Bedridden Inspector Alan Grant turns from contemporary crime to the enigma of Richard III, testing a policeman's instincts against biased chronicles and the seductions of portraiture. With a young researcher, he sifts Thomas More, Mancini, and Tudor propaganda, assembling a case that marries armchair detection to historiography. Published in 1951 at a moment of postwar reassessment, The Daughter of Time-its title from Bacon's maxim that truth is time's daughter-uses lucid prose, dry wit, and exacting source-criticism to challenge the myth of the murdered princes. Josephine Tey, pen name of Scottish novelist and dramatist Elizabeth MacKintosh (also Gordon Daviot), brought a playwright's economy and contrarian eye to crime fiction. Her stage triumph Richard of Bordeaux honed her feel for contested kings and the politics of reputation; distrust of formula and fascination with character made her an ideal skeptic of received history. Here she channels wide reading and stagecraft into a cool, anti-sensational inquiry rather than a chase. Scholars of Tudor history, Golden Age aficionados, and readers who relish intellectual detection will find a bracing corrective to lazy legend here. Read it for its method as much as its verdict: a graceful lesson in how patiently weighed evidence outlasts rumor.
Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable-distilled, never diluted. Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.
