the reader of books

Things that annoyed me about this book:

1. The ridiculous overuse of the word "lover".
2. The introduction of an enormous amount of characters with little or no purpose.
3. The main character (Josephine Tey) was extremely dull -- she didn't like being open or personal with anyone, including many if not all of her closest friends, though we are to feel sorry for her because she has suffered a horrible tragedy. Nor is she particularly friendly or kind, except of course when she inexplicably became best chums with the future murder victim after a short train ride. In addition to her general dislike of people, she was a pill about her play and how it brought all this unwelcome attention. It was hard to see why anyone really liked her very much. I know she is based on a real-life person, but she was a dry as a stack of toast served at a wedding reception.
4. The book is touted as a Josephine Tey mystery which would lead one to believe that Josephine is actually doing the sleuthing. This is not so; there is a police officer who does much of the investigating. Josephine figures it out at the end, mostly by accident.