Josephine Tey, one of the leading authors of Britain's Golden Age of crime writing, stars in Fear in the Sunlight. It's the fourth in Nicola Upson's series of novels (starting with An Expert in Murder) featuring Tey and Scotland Yard inspector Archie Penrose, whose feelings for the novelist may not be completely unrequited.
This time around, Upson pairs Tey with another great Brit--Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock arrives in the resort village of Portmeirion, Wales, where Tey is celebrating her 40th birthday with friends, hoping to convince her to allow him to make a movie of her novel A Shilling for Candles. Upson introduces a gaggle of supporting characters, each with a huge load of baggage. The story includes family estrangements, sibling hatred, the disappearance of a three-year-old child, Tey's love for her friend Marta (who is already involved with another woman), Penrose's rediscovery of a past love--and more.
Hitch has arranged this weekend, complete with his trademark pranks and practical jokes, but the joke is on him, when there are suddenly two murders and a suicide to contend with. Penrose is bruited about by Portmeirion's local constabulary and leaves the town unsatisfied with the quick disposition of the case. Several years later, when another murder is tied to a Hitchcock movie, Penrose returns to the scene of the original crimes to sort it all out.
Upson has written an atmospheric and taut tale about lies, betrayals and revenge. --Valerie Ryan, Cannon Beach Book Company, Ore.