From the Bookshelf of Retro Reads…

The Daughter of Time (Inspector Alan Grant, #5)

Josephine Tey

Start date: October 22, 2018

Finish date: November 15, 2018

Discussion: Buddy reads

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What Members Thought

Jun 18, 2019 Jemima Raven rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-murder-mystery, genre-period-murder-mystery, genre-humour, genre-mystery, genre-human-interest, genre-history, genre-biographical, type-fiction, my-5-star-favourites, book-club-reads-2019

'Truth is the daughter of Time' Old Proverb

My favourite of all the Josephine Tey books I have ever read: it includes detective fiction and well researched history (my two favourite genres) to solve a story which has been much debated over the centuries. Poor Detective Inspector Alan Grant has suffered the indignity of falling down a trap-door in the pursuit of 'chummy'. Surviving the fall he is now in hospital, flat on his back for a long stay while his multiple fractures knit themselves, where 'Truth is the daughter of Time' Old Proverb

My favourite of all the Josephine Tey books I have ever read: it includes detective fiction and well researched history (my two favourite genres) to solve a story which has been much debated over the centuries. Poor Detective Inspector Alan Grant has suffered the indignity of falling down a trap-door in the pursuit of 'chummy'. Surviving the fall he is now in hospital, flat on his back for a long stay while his multiple fractures knit themselves, where he is cared for by nurses who treat him like a foolish, difficult child, whom he has nicknamed 'The Midget':

(Grant - waxing philosophic)
'There are far too many people born into the world, and far too many words written. Millions and millions of them pouring from presses every minute. It's a horrible thought.'
'You sound constipated,' said The Midget.

and 'The Amazon':
'She had large soft hands and large soft cow's eyes and she always looked very sorry for you, but the slightest physical exertion set her breathing like a suction pump. Onthe whole Grant found it even more humiliating to be treated as a dead weight than to be treated as if he were no weight at all.'

His visiting friends try to cheer him in his boredom, but nothing answers to relieve his mind of acute depression and a strong sense of his own loss of independence. That is, until his friend Marta Hallard hits on the idea of getting Grant to put his considerable talents into solving one of the many historical puzzles that have never properly been answered. With this idea and knowing Grant's passion for reading and studying faces, she brings a selection of famous historical persons' images for him to look over and ponder. Grant is struck by the sensitive and deeply sad face of Richard the 3rd and is wholly surprised that this face belongs to a man with his reputation a by-word of wicked infamy. With the help of his friends, Grant begins to investigate the historical story of Richard III, and in particular the mysterious disappearance of the two Princes in the Tower, whose deaths have been historically left at his door.

"The Cat, The Rat and Lovell Our Dog
Doe rule all England under a Hog,”
-William Colyngbourne

“And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ;
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.”
- William Shakespeare, Richard III

My favourite parts of this book include the rich characters and the passionate and comical dialogue that takes place between Alan Grant and his tame historical boffin/student, Brent Caradine, who is lent to him by his actress friend. From this time forwards, the words 'Tonypandy' will always have another significance in my dialogue. In 1990, this mystery novel was named the greatest mystery novel of all time by the British Crime Writers' Association. I can only conclude that their choice was exceeding just. ...more

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Dec 09, 2018 Kate rated it liked it

Not knowing much about English history and the rules for royal succession made this a difficult read. Even with the family trees in the front (which I referred to often) didn't help much because the same names are used multiple times.

It was difficult to stay awake while reading it due to my confusion or lack of knowledge regarding the theme.

What was interesting, was the idea of "tonypandy." When "everyone knows what happened without any evidence of its occurrence." It seems that revisionist vie ...more

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Nov 15, 2022 Galowa rated it really liked it

Richard was innocent.

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Oct 27, 2018 Critterbee❇ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: f, mystery, history-nonfiction

Nov 03, 2018 Kavan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Dec 13, 2018 Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs is currently reading it · review of another edition

1 like · Like

May 17, 2020 Mela marked it as to-read

Shelves: internet-archive, group-guardian-1000-novels

Dec 15, 2020 Caroline marked it as to-read

Jan 02, 2021 Kim Kaso added it · review of another edition

Apr 10, 2021 Moonkiszt added it · review of another edition

Aug 18, 2021 Katie marked it as owned-but-not-read-yet

Oct 05, 2021 Andrea-Jade Webster rated it it was ok

Feb 04, 2022 Andreas_P marked it as to-read

Jun 06, 2022 侦探冰猫 marked it as to-read

Shelves: dnf

Sep 08, 2022 Alberto d'Onofrio rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Jun 09, 2023 Lisa Brantly rated it really liked it

Shelves: 20th-century, mystery, oxford, britian, medieval

2 likes · Like

Jul 13, 2023 Mary Catherine marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Jan 26, 2024 Lori S. added it

Jul 19, 2024 Truitt_T rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-version, mystery, history, politics, royalty, classics, friendship, book-games-nbrc-2024, 2024

Nov 24, 2024 Sabina added it

Feb 09, 2025 Gemma Bee marked it as to-read

Jul 10, 2025 aleks added it

Shelves: mystery, 2025-favorites, classics, overcooked-brain, i-own-a-copy, i-want-to-eat-the-writing, important, contrrroversial, eye-opening, nice-concept

Sep 15, 2025 Sharon added it

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