Josephine Tey

It was eight years since 13-year-old Patrick Ashby vanished and was thought to have drowned himself. Now it seemed, he had returned - just in time to claim the family inheritance. But if Patrick really had committed suicide, who was this mysterious young man claiming to be him and calling himself Brat Farrar?

To lighten the boredom of convalescence, Inspector Alan Grant investigates a crime of the time of Richard III by reconstructing it and considering it with his critical policeman's eye. The result is surprising. Was Richard III the monster the history books have portrayed?

Scottish novelist and playwright Josephine Tey was one of the greatest Golden Age crime writers and the author of eight mysteries, including six featuring Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant.

The most famous of these, The Daughter of Time, was acclaimed the greatest crime novel of all time by the Crime Writers' Association. A full-cast dramatisation of this iconic story is included here, along with adaptations of four of her other much-loved mystery novels: A Shilling for Candles, Miss Pym Disposes, The Franchise Affair and The Singing Sands.

Also included is a Woman's Hour discussion of the life of Josephine Tey, with Andrew Taylor and fellow author Nicola Upson, whose bestselling crime novels feature Tey as the detective heroine.

Marion Sharpe and her mother have their peaceful lives turned upside-down when a young woman turns up on their doorstep with a policeman and accuses them of kidnap and abuse. Something in her story doesn't ring true, but it takes solicitor turned amateur detective, Robert Blair, to solve the mystery.

Outside a London theatre a throng of people wait for the last performance of a popular musical. But as the doors open at last, a man in the queue is found murdered by the deadly thrust of a stiletto. Inspector Alan Grant investigates and tenaciously pursues his suspects throughout the length of Britain and the labyrinth of London.

It was rumoured that Hollywood stars would kill for the privilege of being photographed by the fashionable portrait photographer Leslie Searle. But what would bring such a gifted figure to the English village of Salcott St Mary? And why, and how, did he disappear? If a crime had been committed, was it murder, fraud, or simply a macabre practical joke? Inspector Alan Grant determines to uncover the truth.