Interestingly, the victim in A Shilling for Candles , a famous actress, left her fortune to the National Trust also. Tey died at Streatham, London on February 13, 1952. She had apparently known of her mortal illness for a year but had avoided telling her friends. Many of her theater friends attended the funeral service, including Sir John Gielgud. The Mysteries of Josephine Tey Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant is introduced in The Man in the Queue , 1929.
Grant investigates the stabbing of an unidentified man in a theater queue.
The drowned body of a famous actress is found on a beach near the cottage where she had been staying incognito with a young man. Alfred Hitchcock's Young and Innocent , his favorite among his British films, was based on this novel. While visiting Leys Physical training College, author Lucy Pym observes cheating on a final examination. Her response precipitates a tragic chain of events leading to murder. Tey pursues her interest in the fragile nature of justice.