Nine Lessons (Josephine Tey 7)

Travel Guide

Cambridge

The story in the book was ‘inspired’ the real life case of Peter Cook who was known as the Cambridge rapist. The majority of Cook’s victims were students of the University of Cambridge, whom he attacked after breaking into their bedsits and flats. He was arrested and jailed but died in 2004.
A nice tour of the city:

Little St Mary’s Lane

Little St Mary’s Lane  was a quiet, gentrified side street which ran from the bustle of the main road to the river.

At first glance, it appeared to be a narrower, more ancient version of St Clement’s Passage.

Round Church Street

Josephine walks here around the church named after the distinctive building on the corner.

Kings College

The colleges of the university play a good role in their novel, Rufus Carrington is halfway through a six month sabbatical at Corpus Christi college

London

The city where the main character in this novel, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose works in Scotland Yard and knows the streets and nooks and crannies of the city well.

Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose stood by the gate of st John-at Hampstead, struck as ever by the strange beauty of the wooded church yard.

This apparently is the most famous burial ground in London aprt from Highgate. It’s also the final resting place of artist, scientists and across. The tombs are dramatic and the headstones randomly scattered.

The city of Cambridge more than comes to life and by bringing in a story which really did happen, although in a different time, the mix of fact and fiction works well. Visits to London and Aldeburgh  are also involved and back to the cottage Tey adopted in an earlier book.