WILL UNWOUND #226: “Will’s Mystery Project – ‘The Daughter of Time’ by Josephine Tey”
September 11, 2010I love to study history. It was my major in college. Why do I love history? Simple…I love to pore over historical documents.
Unfortunately, our schools don’t present history in that fashion. High schools and colleges give us our history second-hand through textbooks and non-fiction narratives. The problem with secondary sources is that they are subject to distortion and bias. They are also not particularly fun to read.
The advantage of reading primary documents is that you are 1) immersing yourself in the writing of the period you are studying, and 2) you are going directly to the direct unfiltered source of history from which you can draw your own conclusions. In my view, therefore, it’s better to spend your time on the Declaration of Independence, The Federalist Papers, and the Constitution than it is to read a textbook about the founding of our country. Unfortunately most professors don’t use this strategy because most professors write textbooks.
That’s why I owe a huge thank you to the unwinder who recommended to me Josephine Tey’s mystery, The Daughter in Time. It contains the most eloquent argument I have yet encountered in making my point about the primacy of actual historical documents. As a result, this book goes to the top of my chart. It is easily the best mystery I have read so far. It delivers what I call the literary daily double. Not only is it a spellbinding read but it also puts forth a heavy duty message, an achievement that very few authors can pull off.
A detective from Scotland Yard, named Alan Grant, is laid up in the hospital with a broken leg. Bored out of his skull, he has memorized every crack and dimple in the ceiling above his bed. On a whim, a lady friend of his drops off a stack of prints of famous portraits. Almost immediately he is mesmerized by the portrait of King Richard III.
The Shakespeare buffs among you will recognize Richard III as the devil incarnate. Of all Shakespeare’s villains he was the most unrepentant. You will remember that he is most notoriously known as the evil tyrant who ordered the execution of his two young nephews in the Tower of London. Shakespeare portrays him not just as unrepentant but as downright gleeful about whacking his political enemies. Call him the happy executioner. Until Hitler hit the scene, Richard was pretty much regarded as Western Civilization’s most uncivilized tyrant thanks to Shakespeare’s portrayal.
But Grant, the experienced detective, can look into a man’s face and discern guilt or innocence, and what do you suppose he sees in the portrait of Richard? Not just innocence but compassion. This sets Grant and his sidekick Carradine, a researcher at the British Museum, on a riveting and really fascinating paper chase through 15th century primary historical documents.
What did they discover? Well, it’s never really kosher to give away the ending in a murder mystery, but suffice it to say that Shakespeare may have been better off consulting primary documents rather than secondary historical sources for his “facts.”
I give The Daughter of Time five stars only because I can’t give it ten!
One of my favorites too. I believe she based her search for historical documents on Paul Murray Kendall’s biography, *Richard the Third*.
You might also like her “Brat Farrar” for a classic “twin” mystery.
Thanks, birdy.
Will, may I suggest some more research before you get too caught up in Tey’s absolutely wonderful mystery? You might want to take a look at this title before deciding that Richard is off the hook.
The Princes in the tower Weir, Alison
Basically, who stood to benefit the most? Our friend Richard. He got a throne out of it after all. Well, for a while. It was very much in the Tudor interests to lay the blame on Richard, and Shakespeare wasn’t going to offend his most important patron, the great niece of these two princes, Elizabeth. Her grandmother was the sister to these two boys. Shakespeare definitely couldn’t be trusted with his storytelling on Richard, but that doesn’t mean he was wrong either. The other main candidate would have been the future Henry VII (husband to Grandma above). He was out of the country and a penniless fugitive. OK, not completely penniless, his Mom ( very very powerful lady, he was the only kid she had, and from her first marriage. She was all of 16 when he was born) undoubtedly sent him money, but close enough to penury not be able to afford this sort of mafia like take out. And Mom, Margaret Beaufort, didn’t do it because she wouldn’t have had the right sort of power to pull this stunt off. Her husband wouldn’t have jeapardized his relationships to the throne on this either, and I am not sure he even knew his stepson. I could go on and on, but just go read Weir’s title before being so sure Richard is off the hook. I’m not saying he was quite the nasty villain Shakespeare made him out to be, but no one who was fairly successful in the War of Roses was a gentle soul.
Having said all this, I really need to reread Tey’s wonderful mystery!
Joan…welcome back to the blog. I will read your recommendation as I have become fascinated with that period. Take care. Hope all is well.
Please let us know what you read on that period Will! I find history fascinating too, and it was my major in college. The War of the Roses was a fascinating period to read about. Thank goodness we didn’t live in that time! Although, for war, it was fairly easy on the common people for a change. They mostly massacred the various relatives that were more or less part of the royal family. Keeping the various people straight can be quite a challenge. I’d say the main lesson the English took from this period is having a child king is a very very bad situation. And I’m not even talking about the two princes in the tower, although they do make the point as well.
Thanks for the welcome back Will. Things are improving.
The genealogical transfer of power is very problematic in government as well as business.
One of the best mysteries ever! Glad you enjoyed it, Will.
Thanks for the recommendation.
The Mystery Writers of America ranked it 4th in their list of 100 Top Mysteries of All Time which was published in 1995.
Here’s the link: http://www.bestcrimebooks.com/top-100-mysteries-of-all-time-mystery-writers-of-america/
Their list had some interesting titles that I would not normally have categorized as part of the mystery genre. Will, your reviews are just adding more books to my already tall column of unread tomes sitting by my bed!
Tensy…great list. I will definitely use it. Thanks!
This book was on my “recommended but not required” list as a college freshman. Of course I didn’t read it then. But I did read it a few years ago and had the same reaction you did. Wonderful!!
Thanks to Tensy for posting the top 100 mystery list, too. I haven’t seen this before and I can’t wait to tackle it.
Donna, it really is a great list.
The late jacques Barzun cited the book in his “House of Intellect.” I know that I visited the city of York because of Daughter of Time (and a most worthwhile visit it was–the Minster is glorious) and I became a history major because of it. A brilliant, brilliant book. I must say that her other books aren’t shabby: The Singing Sands is perhaps one of the sadder mysteries I’ve read and, as one commenter noted above, Brat Farrer is very, very good. You must read Dorothy Sayers’ Gaudy Night….terrific “feminist” mystery–quite unlike her other Wimseys. But Daughter of Time remains in a category by itself.
Joanne, thanks for recommendations.
I love all of the Tey books, although there are too few of them. I’ve always thought of Daughter of Time as being the odd book out in the Tey canon, but it is a gem of a book. Glad you enjoyed it.
met…it really is unique!
I loved this book when I read it in my teens! So glad you’ve enjoyed it. Another mystery along the same lines is Elizabeth Peters’ The Murders of Richard III (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Murders-of-Richard-III/Elizabeth-Peters/e/9780060597191/?itm=1). Enjoy!
l…I will have to get it. Thanks for the tip.
Glad you enjoyed it, Will! I love Josephine Tey too.
I too love history, but I was lucky enough that in my education I spent lots of time on primary source documents. I first learned how to analyze in my AP European History course in high school (it was part of the AP exam) and all my history courses in college included primary source documents. My British History class had a textbook, but the supplemental book was simply a collection of primary materials – we looked at at least one every week, which I loved.
For my senior thesis, research with original documents were required and I wrote about the portrayals of Marie Antionette in the popular press, short stories, broadsheets, and political cartoons.
Jessica…you were fortunate in your choice of schools!
Wow, that is quite a positive review.
I don’t usually read mysteries but as soon as I finish this posting I will request the book via our library’s online catalog.
Thanks for the tip!
Enjoy!
Daugher in Time is definitely ten star material. The bonus is that all the other Josephine Tey mysteries are nine and a half’s!
Chris, glad you agree! I will put the other Tey mysteries on my “to read” list.
Wow. I’m not a mystery reader, but I think I’m going to read this one. The mystery of the Princes in the Tower has haunted me, especially since a visit to London. Thanks for the review, Will!
jessa…you will enjoy this book.
Good review. I’m not much of a mystery reader and have never read a doggone thing by Tey; now I may.
But I did want to comment that I agree on your preference for primary sources. I don’t want to condemn textbooks categorically, but in the fields of history and literature it’s a rare textbook, I think, that is not inferior to a study of the original documents; and in science, to study of some of the best original literature coupled with experimentation and demonstration.
RA…Thanks for mentioning literature. How many professorial analyses have ruined the reading of a great book. I love the Great Books curriculum because it forbids the use of secondary sources in the actual discussions.
Another cheer for the Great Books. One of our daughters went to St. John’s, a Great Books college. All primary sources. Not for everyone, but she found it a perfect fit and got a superb education.
Wait … did I miss a comment on how very funny this book is? Tey is a joy to read, although for me, it is more her writer’s voice, and her cranky detective, than the mys-story, and she is surely a master (mistress?) of both. Her opening scene in “Daughter of Time,” and the description of the nurses, is priceless. And she never lets up
Laura
I’ve loved mysteries ever since I read all the Nancy Drews in 4th and 5th grades, but I had a hard time getting through this book as a teenager. I read it recently and now I know why: the history and the names of the English kings, princes, etc. were super confusing. With the perspective of age (and some more knowledge of English history), I appreciated it much more. I’m in the process of reading her other mysteries and find them exceptionally enjoyable and well-done. The Franchise Affair and Miss Pym disposes were superb.