The Daughter of Time

Written by Josephine Tey

Narrated by Nick Donovan

The Daughter of Time is a 1951 detective novel by Josephine Tey, concerning a modern police officer's investigation into the alleged crimes of King Richard III of England. It was the last book Tey published in her lifetime, shortly before her death. In 1990 it was voted number one in The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list compiled by the British Crime Writers' Association (CWA).

Plot:

Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant (a character who also appears in five other novels by the same author) is feeling bored while confined to bed in hospital with a broken leg. Marta Hallard, an actress friend of his, suggests he should amuse himself by researching a historical mystery. She brings him some pictures of historical characters, aware of Grant's interest in human faces. He becomes intrigued by a portrait of King Richard III. He prides himself on being able to read a person's character from his appearance, and King Richard seems to him a gentle, kind and wise man. Why is everyone so sure that he was a cruel murderer?

With the help of other friends and acquaintances, Grant investigates Richard's life and the case of the Princes in the Tower, testing out his theories on the doctors and nurses who attend to him. Grant spends weeks pondering historical information and documents with the help of Brent Carradine, a likable young American researcher working in the British Museum.[2] Using his detective's logic, he comes to the conclusion that the claim of Richard being a murderer is a fabrication of Tudor propaganda, as is the popular image of the King as a monstrous hunchback.

CREATED:

Narrated by Nick Donovan

Author: Josephine Tey

Date of original publication: 1951

Genre: detective novel

Language : English

Version : unabridged, full/complete

Without subtitles

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vectura
• Release date: Apr 11, 2025
• ISBN: 9798318210969

Josephine Tey

Josephine Tey, author of The Daughter of Time and The Franchise Affair, was born Elizabeth MacKintosh in Inverness in Scotland in 1896. She trained and worked as a teacher before returning to her family home to look after her elderly parents. It was there that she took up writing. Although she described her crime writing, written under the pen name Josephine Tey, as ‘my weekly knitting’ she was and is recognized as a major writer of the Golden Age of Crime writing. She was also successful as a novelist and playwright, writing under the name of Gordon Daviot. Her plays were performed in London and on Broadway. A fiercely private woman, she died at her sister’s home in 1952.

Reviews for The Daughter of Time

[Dorothy Kernaghan-Baez · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This was read by an AI voice and it mispronounced 3 words in the first 5 minutes. Don't waste your time - either read it or find a better audio version.