An excellent biography of the woman born Elizabeth MacKintosh, who went on to become successful early 20th century playwright Gordon Daviot, and 5th queen of crime (after Christie, Sayers, Marsh and Allingham), Josephine Tey. MacKintosh has been an elusive subject for biographers and Henderson's excellent and detailed research has shone a light on an essentially private woman who spent much of her adult life alternating between housekeeping for her widowed father in Inverness and mixing with the theater and literary sets of London. It's also an extremely readable and enjoyable book for both fans of Tey and those interested in the lives of early to mid 20th century British writers. Tey was more famous in her lifetime for her work as a playwright - her smash hit "Richard of Bordeaux" made both her name and made a star of a young John Gielgud. However the legacy better known to modern readers is her eight detective novels, six of which feature detective Inspector Alan Grant. This is a second edition updated with information supplied to the author by family and friends of Tey after the publication of the first edition and includes a foreword by Val McDermid. Indeed this is an excellent, well researched, readable, and insightful book. ( )