The Franchise Affair

For fans of true crime and of classic crime fiction, The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey is a gripping thriller featuring detective Alan Grant and a masterful exposé of the powerful connections between media, the establishment and what people choose to believe. Based on a true story.

Complete and unabridged. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by writer David Stuart Davies.

Fifteen-year-old Betty Kane has never put a foot wrong. Naturally, everyone is shocked and horrified to hear her story – that she was kidnapped, tortured and held prisoner by Marion Sharpe and her elderly mother, owners of the mysterious old house, The Franchise. But are the two women really guilty of such a horrendous crime? Every page resonates with tension as the story unfolds – did they or didn’t they take a young girl prisoner? And whose story can you trust?

Review

The Franchise Affair is an ingenious book, a crime novel without a corpse, a detective story in which the victim is justice itself. -- Sarah Waters ― The Guardian

About the Author

Josephine Tey, author of The Daughter of Time and The Franchise Affair, was born Elizabeth MacKintosh in Inverness in Scotland in 1896. She trained and worked as a teacher before returning to her family home to look after her elderly parents. It was there that she took up writing. Although she described her crime writing, written under the pen name Josephine Tey, as ‘my weekly knitting’ she was and is recognized as a major writer of the Golden Age of Crime writing. She was also successful as a novelist and playwright, writing under the name of Gordon Daviot. Her plays were performed in London and on Broadway. A fiercely private woman, she died at her sister’s home in 1952.

David Stuart Davies is an author, playwright and editor and is regarded as an authority on Sherlock Holmes. His fiction includes novels featuring his wartime detective Johnny Hawke and several Sherlock Holmes novels - including Sherlock Holmes and the Devil's Promise. He is a committee member of the Crime Writers' Association, editing their monthly publication, Red Herrings, and is a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund.