Why a Booktrail?
1930s: Josephine Tey recovers from her escapades in book one but soon finds another case..
Angel with Two Faces (Josephine Tey 2 )
What you need to know before your trail
Inspector Archie Penrose invites Josephine Tey down to his family home in Cornwall so she can recover from the traumatic events depicted in “An Expert in Murder”. Josephine welcomes the opportunity, especially since Archie’s home is near the famous Minack open-air theatre perched on the cliffs overlooking the sea. However, Josephine’s hopes of experiencing a period of rest are dashed when her arrival coincides with the funeral of a young man from the village who had drowned when his horse inexplicibly leapt into the nearby lake.
When another young man disappears and the village’s curate falls from the cliffs of the Minack Theatre onto the rocks below, Josephine and Archie begin to suspect the involvement a cold-blooded murderer. As Josephine and Archie try to unravel the mystery, they begin to see death as an angel with two faces – one gazing at the violence in the present, the other looking back to the crimes hidden in the past.
Locations
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Josephine Tey’s Cornwall
The book she writes in this novel was finished but not set in Cornwall. A shilling for Candles went on to be the basis of the Hitchcock film ‘Young and Innocent. In the book, one of Tey’s characters leaves money for the ‘preservation of the beauty of England’ which the author would herself do some 20 years later.
The Minack Theatre
This is a very special theatre she visits in this book. Carved into a Cornish clifftop, it’s a stunning open-air theatre with varied productions including RSC.
The Loe
Unlike many of the legends surrounding Loe Pool , the myth that it took a life every seven years ad its basis in fact…..
It was a long standing tradition at Loe that whenever a member of the estate’s community died, a representative from each of the families resident there would be chosen to carry the coffin…..It was possible to build a picture of daily life in this part of Cornwall which had probably not changed very much in 300 years.
Loe Pool and Penrose Estate are both now owned by the National Trust
Josephine Tey
Josephine Tey was one of the pseudonyms created by Elizabeth Mackintosh, the other being Gordon Daviot.
Mackintosh lived in Inverness and divided her time between her home city and London. When she died, she left the bulk of her estate in Inverness to the National Trust for England. There’s a story in that for sure.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Angel with Two Faces (Josephine Tey 2 )
Destination: Helston, Porthleven, Penzance Author/Guide: Nicola Upson Departure Time: 1930s
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