“An honest tale speeds best being plainly told,” Shakespeare reminds audiences in his Richard III. Readers of Josephine Tey’s classic 1951 historical mystery The Daughter of Time might point out that it can take centuries to get to a tale’s truth (the titular, proverbial offspring). In this singular novel, Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant, prevented by an injury from applying his powers of deduction to modern crime, turns his attention to the mystery of the Princes in the Tower. The young royal heirs’ 1483 disappearances have long been blamed, by the Bard and many others, on their uncle Richard III, one of British history’s most infamous villains. Though Tey was far from the first writer to ponder whether Richard really did it, her version of the investigation did much to popularize the debate; the author Sara Polsky, writing for the New Yorker, has credited The Daughter of Time with helping to spark a wave of 20th-century reconsiderations of Richard III, all leading up to the 2012 discovery of his long-lost remains. It may never be possible to solve this mystery once and for all, but that does not detract from the satisfaction to be found in Alan Grant’s process. When something sympathetic in a portrait of the monarch pulls the detective deep into a spellbinding story, Tey’s readers are right there with him.—Lily Rothman for Time magazine

Stop by the Reference Desk after the previous month’s meeting to pick up a copy of the title. If this title is not available, we've requested copies of her other works.. There are also ebooks available via Libby.

Supplemental Reading:

Wikipedia overview of the novel and background HERE.

Book Club Background:

Join us in person or online to look at the history of Mystery as a book genre.

It has been almost 200 years since the publication of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and since then, mystery as a genre has exploded in form, length, language, and more. From The Lady in White, Wilkie Collins’ novel that is considered the first of the genre, through the serialized adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the Golden Age of Agatha Christie, the advent of noir, the rise of thrillers, romantic suspense, and an international cast of characters ranging from retired police officers to meddling sleuths, some famous twins, and armchair detectives.

TIME MAGAZINE PICKS THE 100 BEST MYSTERY NOVELS OF ALL TIME

Each month we might read an article, a short story, a book, or a selection from the same author or the same country. We’ll look at award winners and debut novelists, the standard bearers and the rule breakers. We may talk about movies and TV, too.  We’ll work our way through the decades, looking at similar themes, exotic settings, and recent innovations in a genre that is both familiar and new.

Some of the authors we’ll cover: Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Mary Higgins Clark, Alexander McCall Smith, Jo Nesbo, and more!

Check out the recent Edgar Award winners HERE.

We’ll run this group as hybrid, so anyone can join. Please click below to register for the program, and you'll receive the Zoom link. Returning readers do not need to register unless they need the Zoom link. THE ZOOM LINK WILL BE SENT AT LEAST TWO HOURS BEFORE THE MEETING.

At the end of the day, the butler may have done it, but we’ll decide if he was justified!