The Singing Sands

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I didn’t mind the slow pace of the novel as Tey’s writing style is so beautiful to read, making this a novel to enjoy for the journey it takes you on and not the destination. The name Singing Sands comes from the sound the sands make when your boots or shoes are scuffed against the surface - there are also Singing Sands beaches in Ardnamurchan and on the Isle of Eigg.

Again this is quite a reductionist argument in some respects, but once more it intrigued me as to Tey’s own views on the matter. Her last work, a further crime novel, The Singing Sands, was found in her papers and published posthumously. There are unpleasant aspects to some of Tey’s assertions in all of her books that for me can get in the way. Josephine Tey was a pseudonym used by Elizabeth MacKintosh (25 July 1896 – 13 February 1952), a Scottish author.

Pat is getting a bit too Celtic for Grant’s liking, so he considers the best thing for the boy would be to send him to an English boarding school to make him less parochial. On sick leave from Scotland Yard, Inspector Alan Grant is planning a quiet holiday with an old school chum to recover from overwork and mental fatigue. When the tarred road swings right to climb uphill, continue ahead along the shoreside track, heading towards the distinctive lighthouse at Carraig Fhada. The Franchise Affair also has an historical context: although set in the 1940s, it is based on the 18th-century case of Elizabeth Canning.

Yet on the other hand she does the classic thing of firstly telling him essentially to just get on with things and then underpinning this advice with an account of a minor claustrophobia experience she had whilst down a mine shaft, which does not really compare with Inspector Grant’s condition where he struggles to sit in a car. This is an investigation which takes a lot of time to bear fruit, but eventually it does taking Inspector Grant back to London and on the trail of something quite fantastical, yet at its’ core it is a mystery composed of several of the basic elements of all wrong doing: vanity and greed. Capital Punishment and Women in the British Police Procedural: Josephine Tey's A Shilling for Candles and To Love and Be Wise".

Furthermore in some ways Inspector Grant perceives his illness as a feminising of himself (with the feminine being aligned with weakness at this juncture). An enjoyable walk to the beautiful Singing Sands at Gortenfern in the Ardnamurchan, skirting around the southern edge of Kentra Bay and then through coniferous plantation. There’s a convenient parking lot and boardwalk leading to two beautiful sandy beaches divided by a water channel flowing from an inland pond.

The walk begins by heading back along the road towards Port Ellen, turning right just before the woodland onto a track that leads down towards the eastern end of Kilnaughton Bay, a fine sandy beach. Tey used her school experience in Miss Pym Disposes when describing the subjects taught at the school, and the types of bruises and other injuries sustained by the pupils. Additionally, his illness leads to a sense of ostracism from his work colleagues, which is evidenced when his chief Bryce sends him a snubbing letter, which makes Inspector Grant feel like ‘an outsider. You might think you’re going a little crazy, but actually the Singing Sands are the source of this extraordinary phenomenon. There is also elegant humor in this book, such as Murdo Gallacher, Grant’s young cousin Pat, and the guest house on the island.

Pass through this, following the blue marker dots, and follow the rough path heading towards the whitewashed house at Howlin. An audible vibration can develop when sufficient amounts of sand avalanche and compress the air within the moving sand. This marks the start of the path to the Singing Sands, and passes behind the buildings and through two small gates before continuing by the coastline to reach the beautiful secluded beach of Tràigh Bhan. This road heads gently downhill with good views of the cliff of Sgòrr an Faraidh which forms the sharp edge of Beinn Bhuidhe behind the houses of Cleadale.

Yet this is not entirely going to be the case, as on exiting the train, Inspector Grant comes across the ticket inspector trying to rouse a passenger, who he assumes is drunk. There are different types of sand; singing sand, roaring sand, and whistling sand, and while these beaches are rare, there are others around the world. Alternatively you can also continue along the track heading towards Ockle on the Ardnamurchan peninsula for a strenuous long distance, ‘there and back’ trek.I am not sure if my reading tastes have changed since I first read the Tey novels and that’s why I was less keen on them the second time round.