The story of a missing heir and an "orphan" is an old trope, but Tey puts a few twists in it, enough to keep turning the pages. The characters are better than cardboard, within the bounds of the plot. Billed as a "mystery" by the publisher, but not a whodunit, just some curious questions to be answered.
Author's real name is Elizabeth MacKintosh, and she also wrote as Gordon Daviot. ( )

I loved it! Very satisfying mystery. ( )

Oh, Josephine Tey... Why you gotta be so dark? You write such interesting people, and then there are the psychos. I mean, I like mysteries, but this is too sad and evil. ( )

A slow but entertaining read, although I'm not sure I really follow Brat's realization near the end. ( )

I found [b:Brat Farrar|243397|Brat Farrar|Josephine Tey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431290764l/243397._SY75_.jpg|67009121] to be similar to [b:The Daughter of Time|77661|The Daughter of Time (Inspector Alan Grant, #5)|Josephine Tey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394326949l/77661._SY75_.jpg|3222080], not just in Tey's writing style, but also in that they aren't straightforward crime novels. Where [b:The Daughter of Time|77661|The Daughter of Time (Inspector Alan Grant, #5)|Josephine Tey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394326949l/77661._SY75_.jpg|3222080] is a very clever mental exercise, [b:Brat Farrar|243397|Brat Farrar|Josephine Tey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431290764l/243397._SY75_.jpg|67009121] is a clever tale of a scam that encounters unanticipated wrinkles.

The key elements of the plot seemed transparent to me early on, so I enjoyed this as a relaxing read, full of detailed descriptions of a horse breeding and racing household in post-WWII England. ( )