La Fille du temps (1951)

Call it 3.75. I enjoyed the mystery, but my eyes kept glazing over during long descriptions of royal genealogies and where they all were on this or that day. It was very biblical in the sense of so-and-so begat whosit and lived 483 years and whosit begat whatshis and lived 523 years and so on. And in the end, most of it seemed irrelevant to the solution. You really have to care about the English monarchy to track about half the story. On the other hand the mystery of who murdered the princes in the tower is one of the great historical mysteries, and it was interesting to see how Tey pieced together Richard III’s character out of primary sources. ( )

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (1951) (4 stars)
On the back of this book, it touts the author as “one of the greatest mystery writers of all time”…well maybe in the 1950’s. Some books age better than others and this one would probably be classified as slow and boring now a days. That being said, it is an interesting prospect that is being brought to light here in this book that merits further study for the history buff (and for justice’s sake).
The author wrote a series of mysteries featuring the character, Alan Grant, a Scotland Yard investigator and this is one of those stories. Grant is recuperating from a leg injury and his friends bring him books to read to save him from being bored while he is recuperating. One of his friends brings him a stack of pictures of historical persons to contemplate because, as an investigator, he studies faces to help him solve crimes and he finds the picture of monarch Richard III especially interesting because it looks like a kind face, not like the face of a man who enabled the murder his two young nephews in the Tower of London, so he could usurp the throne of England. History has not been kind to Richard’s reputation, the book explores the possibility that Richard was not involved in the disappearance of the young nephews.
One draw back to reading this book is that if you are not very familiar with the history of England, especially during the time period of Richard III you can get lost in all the history related conversation going on in the book. Also, the book is very English in its style of writing; that may annoy some readers or delight others. Though the book is at sometimes bogged down with history it does present an interesting conundrum that deserves to be studied in more detail by historians today. Richard did not have much, if anything, to gain from doing or ordering the dastardly deed, but Henry VII and his fellow supporters sure did, and they became the victors who wrote the history that came afterwards.

(24) I have read a few of Josephone Tey's Inspector Grant novels, none of which I thought were any great shakes - but this one was quite enjoyable. Of course, Sharon Kay Penman's 'The Sun in Splendor', historical fiction tome written from the Yorkist POV is one of my favorite books of all time - so I may be biased. At this point, I am ready to join one of those pro-Richard III societies dedicated to restoring his reputation. Anyway, Inspector Grant is laid up in hospital and tries to solve a historical mystery of 'The Princes in the Tower,' He uses not just textbook's but primary sources and a young American history grad student as a researcher. I will leave his conclusions out of the review so as not to spoil - but it is an enjoyable read for a history buff.

It is quite a short book that took me an inordinately long time to finish. I think due to life circumstances and not the fault of the book. I thought it was well written; not flowery or overly cryptic as some of Ruth Rendell's Wexfords. I can't quite remember what I disliked about the other Tey mysteries I read; but I know I gave up the series as being dull; dated affairs. Perhaps I should reconsider because this was a fabulous blend of mystery and history.

Makes me wish there were more Sharon Kay Penman novels for me to read... ( )

Almost drowned in all the history, but this is still a fun and interesting read. Novel approach to a mystery story. ( )

Not sure how I managed 25 years of reading detective novels and sopping up the history of the British monarchy - including a strong pro-Ricardian revisionist bent - without reading this book.

That oversight has now been righted!

Absolutely brilliant. ( )