Rating: 
Summary: What a treasure!
Review: Oh my god!! I am SO in love with this book. Josephine Tey, where have you been all my life?!? I'm so glad I have now discovered this author (she published under the pseudonym of Gordon Daviot as well). I totally ate this book up. Yum!! Oh, Richard III, I'm so glad I got this chance to learn so much about you. Shame on Shakespeare and Sir Thomas More for maligning him all these years. This was just such a treasure, I was so thoroughly hooked. I loved the way the characters were written, and I was in great suspense while reading this book (even though my friend felt that the "suspense" part would only really apply if you were British royalty, I still cared immensely)
Rating: 
Summary: History Is Written By The Victors!
Review: Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant is bored out of his mind. Due to an unfortunate fall and multiple injuries he is bed ridden in the hospital and the long healing process and subsequent inaction are driving him crazy. A friend, knowing of the Inspector's passion for faces, brings him a portfolio of historical portraits thinking to distract him. She hopes he will involve himself in solving a "classic" historical mystery, since he seems to know all the facts of the Scotland Yard cases by heart. Grant homes in on the portrait of King Richard III, the supposedly wicked uncle who murdered his nephews, the boy princes, in the London's Tower. He remembers how Richard was portrayed in elementary school history and certainly recalls Shakespeare's vivid portrait of the evil hunchbacked king. However, try as he may, Grant cannot reconcile the face in the painting with that of a tyrannical childrens' murderer and usurper of England's throne. He sees conscience and integrity in the face of the painting's subject. And his curiousity is aroused for the first time since his accident.Grant asks for historical books and reads everything he can get his hands on. He finally comes into contact with a young research student from America who also becomes caught-up in the hypothesis that Richard III was framed. Author Josephine Tey, with the skill of the best in Scotland Yard, conducts an objective investigation of a centuries-old crime. She evenly portrays both side of the story, Richard III's and King Henry VII's (the other suspect), with all its twists and turns, reveals compelling evidence and comes to an amazing conclusion. The reader is literally taken back in time to examine the accusations, testimonies and material relating to the death of Richard's brother, King Edward IV in 1483, the known history of his sons, Princes Edward and Richard after their father's death and their mysterious disappearance, the behavior of Edward's widow and children, including his eldest daughter Elizabeth, who becomes Henry's bride, Queen and mother to Henry VIII. Tey provides an extraordinarily well researched profile of Richard III, pieced together directly from historical documents, and another profile of Henry Tudor. The author also examines the 1934 exhumation of the two children who were first dug up in 1674. Motives are examined and finally, conclusions are drawn, proving, once again, that history is written by winners. This is a riveting piece of detective history. Usually historians are detectives. In this case we are introduced to a detective who becomes a historian. Step-by-step, Grant plays out his theories according to evidence and comes up with logical deductions. One may already know what the conclusions are, but that is not the point of this mystery novel. The book provides the opportunity to go back in history and view a more three-dimensional side to well known characters, examine documents, and understand the rationale of those who lied or who closed their eyes to the truth. In this case, a mistrust of the official version of "the truth" brings the truth to light. Alan Grant and the supporting cast of characters are wonderful, as is the witty dialogue. The young American, Brent Carradine, is hardworking and touching in his zeal to do something meaningful. This excellent mystery by Josephine Tey is a delight and a remarkably riveting read.
JANA
Rating:
Summary: The Mystery of History
Review: Since the winner writes the history books, it's not surprising most people believe that Richard III was evil. According to Sir Thomas More and Shakespeare, he had various members of his family killed, including his poor little nephews, so that he could be king. It's important to remember that much of what we think we know about Richard was written during the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I -- who were on the throne as the direct result of the defeat of Richard. To justify the Tudors (Henry's father, I believe) seizing power, Richard had to be cast as the bad guy. We may never know what actually happened, but Josephine Tey presents a different look into history using actual letters and documents from that time. It all starts with a modern-day homicide detective who prides himself on being able to read faces. When he sees Richard's portrait (without knowing who it is), he doesn't pick it as the face of an evil murderer. I've seen Richard's portrait in the National Portrait Gallery in London -- and I think Tey's character, although fictional, may be on to something.
Rating:
Summary: A tiny and refreshing novel
Review: The Daughter of Time is a pleasant mixture of mystery novel and revisionist history. The book itself is thin, and there isn't much of a plot to the story, but the descriptive prose is wonderful and the characters really do seem real (even if rather dull). The premise is that an injured homicide detective is recouperating in a London hospital and, out of boredom, begins to read up on the infamous Richard III. After a few selections he begins to suspect that Richard's infamy may not be well-deserved, so he enlists the support of a young amateur research historian (a friend of an acquaintance) to unravel this "mystery." There are no surprises throughout the evolution of the story; it plods along just as you would expect, but it is never boring. The realistic modern characters and the intriguing story of the Yorks and Tudors combine for an entertaining and refreshing work of short fiction. It is a fun little book that would be well-placed in high school English classes, where it would easily foster interest in both literature and history.
Rating:
Summary: The Correct Portrait
Review: The mystery of the two small nephews of Richard III of England, supposedly murdered on his orders, has become the stuff of British history. Richard has come down to us as an evil monarch, most notably through Shakespeare's eponymous drama and the writings of Thomas More. But Shakespeare wrote his play based on More's book, and More was hardly a reliable eyewitness to events, being only five years old when they happened. In this highly original novel, Josephine Tey explores the mystery of whodunit from the point of view of a fictional detective, Alan Grant, laid up from a bad fall and bored out of his gourd; Grant tackles the problem from the cui bono standpoint, namely, who benefitted most from the young princes' murder? It surely wasn't Richard, who probably had more to lose than to gain from their deaths; but it did benefit the one whom Tey strongly suspects did have the princes put out of the way, one who had no legitimate claim to the crown at all. Grant and his young American research associate, Brent Carradine, work out the puzzle step by step, coming to a conclusion that satisfies them both. Whether or not it will satisfy the reader will depend on if the reader can let go of some preconceptions that have become engraved in stone. Grant asks himself, can 400,000 history books be wrong? They probably can, given that history is written by the winners, and Richard III ended his days as one of history's major losers. If Richard was indeed innocent, then whoever is guilty of having the princes murdered had everything to gain from traducing Richard's reputation to secure his own place in history and on the British throne. Tey's book is a well-written, engaging detective novel shedding light in some of the darker corners of the history of the kings of Britain.
Rating:
Summary: History or hogwash?
Review: The mystery of the two small nephews of Richard III of England, supposedly murdered on his orders, has become the stuff of British history. Richard has come down to us as an evil monarch, most notably through Shakespeare's eponymous drama and the writings of Thomas More. But Shakespeare wrote his play based on More's book, and More was hardly a reliable eyewitness to events, being only five years old when they happened. In this highly original novel, Josephine Tey explores the mystery of whodunit from the point of view of a fictional detective, Alan Grant, laid up from a bad fall and bored out of his gourd; Grant tackles the problem from the cui bono standpoint, namely, who benefitted most from the young princes' murder? It surely wasn't Richard, who probably had more to lose than to gain from their deaths; but it did benefit the one whom Tey strongly suspects did have the princes put out of the way, one who had no legitimate claim to the crown at all. Grant and his young American research associate, Brent Carradine, work out the puzzle step by step, coming to a conclusion that satisfies them both. Whether or not it will satisfy the reader will depend on if the reader can let go of some preconceptions that have become engraved in stone. Grant asks himself, can 400,000 history books be wrong? They probably can, given that history is written by the winners, and Richard III ended his days as one of history's major losers. If Richard was indeed innocent, then whoever is guilty of having the princes murdered had everything to gain from traducing Richard's reputation to secure his own place in history and on the British throne. Tey's book is a well-written, engaging detective novel shedding light in some of the darker corners of the history of the kings of Britain.
Rating:
Summary: This marvelous book should settle the question
Review: Truth is the daughter of time, and Alan Grant of Scotland Yard cannot abandon his relentless pursuit of truth. Even when he is flat on his back, convalescing in a hospital bed, staring at the ceiling and desperate for something to occupy his mind and his time.
To amuse him, a friend brings him prints of portraits from the National Gallery -- men, women, and children -- since Grant has a reputation for being able to read a person's character in his face. Grant is successful in distinguishing offenders from victims, until he reaches the last portrait. A judge? A soldier? A prince? he wonders. The name on the back of the print: Richard the Third.
Grant refuses to believe that the man's face can so belie his reputation as a murderer. And so, still on his back in bed, Grant becomes determined to find out the truth about Richard the Third for himself. With the help of those around him (characters who are also intriguing in their own right), he assembles information from historical documents to help him decide the 'case.'
It is remarkable enough for Tey to have put together the evidence she assembles for Richard the Third's case. Her research, logic, and common sense are impeccable. But to present that case in the hospital -- where the quiet, white, solemn setting is in stark contrast to the story of compassion, courage, suffering and betrayal that Grant's investigation reveals -- is inspired. Tey literally resurrects Richard and his story. Admiration, pity, and outrage are aroused in the reader for a man who has been dead for centuries.
And Grant, in his meticulous and painstakingly logical way, arrives at a conclusion that you are sure must close the book on the question of Richard's innocence forever.
All this (not to mention the subtle commentary on what is truth) in just over 200 pages. A book worth reading and re-reading.
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