An Expert in Murder – Nicola Upson

Crime novelist and playwright Josephine Tey is travelling from her Inverness home to London where her latest play “Richard of Bordeaux“ is nearing the end of its successful West End run. She meets on the train young Elspeth Simmons who is an admirer of the play and has tickets for a show; the two pass a pleasant journey, sharing a meal, and agreeing to meet again.

Though they alight together Elspeth realises she has left a bag on the train and goes off to retrieve it, promising to meet Josephine at the theatre the following night. It is an appointment she cannot keep; back on the train she meets with a grisly end.

Enter Archie Penrose, detective inspector, called in to investigate the murder, who finds the corpse not splayed in disarray but carefully arranged in a theatrical tableau clearly full of meaning. What is the meaning is unclear, but its theatrical nature fills him with concern not only for the victim but also for Josephine, for whom he thinks the attack may have been intended.

Archie’s protective instinct is clearly based on more than just professional regard for Josephine. They are old friends (their history emerges later) and Josephine is lodging with her friends, his cousins, the Motley sisters. They are theatre set designers and with most of the other characters also involved in the dramatic arts (actors, directors, producers, even stage managers) the scene is firmly set for the whodunit.

It is a well-crafted tale with a few red herrings to negotiate before a clever, unpredictable reveal. The setting gives an insight into the theatre world of the late 1930’s, both luvvy and seedy. The writing style is articulate without being wordy; with enough inconsequential detail to add authenticity and atmosphere without becoming overblown. The plot is as complicated as necessary for the genre, but can be followed with minimal turning back of pages. And don’t be misled by the gentile nature of the lead characters; there is violence, gore, action and tension.

This is (I think) the first of Upson’s “Josephine Tey” novels (Tey was a real author, in the mould of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers). It is the second I have read and enjoyed, though I did prefer “Two for Sorrow” [reviewed Nov 2013].

The Game of Our Lives – David Goldblatt

The game is football, association football to be clear, and the English game to be specific. In seven extended essays Goldblatt surveys the game as it stands in 2014, placing it in the context of its own history and more interestingly as a mirror reflecting wider social change.

Thus he argues how the moneyed Premiership has emerged inevitably from globalisation and deregulation; and describes how the consequent commercialisation of the match day experience as a packaged product has undermined but not yet destroyed the deep-seated tribal passions.

The third essay provides a whistle-stop tour of English clubs, region by region, concentrating on relationships between the clubs and their communities; too brief to be anything but an entertaining aide-memoire to those already familiar with their football, and in my view too superficial in dismissing owners, managers and players as mainly useless.

Later the ‘national’ concept of the English game is discussed relative to the other ‘home nations’ (contrast is drawn to other sports where it is the UK or Great Britain that represents national feeling); and the governance of the game gets a good pounding for its amateurishness and unpreparedness for the modern world.

Chapters on race and gender complete the book, setting out how attitudes within the game have both reacted to and shaped changing social norms. These may be the most interesting for general readers, or those more interested in sociology than football.

The mix of football and sociology works well, but the articulate Goldblatt’s prose makes no concessions to those who follow their sport in the Mail or the Mirror - this is more for Guardian readers out there. The points are well made, evidence is painstakingly referenced, and he clearly has mastery of his subject; but he mainly sets out the problems without offering suggested solutions.

An academic and though-provoking read for those with a sociological interest, delivering a comprehensive version of what its subtitle promises: “the making and meaning of English football”.