After I borrowed this book, I realised that I’ve already read it 6 years ago. But all I know about what I thought then was a four-star rating on Goodreads and the line: “It’s definitely not the kind of mystery I was used to, but it’s interesting in its own way.” I was definitely way too succinct back then.

Now that I’ve reread the book, I think that my feelings towards the book have not changed. Miss Pym Disposes follows the eponymous heroine of the novel, Miss Pym. Miss Pym was an unassuming lady until one page of her book on psychological theories was discovered and became a best-seller. As a result, an old school friend invited her to give a talk at Teys, the college of physical culture that she runs.

Initially, Miss Pym is reluctant to go and reluctant to stay, but the girls at the school soon win her over and she finds herself staying and becoming an unofficial member of The Staff. When she invigilates an exam, she uses her theories of psychology to prevent a case of cheating. Unfortunately, she didn’t see the murder that followed.

What makes this book different from most mysteries is that the murder doesn’t happen until towards the end of the book. Most of the book is about life at Teys and the girls that go there. It’s interesting and definitely needed for the crime and denouncement, but if I wasn’t intrigued by the girls, I would not have finished the book.

By the way, can I just say that for a supposed master of human psychology, Miss Pym is very bad at reading people? It’s something she realises in the end, but it’s a bit too late, in my opinion. The blurb makes it seem like Miss Pym is some master psychologist or another Miss Marple who knows people, but that isn’t the case. Miss Pym is just someone who wrote a good book but was very bad at application for some reason.

I definitely enjoyed this reread very much, but I probably won’t be adjusting my rating on Goodreads upwards. This is partly because some of the characters, such as Teresa Desterro, feel too much like stereotypes (the quirky exotic foreigner) and partly because there were a few lines that stereotyped others. I suppose Christie’s mysteries also have characters that veer very close to stereotypes, but I don’t feel them pushing the edge like I did in Miss Pym Disposes. Also, there was constant reference to some sort of boom exercise and I had absolutely no idea what that was. Google didn’t help either, so if you do know, please enlighten me!

This was a pleasant reread. It’s a pity that Josephine Tey’s books are so hard to find in Singapore – I’d be interested in reading more of her works.