Tag Archives: Nicola Upson

#BookReview ‘Angel with Two Faces’ by @nicolaupsonbook #JosephineTey #crime #mystery

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Angel with Two Faces by Nicola Upson is second in the 1930s crime series featuring real-life author Josephine Tey. I admit to finding the first, An Expert in Murder, a slow start but I’m glad that I gave the series a second chance. Angel with Two Faces ticks so many ‘mystery’ boxes. The unexplained death of a handsome man. A beautiful setting on a Cornish estate. A community bound by complex relationships going back generations. Secrets, love, lies, jealousy and tragedy. Nicola UpsonNovelist Josephine Tey arrives in Cornwall to stay at the Loe Estate, childhood home of her friend Detective Inspector Archie Penrose. Inspired by the beauty of the lake and the coastline, Josephine hopes to start work on a new crime novel. But the disappearance of an estate worker means Archie is called to investigate and Josephine, despite her best intentions, finds herself curious about the hidden secrets in this seemingly idyllic place. When the missing man is discovered drowned and his death is recorded as an accident, Archie is unsure and asks Josephine for subtle help. As she chats to locals, she finds herself welcomed by some and ignored by others. The variety of snubs, memories, answers and contradictions form an impenetrable knot leaving her feeling guilty at being an outsider with a story she is unable to unravel. Meanwhile the community nurses its grief by continuing with daily life, including the staging of a play in an open air cliff-top theatre. But when another man dies, the original verdict of accidental drowning is questioned.
Like the first novel, I found myself confused at times by the number of characters, the complex truth and lies told that are impossible to differentiate. There are familiar characters from the first novel which bring continuity. Archie’s cousins, the theatrical costumiers Ronnie and Lettice, add a touch of glamour. It felt good to learn more of Archie’s early years and family history, I hope a future novel gives the same treatment to Josephine.
Like all good mysteries, the possible answer to the problem came upon me slowly. But when the truth was revealed, my guess was only partly correct. A satisfying, page-turning mystery with emotional depth, Angel with Two Faces is about the long-term nature of friendships and family relationships, young love, grown in a rural situation throughout times of war, struggle and tragedy. Not one of the characters living on the Loe Estate is untouched by what happens in Angel with Two Faces.

Read my review of these other novels by Nicola Upson:-
AN EXPERT IN MURDER #1JOSEPHINETEY
STANLEY AND ELSIE

And here’s my review of BRAT FARRAR by the real-life author Josephine Tey.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Silver Bone’ by Andrey Kurkov #1KyivMysteries
‘The Guest List’ by Lucy Foley
‘A Death in Valencia’ by Jason Webster #2MaxCamara

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview ANGEL WITH TWO FACES by @nicolaupsonbook https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-82b via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Ava Glass

#BookReview ‘An Expert in Murder’ by @nicolaupsonbook #JosephineTey #crime #mystery

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An Expert in Murder by Nicola Upson is an intriguing concept and the first in a series. A historical crime novel based on a real person – mystery novelist Josephine Tey, pseudonym of author Elizabeth MacKintosh – Upson places Tey in London’s theatreland where her successful play Richard of Bordeaux is drawing the crowds. This stage success happened for real, but Upson adds a murder. Or two. Nicola UpsonHow will a writer of crime and mystery novels deal with murder so close, so threatening? Will her creative imagination help friend Detective Inspector Archie Penrose find the murderer. And what happens when someone you know becomes a suspect. More a character-led mystery than a detective or crime story.
A mixture of fact and fiction – Tey was real, the role of John Terry was in reality played by John Gielgud – the story is slow to get going after the initial death. Partly this is the curse of the first instalment of a series, characters must be drawn, relationships established, clues laid for storylines which will run throughout future novels. The 1930s theatre setting is full of colourful characters though not much action actually happens in the New Theatre itself. The story kept me guessing but at times I lost track of the labyrinthine connections between people dating from the Great War and worried that I had missed something. In places there is so much new information I had to re-read. I particularly wanted to know more about Archie Penrose but perhaps that will come in the next book.
The period between the two world wars is a fascinating time with enormous social change but still retaining a straitjacket of Edwardian social conventions, which is fertile territory for a novelist. However there were moments when language and behaviour seemed a little too modern for the Thirties setting.
This is a slow to start to the series but intriguing enough to make me want to give it another chance. Perhaps I’ll try a novel later in the series [at the time of writing there are 11]. Ultimately, more a mystery than a detective or crime story.

Read my reviews of these other books by Nicola Upson:-
ANGEL WITH TWO FACES #2JOSEPHINETEY
STANLEY AND ELSIE

And here’s my review of BRAT FARRAR by the real-life author Josephine Tey.

If you like this, try:-
‘Curtain Call’ by Anthony Quinn
‘Shrines of Gaiety’ by Kate Atkinson
‘Fortune Favours the Dead’ by Stephen Spotswood #1Pentecost&Parker

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview AN EXPERT IN MURDER by @nicolaupsonbook https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-71K via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Elodie Harper

#BookReview ‘Stanley and Elsie’ by @nicolaupsonbook #art #historical

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My knowledge of English artist Stanley Spencer was sketchy to say the least when I started reading Stanley and Elsie by Nicola Upson. This is a biographical novel that walks a difficult line between true fact and imagined conversation and walks it with skill, delicacy and drama. Definitely a novel for anyone who loves art. Nicola UpsonUpson takes us into the Spencer household at Chapel View, Burghclere after the Great War when Elsie Munday starts work as a housemaid. Stanley Spencer has been commissioned to paint the inside of a chapel; his wife Hilda, also a painter, minds their young daughter Shirin. Through Elsie’s eyes we see the lives of this family, their ups and downs, the artistic differences, the selfishnesses of Stanley and Hilda, smoothed by the tact, diplomacy and efficiency of Elsie. The title could make some people assume Stanley and Elsie were romantically attached but theirs is a master/servant relationship that deepened into mutual respect and friendship. Stanley, selfish, focussed, is a difficult master, a difficult husband, and Elsie finds herself caught in the middle of disputes between husband and wife. Often she is exasperated with both of them. Instead she becomes indispensable to the household.
Upson gives us an insight into the lives of this family, their daily tasks, the squabbles, the unexpected joys. She combines small inconsequential details of painting with, through Elsie’s growing appreciation of art, the big picture destruction, grief and lasting devastation of war on Stanley’s generation of men. Upson is excellent at portraying place; the Spencers move between Burghclere, Cookham and Hampstead Heath as their marriage disintegrates, a separation complicated by Stanley’s obsession with another woman. No one could have forseen the consequences of this obsession. Stanley is selfish and self-absorbed, Hilda also but to a lesser degree; both can be loving with their children one minute and dismissive the next. At times, neither are particularly likeable; Elsie is the one who picks up the pieces.
Elsie is the core of this story. As narrator we not only see the Spencers through her eyes, we also see her grow from young girl to competent, confident young woman.
The ending was under-whelming but I see it must have been difficult to know how and when to end the novel.
A delightful read. I particularly enjoyed picturing the paintings in my mind as I turned the pages. Reading Stanley and Elsie makes me want to visit Sandham Memorial Chapel near Newbury, Hampshire, now a National Trust property, and also to explore Upson’s other novels.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK AT AMAZON

Read my review of AN EXPERT IN MURDER #1JosephineTey, also by Nicola Upson.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Gustav Sonata’ by Rose Tremain
‘The Goldfinch’ by Donna Tartt
‘Life Class’ by Pat Barker

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview STANLEY AND ELSIE by @nicolaupsonbook https://wp.me/p5gEM4-3Zx via @SandraDanby