# VII: Things Move explained — The Man in the Queue

> Chapter companion for The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey.

## What happens

Grant investigates Sorrell's locked office in Minley Street, encounters a painter living above, and spends Sunday sifting through false leads and reports from the public. He reflects on the case, considering the possibility of intended suicide, and ends the day exhausted, with a surreal dream about Ray Marcable.

## Themes in this chapter

### Urban Anonymity and Alienation

Minley Street's half-secretive, forbidding atmosphere and the difficulty of tracing a man in a vast city like London.

### Obsession and Madness

Grant's obsessive pursuit of clues, working through Sunday, and his surreal dream reflecting his fixation on the case.

## Character check-ins

### Inspector Grant

Visits Sorrell's office, hears a stealthy sound, and spends Sunday managing the manhunt from his desk.

### Bert Sorrell

His locked office in Minley Street is the focus of Grant's investigation; he has not been seen for over a fortnight.

### Mrs. Field

Grant's landlady, who fusses over his early Sunday breakfast and his work habits.

### Ray Marcable

Appears in Grant's dream, repeating 'You'll never find him, never, never!'

### The Levantine

The wanted man; Grant hopes to find him by learning about the dead man's habits.

## Key lines

> It was a pretty tangle, but at least it was a tangle—closely related and growing closer, so that at any moment he might pick up a lucky thread which, when pulled, would unravel the whole thing.

The case was a complicated mess, but it was becoming more interconnected, and Grant felt he might soon find a key clue that would solve everything.

_Grant's optimistic view of the investigation's progress._

> Minley Street has, in common with the lesser turnings off Charing Cross Road, that half secretive, half disgruntled air that makes it forbidding.

Minley Street, like other small streets near Charing Cross Road, has a secretive and unwelcoming atmosphere.

_Description of the setting's mood._

> It's a wonder to me that the King doesn't give you inspectors decorations oftener than he does. What other man in London is having breakfast at this hour when he needn't!

Mrs. Field thinks Grant deserves more recognition for his dedication, noting that few others would be up so early on a Sunday.

_Mrs. Field's admiration for Grant's work ethic._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_man_in_the_queue_se/chapters/vii-things-move
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_man_in_the_queue_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_man_in_the_queue_se/chapters