100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock πŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ

Overnight NZ-wide delivery πŸš€ Thank you for supporting our 100% NZ-owned bookstore ❀️

The Man in the Queue

3.76 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 12,457 ratings, 1,228 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Man in the Queue is a compelling crime and thriller novel revolving around the mysterious murder of a man standing in a theatre queue. Inspector Grant leads the investigation, navigating his way through a perplexing array of clues and suspects. The story delves into themes of identity, motive, and justice, keeping readers engaged as the truth unfolds.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2799
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this intriguing classic crime novel if you appreciate a masterfully crafted mystery with a twist. Famous for its clever plot and engaging detective work, it will captivate anyone who delights in unravelling puzzles alongside memorable characters, all set in a vivid depiction of 1920s London.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

In the packed queue for a popular West End Theatre in 1920s London, the crowd surges forward as the doors open at last. But as they do so, one of their number falls to the ground - a man, stabbed in the back with a stiletto while people jostled for position in the throng.

There is nothing in the man's clothes or wallet to identify him, and nothing in his pockets but a revolver. Who is he and who killed him before melting away unseen into the night?

The Man in the Queue follows Inspector Alan Grant as he investigates this puzzling murder. He is soon engaged in a breathless manhunt that will lead him from London all the way to the Scottish highlands and back again. The mystery is finally resolved in a way that not even Inspector Grant can anticipate.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Man in the Queue is praised for its originality, engaging mystery plot, and intriguing characters, with some considering its detective a favourite. Readers appreciate its unexpected twists and the signature magic Tey brings to her storytelling.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781782279600

Publisher: Pushkin Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 30 March 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Pushkin Vertigo

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 288

About the Author

Born in Inverness in 1896, Josephine Tey was a Scottish author and playwright. Tey made her mystery debut with The Man in the Queue in 1929, the book that also introduced Inspector Alan Grant. The Daughter of Time, first published in 1951, is her best known and loved work, and in 1990 was voted number 1 in the Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list published by the British Crime Writers' Association.

Also by Josephine Tey

View all
  • Brat Farrar
    An imposter has a fortune to win and his life to lose in this gripping country house mystery. A stranger enters the Ashby family home posing as Patrick Ashby, the heir to the family's sizeable fortune. The stranger, Brat Farrar, has been carefully coached on Patrick's mannerisms, appearance, and every significant detail of Patrick's early life, up to his thirteenth...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Franchise Affair
    A classic mystery from the Golden Age of detective fiction 'An ingenious book' β€” Sarah Waters, Guardian The Franchise is a beautiful country home. It's about to play host to a nightmare. Marion Sharpe and her mother seem an unlikely duo to be found on the wrong side of the law. Quiet and ordinary, they have led a peaceful and...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • To Love and Be Wise
    Josephine Tey's page-turning classic thriller from the Golden Age of crime fiction. 'The most interesting of the great female writers of the Golden Age. This disarmingly low-key tale of a mysterious disappearance is the perfect introduction to her world' - VAL MCDERMID 'The definition of a classic, a real cut above. It hasn't aged a day' - JOSEPH KNOX When...
    Paperback
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Daughter Of Time
    One of the best mysteries of all time from the much-loved crime Golden Age writer Josephine Tey 'A detective story with a very considerable difference. Ingenious, stimulating and very enjoyable' SUNDAY TIMES 'As interesting and enjoyable a book as they will meet in a month of Sundays' OBSERVER Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant, recovering from a broken leg, becomes fascinated...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Daughter of Time
    "One of the best mysteries of all time" (The New York Times)β€”Josephine Tey recreates one of history's most famousβ€”and viciousβ€”crimes in her classic bestselling novel, a must-read for connoisseurs of fiction, now with a new introduction by Robert. When referencing the title, avoid putting it in quotes or speech marks. Format the response as clean HTML, use your best judgment...
    Paperback
    $5000
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • The Daughter of Time
    Was Richard III truly the ogre of legend and Shakespeare's playβ€”a wicked uncle who murdered his nephews to steal the crown of England? Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard is laid up in hospital with a broken leg. The novels he tries reading to pass the time all bore him, until a real-life mystery awakens his curiosity and soon turns...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Franchise Affair
    One of the great country house detective novels, entertaining and ingenious. Marion Sharpe and her mother are quiet and ordinary villagers, enjoying a peaceful life in their country home, the Franchise. Everything changes when a local schoolgirl accuses them of kidnap and abuse, describing the attic room of the house as her prison. Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant is called...
    Paperback
    Sold Out

More from Crime & Thriller

View all
  • New Release
    Every Lake
    Scary stories are fun... until your life becomes one. When Alice was fifteen, her father killed Mia Heywood in their lakefront cottage before vanishing into the trees. At least that's what the locals think happened. Over a decade later, Alice has lost her job as a journalist, she's going through an expensive divorce and she desperately needs to sell the...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    It Could Have Been Her
    PREPARE TO BE HOOKED: The no. 1Β Sunday TimesΒ and MULTI-million-copy bestselling author is back with a brand-new spine tingling thriller. It was the night she almost died. Jane Trevally, newly divorced and feeling a little lost, agrees to accompany a man she doesn't know to his house in the darkest corner of Hampstead Heath. She's offered a drink, goes in, and...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    26 Beauties
    The twenty-sixth thrilling novel in the globally bestselling Women's Murder Club series. Beautiful young women are disappearing by the dozen. A celebration is cut short when a concerned father crashes Detective Inspector Lindsay Boxer's party. His daughter is missing - and she's not the only one. DI Lindsay Boxer has been tracking a chilling pattern: a Jane Doe washed ashore,...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Secrets We Hide
    The stunning new North Falls thriller by the bestselling author ofΒ We Are All Guilty Here 'Quite simply, Karin Slaughter is the best of us' Dervla McTiernan Welcome back to North Falls -- a small town with big secrets. The house at 1601 Iris Drive looks like any other in the quiet, residential street. But rumours are rife about the Vickery...
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Parkwood Murders
    They came for an escape, but can they escape a killer? Detective Nicola Bridge returns in another gripping and immersive mystery For its loyal guests, Parkwood Holiday Village in west Dorset is a haven- woodland walks, a tranquil lake, service around the clock. Until, just after midsummer, a body is found floating in the swimming pool. Detective Nicola Bridge, exhausted...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Hope Rises
    'BALDACCI IS STILL PEERLESS' - THE SUNDAY TIMES REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD . . . Walter Nash, working under the alias of Dillon Hope, is on the road to revenge after becoming an informant for the FBI against a global criminal operation headed up by Victoria Steers. Steers has ripped everything Nash held dear away from him....
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    Slash
    A year after a brutal shootout left her lover dead, ex-police sergeant Honey Chalmers is a hot mess, drinking too much and eating too little, working casual gigs for a shady firm of private investigators β€” while holding conversations with a ghost. A desperate father asks her to investigate his missing son β€” a double-murder suspect last seen during the...
    Paperback
    $3200
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    A River Red With Blood
    The players call it the Game, and its aim is simple: to abduct and kill a stranger without getting caught. They're very good at it. They've been playing it for a long time. And they can keep playing as long as everyone sticks to the rules: No Killing Close to Home and No Killing Outside the Game. But those rules...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Shadow Step
    The new Detective Miller thriller from bestselling author Mark Billingham, full of tension, wit and incredible twists. The Shadow Step: One taken simultaneously by a pair of dancers facing the same direction, one of them behind and slightly shifted leftwards ('in the shadow') Typically, such a step perfectly demonstrates synchronized elegance. It showcases a couple in near telepathic harmony with...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    Backorder
    Ships mid August
  • Blue Lightning
    New Release
    Blue Lightning
    Blue Lightning The fourth Shetland novel A remote island on lockdown. A killer on the loose . . . Shetland detective Jimmy Perez knows it will be a difficult homecoming when he returns to Fair Isle to introduce his fiancΓ©e to his parents. With the autumn storms raging, the island is cut off from the rest of the world. Then...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Red Bones
    New Release
    Red Bones
    Red Bones is the third Shetland novel featuring detective Jimmy Perez. Sometimes the dead won't stay buried... When a young archaeologist uncovers a set of human remains, the island settlers are intrigued. Is it an ancient findβ€”or a more contemporary mystery? Then an elderly woman is shot in what appears to be a tragic accident in the middle of the...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    Some Sort of Justice
    The first time in print for the million-copy-selling crime writer. This time, a cast of good coppers, a wily ex-detective and a shadowy, well-connected operative are brought together by an aristocratic fatality. Only there's no body, no forensicsβ€”and enemies in the highest places. When Caroline Thorpe succeeded in casting doubt on the verdict of the inquest into her brother's death,...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.