Inspector Alan Grant

First published in 1929. A young man is stabbed in the back with a stiletto dagger while waiting in the queue for standing room at one of the final West End performances of a hit musical comedy. None of those near him in the queue noticed him until he collapsed, or appear to have any motive for killing him. The dead man carries no identification; the only item found on him is a service revolver.

Robert Blair was about to knock off from a slow day at his law firm when the phone rang. It was Marion Sharpe on the line, a local woman of quiet disposition who lived with her mother at their decrepit country house, The Franchise. It appeared that she was in some serious trouble: Miss Sharpe and her mother were accused of brutally kidnapping a demure young woman named Betty Kane. Miss Kane's claims seemed highly unlikely, even to Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, until she described her prison - the attic room with its cracked window, the kitchen, and the old trunks - which sounded remarkably like The Franchise. Yet Marion Sharpe claimed the Kane girl had never been there, let alone been held captive for an entire month! Not believing Betty Kane's story, Solicitor Blair takes up the case and, in a dazzling feat of amateur detective work, solves the unbelievable mystery that stumped even Inspector Grant.

A man stands in line for a London theater performance. Moments later, he collapses-murdered in plain sight, yet no one saw a thing. Thus begins The Man in the Queue, Josephine Tey's masterfully plotted debut mystery that introduced the sharp, quietly brilliant Inspector Alan Grant. Set against the bustling backdrop of 1920s London, this gripping whodunit blends classic detective fiction with psychological depth and subtle wit. As Grant digs into the victim's shadowy past, what first appears to be a random act of violence becomes something far more intricate-and far more dangerous. With no clear motive, no witnesses, and a trail that twists through the streets of London and into the highlands of Scotland, Grant must rely on intuition, patience, and determination to solve a case that defies easy answers.