The Man in the Queue

The most remarkable feature about the stranger stabbed to death in the queue for a musical comedy is his complete lack of identity. No friend or relation comes forward to claim him, even the labels on his clothes are missing. It seems an impossible task to establish a motive for the crime or to begin looking for the murderer.

But Inspector Grant of the CID, displaying his inimitable powers of detection, builds up a picture of the suspect. His investigation takes him deep into the theatrical world and is concluded in a thrilling pursuit on the West coast of Scotland.

"There's a curious sense of a wheel come full circle in rereading Josphine Tey's first detective story, The Man in the Queue, shortly after her posthumous The Singing Sands. These first and last of her books resemble each other, in tone and structure more than any other two books in the Tey canon; and the reason is not that her last book was at all antiquated, but that her first book was extraordinarily ahead of its time. So much so, in fact, that it seemed in its day a bad book." -New York Times Book Review

"Highly recommended." -Library Journal

"The book, in the manner of its solution, completely flouts one detective story rule; yet considered as a novel about a policeman, it's wonderful. Sticklers for convention, avoid. Tey fans, don't miss." -L. G. Offord, San Francisco Chronicle

"The Man in the Queue is here again, a member of an admirable company quietly absorbing and wearing its years lightly." -James Sandoe, New York Herald Tribune

Bentley Library-Bound Standard Fiction Reprints are printed on high-quality 55-lb. book paper. The bindings are sewn, not glued, and each book is covered with a sturdy water-resistant Pyroxylin library binding. This high-quality construction ensures that these books will last for many years.

Return to Linnaean Press home page.