The Content Reader

I have heard of this book for some time and was eager to read it. It did not disappoint me, it is a fantastic book, just my cup of tea! If you love history and murder mysteries this is a book for you. Josephine Tey is a pseudonym for Elizabeth Mackintosh born in 1896 and died in 1952. She is Scottish and wrote mostly mystery novels, but also some plays with a historical theme. Her most famous book is The Daughter of Time which was selected by the British-based Crime Writers' Association as the greatest mystery novel of all time. I can only agree. Her  The Franchise Affair  ended up on place 11 out of 100. The story is about Alan Grant, a chief inspector at the Scotland Yard, who after an accident ends up in hospital. He is bedridden for some time and his friends tries to give him books to read to make time go. However, none of the books are to his liking. He is interested in faces. His actor friend Martha gives him pictures of paintings. Going through the paintings he finds ...

I love all kind of lists, especially those that have to do with books. I happened to stumble upon a list of the top 100 Crime Novels. There are actually two lists; one from the British based Crime Writer's Association and one from the U.S. Here are the 10 first entries (CWA to the left and US to the right): 1 Josephine Tey: The Daughter of Time (1951) 1 Arthur Conan Doyle: The Complete Sherlock Holmes (1887-1927) 2 Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep (1939) 2 Dashiell Hammett: The Maltese Falcon (1930) 3 John le Carré: The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1963) 3 Edgar Allan Poe: Tales of Mystery & Imagination (1852) 4 Dorothy L. Sayers: Gaudy Night (1935) 4 Josephine Tey: The Daughter of Time (1951) 5 Agatha Christie: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) 5 Scott Turow: Presumed Innocent (1987) 6 Daphne du Maurier: Rebecca (1938) 6 John le Carré: The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1963) 7 Raymond Chandler: Farewell My Lovely (1940) 7 Wilkie Collins: The Moonstone (1868) 8 W...