Friday Flashback: Rec. #75: Miss Pym Disposes

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Lucy Pym, a renowned psychologist, comes as a guest lecturer to a small college and soon finds herself embroiled in the day-to-day dramas and grievances of the students' lives.

Miss Pym Disposes is an acknowledged classic of the mystery genre, but the "mystery" part doesn't actually kick in until two-thirds of the way through the book. The in-depth character study becomes crucial, however, as the delayed suspense rests all of its significant weight on a single, fateful decision.

Comparable to: Like Ngaio Marsh, Tey is an excellent writer, period. Some of her characters just happen to be murderers. Also, Miss Pym Disposes is a good, early-ish example of psychological suspense --- there's a reason Lucy Pym lectures on psychology.

Representative quote: "Very well, Miss Pym, I give you Dakers. But I remind you that it is their last term, this. And so everything is e-norrrmously exaggerated. Everyone is just the least little bit insane. No, it is true, I promise you."

You might not like it if: Character studies do not interest you.

How to get it: Buyable, borrowable, Kindle-able. While you're looking at Tey's books online or on the shelf, you might as well also pick up a copy of Brat Farrar, my favorite of her novels.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Ngaio Marsh's Death and the Dancing Footman was Rec. #37. Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar was Rec. #200 and The Daughter of Time was Rec. #228.

[Originally posted 3/15/11.]