reason Miss Pym *immediately disposes (heh) of this evidence when she finds it!) and when she's always at the lower end of the test results and bad at theory is super frustrating. She has a weird hatred of Innes and love of Rouse which is put down to her sympathising with Rouse for being smarmy and unattractive?? Even though Innes is also presented as not attractive multiple times. There's no identifiable reason for this blind hatred but tbh it's not obvious why everyone else hates Rouse either. So the main set-up for the mystery bit is just baffling and makes no sense. Which just makes the ending even more frustrating. The rich kid gets away with murder *without even trying to cover anything up!* and Miss Pym doesn't do anything about it even though she knows it while Innes gets her life fucked over to cover up for someone much richer than her, and the whole thing is set in motion by multiple incomprehensible grudges. It's just so frustrating. And ofc it also shows up Miss Pym's whole psychology by reading faces thing as crap but she doesn't think about that at all. There are also a few random male characters introduced in the 2nd half that have no relevance to anything or anyone and just weirdly clutter things? Found this v confusing.

I liked it a lot up to the ending and then it was just... blurgh. Like yeah obviously you can write novels where justice isn't served but I don't actually like that in genre novels and it felt badly handled and frustrating as heck. ( )

When Lucy Pym, popular psychologist, accepts an invitation to give a lecture at a women's college run by an old school friend, she expects to be there for a few days at most. As she finds herself drawn to the students and the life of the school, she is convinced to stay the last couple weeks of the term (despite the early morning bells and disgusting cafeteria food). She gets to know the senior girls very well, and finds herself interested in their plans for the immediate future. But when a disaster occurs, Miss Pym is the only one who can prove that what seems like a tragic accident might, in fact, be murder.

Tey writes setting and character beautifully. I can see how the first part of the book might feel a little slow, though I was just enjoying getting to know the school, staff, and students. This book was published in the 1940s, and shows its age in certain attitudes and dialogue. In addition, a major part of the plot involves a certain piece of gymnastics equipment called the "boom," which I cannot clearly picture, nor can I find an online image that helps me understand its function. I'm also still a little hazy on the purview of a women's physical training college, which seems to train students who want to become gym teachers, or something like physical therapists, or...? Wikipedia tells me that Tey taught at such a college, so I'm sure all of the details are accurate to the time, but to a modern reader, it's a bit obscure.

All that aside, this is an interesting handling of the mystery element of the book. As you might expect from a main character with an interest in psychology, the ramifications of the crime and of exposing the crime are explored in detail. I figured out "whodunit" almost immediately, and was not distracted by red herrings, but I didn't find the ending entirely satisfying. I did enjoy reading a golden age mystery with an almost entirely female cast (there are a few men, but they play minor roles), and I can see that aspect of the book having some appeal for modern readers. I might read more of Tey if I come across other books by her; I was a little surprised that Miss Pym Disposes is a stand-alone work. ( )