Faber & Faber

Set against the glittering backdrop of London's theatreland in the 1930s, Nicola Upson’s An Expert in Murder introduces a fictionalised version of the writer Josephine Tey, herself a crime novelist and playwright, along with her close friend, Inspector Archie Penrose.

Our reading group of the month chose recently to discuss An Expert in Murder. Here, Kathryn Jarvis tells us about their group, and what they thought of the book.

Tell us a little about the group.

Trish and I started the reading group when we worked together in the Teddington branch of Waterstone’s, and we meet there once a month. Even though we have both moved on now, the reading group is still going strong - last October we celebrated our third birthday. We usually have about 12-15 attendees. 

There have been very few books we have all agreed on - for example Sarah Water’s The Night Watch was a title which was loved passionately by most but invoked lukewarm feelings in a few. On the whole we all enjoy the controversy a book can bring to our discussion. We often find we have a more interesting analysis when people disagree!

Attending the reading group this evening were: Trish, Kat, Julie, Cathy, Jill, Julia, Mandy, Kay, Mary, Sarah and Colin.

What did you think of 'An Expert in Murder'?

The average score for An Expert in Murder was 7.5 out of 10 - this is very good as we’re all very hard markers! 

Everyone agreed the pace of the book was phenomenal. There were a lot of characters to keep hold of in such a fast-moving plot, but they were interesting and the background of the 1930s West End was fascinating.

The use of Josephine Tey as the main protagonist was felt to be a brave move but one which ultimately worked - although occasionally it sometimes felt that Archie Penrose, the charming detective, was actually the main character - in fact Julia wanted more of Archie! Trish felt the women were incredibly well written - she particularly enjoyed the relationship between the two sisters, Lettice and Ronnie.

There was an incredibly macabre element to the story. The first murder is sinister with the piece of hair shaved off the victim and the souvenir dolls from Josephine Tey’s play propped up opposite her.

Cathy liked the background that the play, Richard of Bordeaux, lent to the book - she would have liked to have had some notes at the end of the novel giving the story of the play itself for an added interest.

The characters were varied and convincing. Rafe, the swaggering actor, was particularly theatrical with his shallowness, arrogance and success with the ladies. Esme, as well, was an excellent character, full of bile and hatred and absolute contempt of everyone around her.

The ending was successful - it was like bringing the pieces of a very big jigsaw together. In fact some people thought the revelations at the end of the novel were so interesting they warranted their own back story in a prequel. On the whole everyone really enjoyed reading An Expert in Murder and everyone agreed they’ll look forward to reading Nicola Upson’s second novel when it is published.

Other books we have enjoyed are:

The Road Home by Rose Tremaine
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Buddha Da by Anne Donovan
What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Titles which have provoked the most interesting discussions:

Amongst Women by John McGahern
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
The Spire by William Golding

Featured Groups Archive:

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Resistance by Owen Sheers