"Sorry for the dead" by Nicola Upson

An audio book.

In 1948 a woman calmly puts her head in a gas oven after a visit by Josephine Tey.

10 years earlier, Josephine Tey is in Cambridge directing her own play. The main actress is married to Maynard Keynes, who'd paid for the theatre. A story appears in the press about an event years ago - Dorothy Norwood's death - which might damage Tay's reputation (she's a lesbian, partner of Marta, who works for Alfred Hitchcock). She decides to go back to the place, near Lewes.

But first, we go back in time. Josephine arrived to help at Charleston - an agricultural college for 20 girls run on modern principles (no marks) by Harry (Harriet) and George (Georgina). It supplied local customers. Josephine was warned to be suspicious of the two, to report inappropriate behaviour. Peter Whitaker - an artist - was hanging around. He's Harriet's cousin, disliked George, and painted war scenes. Nearby was a place where soldiers were recovering. Vera, a worker, allegedly fancied George. George and Harry had a reputation locally. Two of the girls were twins - Betty and Dorothy Norwood. They didn't get on. When Josephine talked to her friend Jeanie about Harry and George, she hinted that she was sympathetic. Jeanie kissed her. On the same day, Dorothy was found dead by her sister - fallen in the greenhouse. Accident or murder?

Returning to 1938, Josephine re-investigates the cold case, trying to contact the people there then. She goes to a theatre to watch Betty perform, then she talks to her. She talks to Jeannie, who happens to be in the audience. She's married. She talks to Charity, who'd been a girl there and who had written the newspaper articles (because of petty jealousies back then). Josephine realises that Jeannie could have been the murderer. We learn that the accusations about Harry and George were disguised to appear as if made by other people.

Back to the time of the death, there's a trial. George and Harry are innocent of negligence but the villagers are cruel to them, their gardens are vandalised, and parents are unhappy. So the school closes and they move away.

1938: Josephine finds that Peter and Vera are married. Vera is George's daughter, the result of a rape committed perhaps to help George realised what she's missing. Harry urged her to have the child, which was adopted at birth. Vera had tracked down her mother but only Vera knew her identity until the day George committed suicide - because she didn't like how Vera had kept it secret? Guilt at killing Dorothy?

1948: Bleach is thrown at Charity and she dies. Harry finds a suicide letter from George, saying she'll take the blame for Dorothy's murder, providing a confession. Josephine suspects Vera is the bleach thrower. Vera thought that Charity's father made George pregnant. He didn't.

Lesbians are wonderfully loyal to each other, making ultimate sacrifices.

Other reviews

• Catherine Turnbull (Most of the first half of the book is taken up with setting the scene and revealing the characters’ relationships.)

"Nine Lessons" by Nicola Upson

An audio book.

It's set mostly in Cambridge. 1937, when Addenbrooke's was on Trumpington Street and The Evelyn Care Home (where one of the characters lives) was on Trumpington Road - a private hospital is there now.

Archie Penrose (London) is investigating a growing series of murders. It gradually emerges that the victims were all in the choir at the Cambridge college where MR James was (and at his recent funeral), and the crimes match those in MR James' stories. Penrose returns to Cambridge for the first time in a decade.

Archie was a med student in Cambridge until the war interrupted his studies. He was badly wounded. He knew Bridget there, an artist.

Josephine and Marta (who once was a mother in Cambridge) are friends of Archie. They're moving to Cambridge from London.They're close. Josephine has written novels and plays - Hitchcock (now moving to the States) has filmed one of them. They learn that Bridget has a 20 year old daughter and Archie is the father. Archie doesn't know and the daughter (currently in Cambridge) thinks her father died in the war. Josephine thinks that Archie should be told. Bridget thinks that it would be a bad idea.

A serial rapist is operating in Cambridge, getting into single women's houses. Archie has employed Josephine to help with investigations at the Cambridge end. Webster is the local detective on the case.

There's a showdown at Aldeburgh's Martello tower. Webster the murderer is there, holding Moorcroft at gunpoint. When Webster was 10 he witnessed the choir members gang-rape a girl. Moorcroft then killed her. Webster kills himself. Penrose accepts that Moorcroft can only be sentenced (hanged?) if another member of the gang gives a statement in return for a reduced (minimal, because of his contacts) sentence.

Bridget is killed. Archie is called to the scene. The daughter is there. Archie's upset that Bridget didn't say she was a mother. He's angry that Josephine already knew. He's even more angry when he learns that he's the father. Their bond of trust has been broken. Josephine manages to work out who the rapist is. She hopes this will mend their friendship.

Male/female roles is a sub-theme. Most of the students are male, and not all the police investigating the rapes are sensitive.

The plot's neat. There are 2 serial criminals (a rapist, and a murderer insensed by a rape), and 2 murder-story writers (the late MR James, and Josephine Tey). Webster is both the murderer and the seeker of the rapist.

I didn't realise until I'd finished that this was part of a series - the 7th of the Josephine Tey mystery books. After the novel ends, there's an interview with the author. Josephine Tey was a real author, though many of the novel's details are made up. There was a real Cambridge rapist - though decades after the novel's setting.

Other reviews

• goodreads
• Teresa Smith
• crimefictionlover