Emma Rose's Reviews > Miss Pym Disposes

This is excellent and utterly different from anything I've read before. The psychological study is minute, the humour sharp and quotable, the characters detached yet devatastingly human. I don't know what to call this insofar as this is as much a character study of various female students in the forties as it is a mystery novel that advocates applied psychology and body language reading to solve crimes. It is a good whodunnit (though I'd guessed the final twist, it was still quite smart) but it's not its primary purpose, its primary purpose is to look at the consequences of murder on people's lives. It's a pity Tey doesn't delve into more politics with such material and such quality writing, there was so much potential of scope there what with the setting with girls being sent to various positions around the country without having any kind of say into it, but I suppose that's why Dorothy L. Sayers' Gaudy Night is a masterpiece and Miss Pym Disposes is a Really Good Book.