The Daughter of Time

February 25, 2020 10:09 AM - by Josephine Tey

A hospitalized police officer, Inspector Alan Grant, investigates a famous historical crime. A 1951 classic by Josephine Tey considered "One of the best mysteries of all time" (The New York Times).
posted by sallybrown (10 comments total)

I liked it a lot when I first read it more than ten years ago and reread it last month.

The story is interesting but the sexism and general obnoxiousness was really grating to me this time around.

The concept is great though!
posted by M. at 11:18 AM on February 25, 2020 [3 favorites]

I would like a modern retelling of this where the inspector decides to make a podcast about the mystery from his hospital bed. Ditch the sexism but keep his insistence on being able to read faces (which is how a lot of detectives still seem to operate).

This has me wanting so badly for this book’s version of Richard III to be right, but looking around after finishing, most scholars still seem to think he was the baddie.
posted by sallybrown at 11:30 AM on February 25, 2020 [5 favorites]

I enjoyed reading this years ago.
posted by acrasis at 3:26 PM on February 25, 2020

Read all Josephine Tey's mysteries years ago and loved them. This one turned me into a Richard III fan for life.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:55 PM on February 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

This was recommended to me seemingly endlessly as a young sci-fi/fantasy reader. I assumed it was going to be about a female time traveler and I was pretty nonplussed when the book ended without her showing up.
posted by bq at 2:20 PM on February 26, 2020

I dunno what happened to the princes, but this is the book that convinced me that the modern conception of Richard III is nothing more than a political hatchet job.
posted by kyrademon at 12:48 AM on February 27, 2020 [2 favorites]

Inspector Grant was definitely right that Richard III had a fascinating face.
posted by sallybrown at 9:25 AM on February 27, 2020

Yeah, well, it’s all fun and games until two child skeletons turn up in The Tower
posted by bq at 9:32 AM on February 27, 2020 [3 favorites]

I really enjoy this book, and I think the central thesis about history holds true even if the specific case that makes up the book doesn't seem to have gone Tey's way. I also love the description of how Grant likes to look at faces, because I'm the same way and I liked hearing it articulated.

I've read several other Tey mysteries and none of them have stuck the same way for me. Maybe I should try a reread.
posted by PussKillian at 9:35 AM on February 28, 2020

Brat Farrar is a good one.
posted by kyrademon at 4:15 AM on March 2, 2020