Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey

First Line: "Aunt Bee," said Jane, breathing heavily into her soup, "was Noah a cleverer back-room boy than Ulysses, or was Ulysses a cleverer back-room boy than Noah?"

On the eve of his twenty-first birthday, Simon Ashby is poised to inherit Latchetts, a very profitable horse farm in the south of England. But then his older twin brother Patrick comes home. Patrick, who was presumed dead by suicide at the age of thirteen.

Patrick is, in fact, an orphan named Brat Farrar who has an uncanny resemblance to Simon. Brat has been carefully and expertly coached in all things Patrick, and he's so successful that he's welcomed back into the Ashby family.

It looks as though Brat is going to be able to pull off the deception until old secrets emerge that put not only his plan but also his life in danger.

~

For the most part, Golden Age mystery writers leave me cold. There is one exception, however: Josephine Tey. Her originality of thought, her dialogue, her characters, her subtlety... she just suits my mystery-loving mind right down to the ground. Brat Farrar, like Tey's The Daughter of Time, is considered to be one of the best mysteries ever written, and I'm not going to argue with this assessment.

There's something about how Tey lets us in on the con from the beginning. We know Brat is not Patrick Ashby, but as we see things through his eyes, and as we see the effect he has on the people around him, we almost want to flout the law and let him assume Patrick's place for time and all eternity. 

Let's see... we know Brat is an imposter, and it's really not all that difficult to deduce what really happened to Patrick eight years ago. The real mystery is how everything is going to turn out for Brat. We know he's done wrong, but we still want him to be happy. We still want him living at Latchetts. And as for Latchetts, even Dick Francis couldn't do a better job at depicting a horse farm.

After thoroughly enjoying Brat Farrar, I have to wonder why there hasn't been a modern film adaptation of it because it would be perfect. (Who cares that the whole situation could be solved by a DNA test today? The book is set right after World War II.) What I don't have to wonder about is which Josephine Tey mystery I will be savoring next. I am slowly working my way through her books, and enjoying myself every step of the way.

Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey
ISBN: 9780684803852
Scribner © 1997
Originally published 1950.
Paperback, 288 pages
 
Classic Mystery, Standalone
Rating: A+
Source: Purchased from Book Outlet.

12 comments:

  1. Learned something new - Golden Age mystery authors. The most famous is Agatha Christie, the only one I've read. Glad you enjoy Josephine Tey.

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    1. Yes, I enjoy her much more than I do Agatha Christie.

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  2. I read this one last year I think and am with you all the way. It was excellent. My favourite Tey is The Franchise Affair, an Alan Grant story though he's hardly in it, it's a standalone in my opinion. Utterly brilliant depiction of small English country town mentality in the 1940s, and a solicitor trying to 'do the right thing'. And lovely humour running through it. That one has been made into a film I believe. One you would probably like is the last Alan Grant, set in rural, coastal Scotland, The Singing Sands. Terrific read.

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    1. I've got both The Franchise Affair and The Singing Sands sitting on my TBR shelves.

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  3. So very glad you enjoyed this, Cathy. I think it is a great story, and I agree with you about the dialogue. Tey was very good at that, and doesn't always get the recognition she deserves for it. And this story has some really interesting plot points that I think are paced really well. You've got a good point, too, that it'd be great as a film!

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    1. I remember seeing something the UK did back in the late 70s or early 80s. I remember liking it, but I think it's past time for an updated version!

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  4. I read a lot of Josephine Tey back in my "mystery" days, this one among them. I had pretty much forgotten it so thanks for the refresher on it. I do recall that I enjoyed it at the time.

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  5. I was waiting to read what you would say. It sounds worth reading.
    I am not an Agatha Christie fan, especially because at age 29, I discovered her bigotry and anti-Semitism while reading. I closed that book and never picked up another one.

    But I will read this classic.

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  6. Everyone says this one's her best. I haven't read it...yet. But I hope to soon.

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  7. Daughter of Time is one of my all-time favorites, and I keep its lesson about considering the source in mind when reading nonfiction. I know I enjoyed the rest of the Inspector Grant mysteries, but I have a memory of not enjoying Brat Farrar as much. I may have to give it another try, to see if a difference in my perspective has any impact.

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