“The Daughter of Time” by Josephine Tey and Robert Barnard (Intro) – 500 Years too Late

Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant, while being the best, is not spared from the ravages of life, as a broken leg is keeping him away from his duty. Not being the kind of man to lazily stumble around the house all day long, Alan becomes fascinated by Richard III, a feeling reinforced by a modern portrait of the man which goes against all common knowledge, depicting him as an honest, noble and sensitive man. 

It doesn’t take much to push Grant to start his own investigation into the murder of the Little Princes in the tower, and even though he may be coming about 500 years late for the job, he is determined to get to the bottom of things and find out what kind of man Richard III truly was. With the help of an American scholar and a British museum, he sets out on an adventure that spans countless years and brings up more questions than answers.

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is a very curious and surely uncommon detective novel, investigating a case in which all the participants are long dead and forgotten. In this novel, what really matters is not catching the culprit, but rather, the hunt for the truth itself. Trey does a wonderful job at weaving a web of mystery with slight holes here and there to create doubt and keep the reader guessing as to how things really might have been. 

I have to say, it is a great pleasure to watch two intellectual protagonists try and solve a case from so far away in the past that all they have to go on are historical records and letters. Despite the conclusion of the investigation bearing no real danger for anyone, Trey does manage to make it suspenseful, and on many occasions it does feel like you are spirited away to the 15th century during those trying times for Richard III.

The story is very easy and enthralling to follow, mainly because of its very clear, logical and step-by-step presentation given by Grant. He precisely outlines his thoughts, hypotheses and theories, sparing no detail of the investigation from the reader.

In the end, you feel like you are literally sitting alongside with him, marching through the annals of history while trying to bring an undisputable reality to light, in the name of the truth, if nothing else. It certainly isn’t your run-of-the-mill detective story, but I do highly recommend it to fans of the genre, especially the ones who prefer slower works of writing.

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Josephine Tey (Elizabeth Mackintosh) (July 25, 1896 - February 13, 1952) Personal site Josephine Tey is a pseudonym used by Elizabeth Mackintosh. Elizabeth Mackintosh was a Scottish author whose most famous works were her mystery novels. She was also known to write under the pseudonyms of Josephine Tey and Gordon Daviot. Amongst her many works stands out the ever-notable The Daughter of Time, a book that was actually voted in 1990 as the greatest mystery novel of all time by the Crime Writers' Association.