The Man in the Queue

A man collapses in the crowded queue outside a London theatre, stabbed in the back, and not one person pressed around him saw it happen. With no name, no witnesses, and only a few objects in the dead man’s pockets, Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard sets out to trace both an identity and a motive. Josephine Tey’s first detective novel, published in 1929, launched the career of Grant, who would return in her later mysteries including The Daughter of Time. Written with sharp characterization and a patient eye for the wrong turns of a real investigation, it stands among the quieter pleasures of Golden Age crime fiction. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available here.