 | This article consists almost entirely of a plot summary .(November 2023) |
The Singing Sands was the last of Josephine Tey's Inspector Grant mysteries, published posthumously by Peter Davies Ltd in 1952.
| This article consists almost entirely of a plot summary .(November 2023) |
The Singing Sands was the last of Josephine Tey's Inspector Grant mysteries, published posthumously by Peter Davies Ltd in 1952.
Inspector Alan Grant has taken the overnight sleeper to the Scottish Highlands after being diagnosed with stress from overwork. On arrival, he chances on an attendant trying to rouse a man in a compartment reeking of whisky. Grant points out that the man is dead and proceeds on his holiday, stopping with his old school friend Tommy, now married to his cousin Laura. His intention is to spend some weeks fishing the glen, but he discovers on arriving that he has carried away a newspaper on which is scribbled a poem, "The beasts that talk, The streams that stand, The stones that walk, The singing sand…That guard the way To paradise". Realising that this may be a clue, he sends the paper to Scotland Yard but, the case not being his, goes on with his leave. He does break it out of interest, however, in order to visit a Hebridean island that is supposed to be distinguished by the 'singing sands' that give the book its title.
As the symptoms of stress begin to disappear in the book's second half, Grant returns to London, unsatisfied with the inquest's verdict of death by misadventure. A newspaper advert asking if anyone can identify the lines of the poem brings in a pilot colleague of Bill Kenrick, the dead man, which eventually provides the clarifying clue. Having been blown off-course by a dust storm over the Rub' al Khali (the Empty Quarter of the southern Arabian desert), Kenrick had discovered the location of the legendary lost city of Wabar. Benefitting from a stay in London, he had visited the veteran explorer Heron Lloyd, who immediately realised the significance of Kenrick's discovery. Being a vain man, Heron Lloyd wished to keep the glory of the city's identification for himself and had accordingly murdered Kenrick on the train and so arranged his death that it appeared accidental. Coincidentally, the papers now announce the city's discovery by a rival explorer. To avoid arrest, Heron Lloyd flees, posting Grant a confession and announcing his imminent suicide.
Josephine Tey's final novel was found among her papers and published after her death in 1952. [1] Adapted by Bertram Parnaby, it was later broadcast in 1956 for BBC Home Service's "Saturday Night Theatre" [2] and televised in 1969 in an episode of the "Detective" series that is now missing. [3] It was also read on BBC Radio 7 in 2008 in a four-part abridged version. [4]
Young and Innocent, released in the US as The Girl Was Young, is a 1937 British crime thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Nova Pilbeam and Derrick De Marney. Based on the 1936 novel A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey, the film is about a young man on the run from a murder charge who enlists the help of a woman who must put herself at risk for his cause. An elaborately staged crane shot Hitchcock devised, which appears towards the end of the film, identifies the real murderer.
Elizabeth MacKintosh, known by the pen name Josephine Tey, was a Scottish author. Her novel The Daughter of Time, a detective work investigating the death of the Princes in the Tower, was chosen by the Crime Writers' Association in 1990 as the greatest crime novel of all time. Her first play Richard of Bordeaux, written under another pseudonym, Gordon Daviot, starred John Gielgud in its successful West End run.
Crooked House is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1949 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 23 May of the same year.
John Welsh was an Irish actor.
Albert Lancaster Lloyd, usually known as A. L. Lloyd or Bert Lloyd, was an English folk singer and collector of folk songs, and as such was a key figure in the British folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s. While Lloyd is most widely known for his work with British folk music, he had a keen interest in the music of Spain, Latin America, Southeastern Europe and Australia. He recorded at least six discs of Australian Bush ballads and folk music.
John Albert Bailey was a British screen and TV actor who had a long screen, stage and TV career. He was born in South East London.
The Inspector Rebus books are a series of detective novels by the Scottish author Sir Ian Rankin. The novels, centred on Detective Inspector John Rebus, are mostly based in and around Edinburgh. They are considered an important contribution to 'Tartan Noir'.
The Daughter of Time is a 1951 detective novel by Josephine Tey, concerning a modern police officer's investigation into the alleged crimes of King Richard III of England. It was the last book Tey published in her lifetime, shortly before her death. In 1990 it was voted number one in The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list compiled by the British Crime Writers' Association. In 1995 it was voted number four in The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time list compiled by the Mystery Writers of America.
James MacPherson is a Scottish actor, best known for his role as Detective Chief Inspector Michael Jardine in the STV drama, Taggart.
Richard of Bordeaux (1932) is a play by "Gordon Daviot", a pseudonym for Elizabeth MacKintosh, best known by another of her pen names, Josephine Tey.
An Expert in Murder is a historical crime novel by Nicola Upson, published on March 6, 2008.
The Way Through the Woods is a crime novel by Colin Dexter, the tenth novel in the Inspector Morse series. It received the Gold Dagger Award in 1992.
The Mermaids Singing (1995) is a crime novel by Scottish author Val McDermid. The first featuring her recurring protagonist, Dr. Tony Hill, it was adapted into the pilot episode of ITV1's television series based on McDermid's work, Wire in the Blood, starring Robson Green and Hermione Norris.
A Honeymoon Adventure is a 1931 British thriller film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Benita Hume, Peter Hannen and Harold Huth. Written in collaboration by Rupert Downing and Basil Dean, it The film was shot at Beaconsfield Studios. Location shooting, including the railway scenes took place in Scotland.
Laura Cumming is a British journalist who is the art critic of The Observer newspaper, a position she has held since 1999. Before that she worked for The Guardian, the New Statesman and the BBC. In addition to her career in journalism, Cumming has written well-received books on self-portraits in art and the discovery of a lost portrait by Diego Velázquez in 1845. The Vanishing Man was a New York Times bestseller and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 2016.
Crooked House is a 2017 mystery film directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner, based on Agatha Christie’s 1949 novel of the same name. The film stars Max Irons, Terence Stamp, Glenn Close, Gillian Anderson, and Stefanie Martini. Principal photography began in September 2016, and the film aired in the UK on Channel 5 on 17 December 2017.
A Shilling for Candles is a 1936 mystery novel by Josephine Tey first published in 1936 by Metheun in the UK. It is the second of Tey's six mysteries featuring Inspector Alan Grant, and the first book written under the Josephine Tey pseudonym. The plot features the investigation of the death of the film actress Christine Clay.
Hugh Vincent Moxey, was a British film and television actor. Moxey spanned his career for 40 years, where he was best remembered in supporting roles in 1950s British war films, including classics such as The Dam Busters and Sink the Bismarck!.
The Man in the Queue is a 1929 detective novel by the British writer Josephine Tey. It was the first in her series of six novels featuring the Scotland Yard detective Inspector Grant. It was released during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. It was initially published under the pseudonym Gordon Daviot, and published by Methuen in London and Dutton in New York.
Alan Grant is a fictional police detective created by Josephine Tey. He appears in six mystery novels, including The Daughter of Time, Tey's most acclaimed work.