Review: The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this up at my library's book sale a few months ago for a reading challenge prompt for "A book with a family member term in the title".  The woman at the checkout said it was a great book.  This puts me at 41 of 52 books read for the challenge.  This was one of the advanced prompts, I've got 3 of those left, and 8 from the regular list.  I've got books picked out for the remaining prompts, so hopefully I can wrap this up by the end of the year.

I expected this to have alot more action being a mystery, however it is not action packed at all. I did still however enjoy this. I was confused by the title but after reading a few reviews, it is a nod to a proverb, "Truth is the daughter of time." Knowing that, the title makes perfect sense. This book is all about discovering truth over the course of time. The book follows Inspector Alan Grant during his time in the hospital due to a broken leg. Grant as he is often referred to in the book, is bored and needs something to do other than look at the cracks in the ceiling. His friend Marta brings him a stack of portraits to look at, being that looking at faces is a favorite past time of his as a Police Inspector at Scotland Yard. Grant uncovers the face of Richard III, who is known to be quite the monster. To occupy his time Grant, along with the help of British Museum researcher Brent Carradine begin to research the reign of Richard III and the accusation that he murdered his two nephews, the reason he is so hated. I do not typically read historical fiction, but I was sucked into the history and the investigation. I can see why this has been on many crime lists as being a great read. I found the whole hierarchy of the British monarchy totally confusing, mainly because they were all named Henry, Richard, and Edward. There was a page in the book that neatly laid out who was whom and I found that very helpful. I could have used a family tree to keep everyone straight but that has nothing to do with the writing of the novel.  Thinking about it now I should have done that while I was reading to keep everyone straight.  I was completely invested in finding out "who-dun-it", and if Richard III was really as bad as the rumors made him out to be. Not knowing much about the actual history of the royal British families, I don't have a bias or outstanding opinion on the subject, but I did enjoy the novel and the investigative approach.

Another thing to not is this is part of a series, but as far as I can tell, you do not need to read any of the other novels. This stood on its own quite nicely and I didn't feel like I was missing anything. I feel like this might be a series where the characters are repeated, but the story line is completely separate in each book. I kind of prefer series that way.  I think if I saw another Tey book at a used book sale I'd grab it.  I think I paid $1 for it, and it was well worth it.