Two for Sorrow

"Two For Sorrow" is the third in Nicola Upson's Josephine Tey Crime Series, but the first I've read. I've read and enjoyed all of Miss Tey's own mystery novels, but have mixed feelings about her being used as a character in Miss Upson's series. Basically, I don't see the point, other than drawing readers because of name recognition, because the real detective in this book was Inspector Archie Penrose of Scotland Yard. I liked him, as well as his sergeant, a lot, and was frankly distracted when the story would leave them to return to the character of Josephine Tey, who seemed to spend most of her time in this novel trying to sort out her love life - which I didn't find all that interesting.

I also felt there might have been too much of show more an assumption on Miss Upson's part as to how familiar readers would be with characters who apparently were introduced in her first two books. If nothing else, this third book is a major spoiler, which (as lukewarm as I feel about this book) makes me even more hesitant to spend time reading the first two.

On the other hand, I would gladly read another Inspector Penrose mystery. Maybe Josephine could retire to Inverness to continue writing her own books and let Archie handle the next case on his own. show less

I am loathe to start a series in the middle but I just couldn't swing the first two books by the time I needed to get to this one. Fortunately, I absolutely enjoyed this book despite my ignorance of the series and the characters!

The novel fictionalizes the life of mystery novelist Josephine Tey (Tey is a pen name, but the character goes by Josephine in this series) and the novel alternates, roughly, chapters of Tey's draft account of a thirty year old crime and her present day. Upson beautifully differentiates between Tey's writing -- which is straight-forward, moving, simple -- and the narration, creating a yummy sense of story-within-a-story. There's a kind of heft to Upson's style of writing: it isn't ornate but it is decorated. show more Sentences are long and descriptive, heavy with baubles, and it lends a lovely kind of fussiness to the narrative that makes the story seem almost like a character itself. There were passages so fun to read I actually felt bouncy, if that makes sense, exuberant at reading them.

There's quite a cast of characters and a web of smaller mysteries that immediately hooked me (although I was lost from time to time as the characters referenced events from previous books) and I raced through this book. The mystery is grim but not gruesome, and Tey's character as a writer (rather than a detective or police officer) allowed for some sympathetic musings about the motivations of the women involved. Class differences, the shifting political landscape of the UK in the mid-1930s, and the lingering scars of WWI color the action and characters as well, and I appreciated that -- this felt more than a pat mystery series set in the '30s.

I'm going back and reading the first two books for sure, so I can be caught up in time for the fourth Tey novel (should I be so lucky). Highly recommended -- start with An Expert in Murder and work your way to this one! show less

Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upson is a mystery set in London in the 1930s featuring Josephine Tey who's there to write a book about the 1903 crimes of two women who murdered unwanted babies instead of putting them up for adoption. She ends up entangled in a mystery involving the very people that had a part in the drama of those crimes. London in the 1930s is very deftly brought to life in Upson's writing and all the characters of the book are fleshed out beautifully. The interesting technique of switching from character to character and getting their thoughts and feelings in the moment but leaving out just enough to keep the reader guessing is also quite interesting. I enjoyed this book very much and will on the lookout for the next in the show more series. show less

I was drawn to this book because I think that Josephine Tey was an extremely talented writer. What I liked about all of her books is that they were all different, but all good, and didn't remind me of anything else.

I realized that this book is the third in the series, other than a few minor references, not having read the previous two installments did not ruin my reading pleasure in any way.

The story takes the real life 1903 hanging of Amelia Sach and Annie Walters, who were sentenced to death for a series of newborn murders, while the birth mothers believed that their children were being given good homes and taken care of.

Josephine Tey's part of the story takes place in 1936, while she is researching the facts of this case for a book show more that she is writing. She then finds herself thrust in the middle of two other murders, which may or may not be related to baby murder case.

The story fell a little flat for me in that Josephine doesn't actually have anything to do with solving the current murders, but spends a lot of time with Inspector Archie Penrose who is in charge of the case and has feelings for Josephine, who is conflicted about embarking on a lesbian relationship. I never felt as though I had enough background about the baby killer case, and not having read the other two books, I wasn't sure of the history between Archie and Josephine. I will at some point, read the previous installments to satifsy my curiosity. show less

In London for a charity gala at her social club, author Josephine Tey uses the opportunity to conduct research for her current book, a novel about the events surrounding a real crime and the execution of the two women convicted for it. Several women associated with the Cowdray Club have first-hand knowledge of the 30-year-old events. The murder of a young woman during the preparations for the charity gala could be connected to the long-ago events. Josephine's research is useful to her good friend, Inspector Archie Penrose, who is brought in to investigate the murder.

I had already read the first two books in the series and, while I didn't like them as well as any of Tey's mysteries, I thought the series had great potential. This book show more fell short of my expectations. While Josephine freely shares important background information with Archie, she is not involved in the solution of the present day crime. Archie is unwilling to share details of the investigation with her because he doesn't want his suspicions to affect her behavior toward the suspects. Josephine shows little interest in the investigation, anyway. She is more absorbed in her own concerns.

Archie identifies the murderer with no basis other than a gut feeling. There is no physical evidence pointing to a guilty party, and Archie's suspect seemingly has an alibi. Upson tries to distract readers from the inherent problems in this situation by revealing the murderer's identity to the reader immediately before Archie leaps to his conclusion.

In the first two novels in the series, there seemed to be a mutual attraction between Josephine and Archie. The ghost of Josephine's first love – Archie's best friend – stood between them. In this novel Upson brings back a character from the first book and has Josephine contemplating a lesbian affair. The relationship seems out of place in this book. There is no connection with either the historic or present day crime, and these passages don't advance the plot in any way that I can see. This part of the book includes spoilers for the first book in the series.

In at least three instances, Josephine is rebuked by people associated with the historic crime for presuming to base a novel on real people whose lives and motives she didn't understand and who would therefore be misrepresented in her novel. Since the real Josephine Tey did not publish such a novel, the implication is that the fictional Josephine took this criticism to heart and did not publish the book. I found this ironic, as Upson has done the same thing with Tey's life. I wish she had made the same choice as the fictional Josephine.

This review is based on an advance reading copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. show less

This was a troubled book for me. Although the premise showed promise, I struggled throughout. And, that's too bad. The basic plot surrounding who actually killed babies, the women who were executed or some one else, could have been a page turner. But things got mired down somehow. Maybe it's because the book switched from one time period to another clumsily, and both periods were not the present time. Add to that an attempt to portray early feminism in an all women's club fell short. The interest never built. And that disappoints. If I had one message to the author, Nicola Upson, it would be trite but maybe effective. "Less is more". In this case it seems that in attempting to add Josephine Tey to the story and relying on newspaper show more accounts of the period just complicated things.
And, unlike In Cold Blood a novel based on a true crime, this book never really came to life. show less

I have such mixed feelings about this book. It was such a painful book that I almost put it down partway through (right after the murder). It surprised me that I reacted that way to it. But we have Josephine Tey working on a book about women involved in child murder, followed by one of the most brutal murders I think I have ever read about in a mystery. Usually, my fondness for the detective pulls me through the book, but Josephine's character is so ambiguous that I didn't feel connected to her (and that ambiguity about her is part of the story, so I see why that was true of this book). So I looked to her friend Archie Penrose as the "hero" of the book, and by the end, I was hooked. I guess I would ultimately recommend it, but I do show more think it is a hard book to read. show less