The Making of Josephine Tey

“The Making of Josephine Tey” is an edited collection of Josephine Tey’s short writing. It includes unpublished short stories, Tey's earliest published writing, pieces that were written at the same time as some of her best-known works, and extracts from private letters, including poems written for friends and discussion of her writing life. Pieces are accompanied by an introduction and commentary from Tey's biographer Jennifer Morag Henderson, which explains the writings’ background and sets it in the context of Tey’s life. 

Tey’s stories and short writing have been collected over many years, after trawls through old newspapers and magazines, while the unpublished short stories were shared with biographer Jennifer Morag Henderson by Tey's family. This new book will give readers an insight into how Tey’s ground-breaking crime writing developed.

Josephine Tey was the pen-name of Elizabeth MacKintosh (1896-1952). Born in Inverness, Scotland, MacKintosh lived several ‘lives’: originally writing as successful novelist and playwright ‘Gordon Daviot’, she is now best known as Golden Age Crime Fiction writer ‘Josephine Tey’. Her novels include "The Franchise Affair",  "Brat Farrar", and the unique Richard III mystery "The Daughter of Time" – the latter once voted the best crime novel of all time by the Crime Writers' Association.

Jennifer Morag Henderson's biography "Josephine Tey: A Life" is the first and only biography of MacKintosh. Originally published in 2015, it is currently available as a paperback or ebook in an updated edition. Jennifer also led the successful campaign to have Tey’s work recognised by a blue plaque in her home city of Inverness.