Shot With Crimson

July 1, 2023
As war clouds gather over England, mystery writer Josephine Tey heads out to Hollywood. It's not far enough to keep the shadows of crimes old and new from darkening her view. Though she knows that her lover, screenwriter Marta Fox, is working with Alfred Hitchcock on Rebecca, his first American film, Josephine is surprised to meet Alma Reville, Hitchcock's wife and collaborator, aboard the Queen Mary. Surprised and not altogether pleased, since the experience of having Hitchcock film her novel A Shilling for Candles under the title Young and Innocent has left memories nearly as painful as Daphne du Maurier's consternation at what Hitchcock did to Jamaica Inn. Her journey done, Josephine settles in with Marta just as her friend DCI Archie Penrose of London's Metropolitan Police is handed a delicate case: the fatal shooting of Evelyn Young, the housekeeper at Milton Hall, the stately manse du Maurier used as the model for Manderley. Archie's days are more closely linked to Josephine's than either one initially recognizes, for James Bartholomew, a member of the special effects team on Hitchcock's film, fled England after smothering Marion Plummer, a vengeful mother who'd just told him she'd driven his love, her son, Matthew, to suicide back in 1917 during du Maurier's childhood visit to Milton Hall. Yes, there's more, much more. Upson does her best to juggle different crimes, scandals, time periods, subplots, crime writers, and incidental episodes from walk-on roles for Bob Hope and Clark Gable to a serious case of poison ivy, but in the end her edifice, unlike the doomed Manderley, collapses under its own weight. Too much of a good thing. Less, please.

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Starred review from September 4, 2023
What’s the connection between Daphne du Maurier’s 1917 visit to the estate that inspired her to write Rebecca, a murder committed at that estate in 1939, and a miniatures designer working on Alfred Hitchcock’s Hollywood adaptation of Rebecca? That question animates Upson’s stellar 11th whodunit featuring real-life Scottish mystery author Josephine Tey (following 2022’s Dear Little Corpses). Josephine’s lover, Marta Fox, has travelled to California to help Hitchcock film Rebecca, and with German battleships about to curtail ocean travel, Josephine sails on the Queen Mary to join her, meeting Hitchcock’s wife, Alma, on board. Meanwhile, Josephine’s friend, Scotland Yard DCI Archie Penrose, has been dispatched to Milton Hall (du Maurier’s inspiration for Rebecca’s Manderley estate) to investigate a murder the British Army wants resolved discreetly so its use of the property as a training base can continue. Through Alma, Josephine learns information about a special effects professional on Rebecca that may be relevant to Archie’s case and also tied to a decades-old crime of passion that intersects with du Maurier’s childhood. Upson excels at misdirection, masterfully juggling subplots until they all click into place, and she imbues the novel’s violence with an uncommon depth of feeling. Golden age mystery fans will be in heaven. Agent: Grainne Fox, Fletcher & Co.

October 15, 2023
In this dark, poignant, multiplotted historical mystery, Upson takes readers on a journey from the horror of world war to the glamour of Hollywood. In 1917, young Daphne du Maurier spent the summer at Milton Hall in England, a family home that was used as a military hospital. There, she met a man she called the magician, so skilled was he at constructing tiny models from matchsticks. Before she can deliver a model to a young man recovering from war wounds, Daphne is confronted by a terrifying woman in black--later to become the model for Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca. Fast forward to 1939, when mystery writer Josephine Tey is travelling to Hollywood to meet her lover, Marta, who's working with Alfred Hitchcock on the film version of Rebecca. Before she left England, Josephine prevented a young man from jumping in front of a train; she's stunned to meet him again in Hollywood, where he's working on the film. Multiple plot twists, a brutal murder, appalling secrets, hatred, revenge, unrequited love, and terrible tragedy will keep readers glued to this mesmerizing story that ends mournfully and movingly.

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