Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating peek into history - a TRUE mystery!
Review: ~ -~
* * * * *Josephine Tey writes clever mystery stories, but this is really very different. It is a "second look" at the history of the supposedly villainous King Richard III. It becomes absolutely fascinating and more absorbing than any "who - dun - it".
I didn't know the history of Richard, beyond the "fact" that he killed the two little princes to secure his hold on the throne. You don't need to be a history buff- all mystery lovers will enjoy this book!
~ -~
The book starts out with Inspector Grant recuperating from an injury, and terribly bored lying in a hospital bed. His lady friend brings him an interesting mix of photographs and portraits to amuse him. Grant occupies his time studying the faces, and testing his skill at recognizing the guilty. He becomes fascinated with the portrait of Richard, who he hadn't recognized, and had classified him as a victim, not a killer. He gets more history books to "remind himself" of the facts, and finds contradictions and hints that the "History" we all believe may be an elaborate lie. .
~ -~
Following Grant's hunt for clues, and feeling his suspicion of some of those who survived to "rewrite" history is truly a wonderful journey.
. This book definitely convinced me that the "history" of Richard III needs a second look.
* * * * *
~ Whether you're interested in English history, or just love a good mystery, I definitely recommend this book with 5 stars * * * * * for an absorbing read
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: a book to read and re-read (especially history lovers
Review: I first read this book 25 years ago and after re-reading it recently, I realize that the view of history as put forth by "Daughter of Time", is the view I have carried with me for the last 25 years. After reading the above reviews, I wanted to put my 2 cents in and say that this is the BEST of the Tey books. It is a mystery for history lovers and leaves an impression that other "light reading" does not. Josephine Tey is unfortunately gone from us, but this book remains a True Classic.
Rating: 
Summary: Precursor of the "history with mystery"trend
Review: In 1990 "The Hatchard's Crime Companion ",published in the UK listed the selection of Crime Writers Association members for the best 100 crime novels.Topping the list,inexplicably so in my view was this novel.
I say ,inexplicably not because I deem it to be a bad novel.It is not that,but I do feel it is a curiousity within the genre one that does not really grab the reader the way the alleged best in any genre should do.
The book unfolds within a single setting-a hospital ward in which Inspector Grant,a regular Tey hero , is confined to bed with an injury rendering him virtually immobile.He is struck by a picture of Richard the Third and resolves to set about proving his innocence of the charge of murdering the Princes in the Tower of London as insisted upon by Shakespeare and Tudor propagandists and instead casting the blame on his successor,Henry the Seventh.A young female American researcher acts as his "legs"in carrying out the actual delving around in dusty archives
The evidence is not new to scholars of the era but is laid out clearly and convincingly and the novel would make a good primer for people interested in the history and characters of that era,and reflects Tey's interest in history,reminding us in the process that ,under the name of Gordon Daviot she had a successful career as a dramatist specialising in historical plays.
The book was clearly the model for Colin Dexter's "Inspector Morse "tale "The Wench is Dead "which also featured the investigation of an historical crime by the hospitalised sleuth aided by a researcher.
The book is neatly written but I found it an intellectual exercise rather than a novel and almost inevitably it came across as static and mild.
On a personal note I am not of the" Richard is innocent" persuasion anymore than I believe that Shakespeare was really Francis Bacon or Christopher Marlowe but believe one pileof tripe and you will be temperamentally inclined to swallow the other crackbrained notion of the period
Rating:
Summary: timeless classic
Review: I first read this book in 6th Grade based on a teacher's recommendation and loved it (thank you Mrs. Ewing). Ms. Tey's conclusions about the inaccuracy of history written by the victors stuck in my mind then and continue to influence my view of history today. The questions she raises about the murder of the princes in the Tower remind us that there are two sides to every story and that history as we know it is not necessarily factually accurate. I highly recommend this book and the other Alan Grant novels.
Rating:
Summary: Prime Historical Investigation
Review: This novel is nore of a historical investigation than a murder mystery. The novel starts out with Inspector Alan Grant recovering form a broken leg. While perusing reading materials he is intrigued by England's last Plantagenet, King Richard III. Did he murder or arrange the assasination of his two young nephews? Most of the text which he reads say this is true. He wants to investigate further into the matter. Grant enlists the aid of an American researcher, Brent Carradine. What they find is available to the public. This particular mystery is not so interesting in the conclusion; but how and why they reached their results. The information is available at all public libraries. Miss Tey has apparent sentiments for Richard III. For myself it was refreshing to read such sentiments. In school years we were taught that King Richard was the "wicked uncle". While studying Shakespeare, there was THAT overdone line beaten like a dead horse (no pun or whatever intended). It was hard to reconcile the historical caricature with the picture on my mother's book jacket of the biography of Richard III. The drawing seemed to be of an ascetic fine featured and calm intellectual. The book invites us to reasearch and draw our own conclusions. This may not be germane to the novel, but I appreciated Josephine Tey's portrayal of the American character. Many British writers characterize Americans as loud and slow witted. Carradine is portrayed as a bright and eager assistant. I read this book in the course of 2 days during my beach vacation. It was time well spent.
Rating: 
Summary: Expand your knowledge of history
Review: A very interesting idea about using a modern investigative approach to a 500 year old case. I learned a lot about the
Richard III era. I would like to know if the facts presented
are verifiable because the evidence and analysis presented seem solid.
I read about this book and author in a text by Christopher Hitchens, he seems to be a fan.
Rating:
Summary: Josephine Tey - A great "discovery"
Review: Never having heard of Josephine Tey, I purchased this book and another, "Brat Farrar" on the strength of the description.
I have since read several other of the Tey collection, and I find them wonderful. Not a "mystery" in the usual sense, this is a novel which contains a so-called mystery. In other of her works, her Inspector Grant follows more conventional lines of investigating crimes. If you like one of Tey's books, I think
you will like them all. I highly recommend them.
Rating:
Summary: One of history's true mysteries examined
Review: What happened to Richard III's nephews? Josephine Tey takes a look at the tales of Richard, his nephews, and what happened at the Tower of London. Starting with the Richard of Shakespeare and Thomas More, Tey, (through her bed-ridden detective Grant) dissects the stories of Richard III and finds a few problems with the Richard III most people are familiar with. Whether this revisionist view of Richard stands up to scrutiny is up to those with more background in this area than me, but I thoroughly enjoyed Tey's portrayal of the search for truth in the face of legend.
Rating:
Summary: Cheated of feature by dissembling history?
Review: "Truth is the daughter of time," according to the saying from which Josephine Tey took the title of her book, and time affords Tey's detective Alan Grant plenty of perspective on the mystery he sets out to solve. Laid up with a broken leg, Grant begins investigating the alleged crimes of Richard III after scrutinizing a portrait of the fifteenth century king. According to many historians, (e.g. Alison Weirs' recent, "The Princes in the Tower"), as well as Shakespeare, St. Thomas More, and common opinion, Richard was a monster who murdered his nephews to secure the throne of England for himself. It is giving nothing away to say that Grant comes to disbelieve these authorities. Who he concludes was the real murderer I won't say, but it is interesting to think about his conclusion in the light of the economic consequence of the Reformation. Teys skillfully summarizes the historical facts and the case for Richard's innocence and presents them in an entertaining way, but considered strictly as a murder mystery her story comes off somewhat strained and contrived. Also she is bit hard on St. Thomas More ("the sainted More") on whose history of Richard much subsequent history depends, even though she determines that More was deceived by the testimony of the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Morton. If your interest is piqued by Tey's account, do a search for "Richard III Society". They have a website with lots of further information on the question.
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