I read a later book by Nicola Upson - another Josephine Tey mystery called Nine Lessons - before this one. I enjoyed that one. It was well paced with a good plot and kept my attention. In contrast, this was really hard work and has taken me ages to finish it as I got so bored I abandoned it several times. The main issues are page after page of dry diary entries from someone who lived 100 years previously, and so much irrelevant padding. I was determined to finish it, and it did finally pick up pace in the last few chapters. I have several other books by the author, so I hope they are better than this one!