Josephine Tey\'s Daughter of Time

Josephine Tey's Daughter Of Time

Elizabeth Mackintosh is a renowned Scottish author a specialist in mystery novels; she was born in July 25, 1896 and died in February 13, 1952. Josephine Tey was the pseudonym that she used. Josephine was the name of her mother and Tey was the surname of her English grandmother. In all her books, they revolve around a Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant. Josephine Tey's daughter of crime is a unique detective story with an old fashion setting, it was her best novel among her other pieces of brilliance. Unlike in other novels that she has written, Allan finds himself in a restrained situation when he is hospitalized after falling in the line of duty. This unfortunate event happens when he tumbled through a trap door leaving him in a debilitated state, and is consumed with boredom as he recovers from his injuries. Grant ponders what to do next not being familiar with such boring situations. Her friend Marta Hallard suggests that he should preoccupy himself with reading, an activity that doesn't seem interesting to the inspector. Grant tries to engage himself with chess and cross words then Marta suddenly remembers his intense enthusiasm for examining faces.

A few days later, she brings him pictures to ponder. The pictures keep him occupied for sometime but a particular one seems to capture his attention than the others. Based on clothing, it is of a man in the fifteenth century who he later discovers is the notorious King Richard the third. He later starts difficult quest to find out more about King Richard the third. He does not let his immobile situation to hinder him from his pursuit.

He devises ways of how he will get all the required information that can be linked to King Richard the third. Grant uses his friends and nurses to search for documents that can help him solve the mystery as to whether King Richard the third of England, was the person responsible for the murders of his nephews in order to maintain power. All this is intrigued by the portrait of King Richard the third.

According to the portrait, King Richard looks like a worried and slightly withdrawn personality differing from the created image from history of a cruel violent murderer.

His co-workers and Marta bring him more books. The more Grant reads the more he is confused with the inconsistencies revolving around the mystery. Grant suddenly realizes that author Thomas Moore was only five years at the time of the murders and everything in his book was just a rumor. Brent Carradine, an American historical researcher in London investigates for Grant and discovers that Thomas Moore's story was initially written by John Morton, and Henry the seventh Richard's worst enemy, and that there were no accusations of the murder that existed.

As Grant and Carradine dig deeper into the mystery, they find out that Richard would not benefit in any way with the crime, since he had the crown rightfully and there was no dispute. More so, King Richard was in good terms with the boys' mother. On the contrary, Henry the seventh was to benefit from the crime having no right to the crown and was a person of questionable character (Richards).

Thesis and presentation in the book

The whole idea of this book is pointed out by Alan Grant where he tries to prove that what is contained in history books is not necessarily what transpired. When it comes to power struggle and positions of influence, false stories and rumors are spread and are put out as truth which may be adopted as reality for many generations. It is also natural that people do not receive well new theories of beliefs that have been held for long it is safer to believe what we have always thought was right.

In the case of Richard the third, there is no clear evidence that he was responsible for the murders of his nephews, and also there is no logical motive that would make him an ideal suspect.

The other idea behind this book is solving a murder mystery of two nephews of a King who is already dead, and cannot take part in the investigation. The book also tries to point out that some historical facts can be disputed and what is written is not necessarily the actual truth. The book revolves around Grant the Scotland Yard agent who becomes fascinated with mystery within history making him go about solving the case.

The mystery cannot be solved like other cases where witnesses are interviewed and the crime scene is investigated, because Grant is bedridden with a broken leg and can only solve this mystery by reading history books and other documents. Grant uses other people while investigating unlike his other escapades where he goes about almost single-handedly.

Organization

The organization of the book is clear although it is from an omniscient point-of-view, writing from a third person making us see inside her characters and enabling us to understand them. Several of the characters are seen through Grant's eyes but he is not the only narrator of the story.

The author has a unique way of unfolding the historical facts through banter and dialogue at times being humorous and fascinating subject matter making the readers to be glued to her story. The story takes a twist from being just a detective story or historical fiction to become a historical investigation that is performed by fictional characters in a spellbinding and enjoyable manner.

Prejudice of the author

Prejudice is portrayed in various instances in the book. The author portrays that Alan Grant was obsessed in proving Richard's innocence. The types of sources that Thomas Moore used he dismissed them as rumors and hearsay. But these were the same sources he used in finding his perceived truth. There was lack of accurate information because the investigation was of a case that happened long time ago, and hearsay or rumors were the only source of information. Thus the author through his main character Alan Grant has a preformed opinion based on insufficient knowledge, and the obsession of proving that King Richard the third was innocent.

Author's conclusion

The author comes with a conclusion based on Alan's Grant findings that King Richard the third was not responsible for the death of his nephews. He had nothing to gain from their death, and thus creating no motive and coming up with a conclusion that he was not responsible. It is also established that Henry the seventh had vested interest in the murder of the two boys since he had no right to the crown and would benefit if they died.

According to the author, it is important to keenly examine and read between the lines on the stories that we read. Close attention should be on hidden meanings and other things that the writer has not made obvious to the reader. We should not always focus on the words that have been used but try and understand what the writer is trying to say.