The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (the pseudonym for Scottish writer Elizabeth MacKintosh) is the story of a man’s quest to solve a centuries-old historical mystery. The novel was published in 1951, shortly before Tey’s death the following year. It explores themes of historical relativism and the importance of an objective search for truth. Repeatedly voted as a top mystery novel by critics and readers alike, it is considered one of the best books of its genre.

Plot Summary

Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard (a recurring character in Tey’s work) is languishing in a hospital bed as he recovers from injuries suffered while chasing a criminal. He chafes at his physical confinement and is mentally bored.

Well-meaning friends have sent him a pile of the latest novels to read, but he scorns their formulaic content. His friend Marta suggests that Grant put his detective skills to work by solving the ultimate cold case—one of the many historical mysteries that have puzzled people for generations.

She brings him a folder of historic portrait prints to review. Each one is connected to an unsolved mystery. Grant remains uninterested until he comes across the image of King Richard the Third. Richard is a well-known villain. Among other crimes, he’s said to have murdered his two young nephews in the Tower of London to secure his own claim to the throne.

Grant is known for his ability to accurately predict a man’s character by studying his face, and he’s intrigued because Richard’s face doesn’t suggest villainy to him. The detective places the king’s portrait on his hospital room wall. He asks everyone who visits what they think of the picture. All give different reactions though most are repelled because they know Richard killed his nephews.

The disparity between the face in the portrait and the monstrous monarch of legend intrigues Grant. He asks for history books so that he can read up on Richard. Volume after volume disappoints him. Grant can’t seem to find a source that reveals the king’s true nature. The detective bemoans the way historians fail to connect human beings to the historic events they set in motion.

Eventually Marta puts Grant in contact with an American researcher named Brent Carradine. The young man is eager to help Grant find the truth about Richard. He digs up much information that contradicts the official historic record. Richard wasn’t hunchbacked, and he didn’t have a withered arm. He was loyal to his family and generously pardoned his enemies. He supported his nephews’ claim to the throne and only took the crown himself when it was proven that his brother’s children were illegitimate. The Tower princes were not killed until after Richard, himself, was already dead.

This barrage of contradictory information leads Grant to think like a detective. He asks himself who would have benefited most from the young princes’ deaths. The answer becomes obvious: King Henry the Seventh. Grant and Brent dig further into the early reign of Henry Tudor. Several odd events suggest Henry ordered the murders and then neatly covered his tracks.

Grant compares the characters of each king. He weighs Richard’s sense of family loyalty against Henry’s devious quest for power and concludes that Henry is guilty of the crimes for which Richard is blamed.

Brent plans to write a book about this discovery. He’s dismayed to learn that Henry’s guilt was exposed by other authors almost immediately after the end of the Tudor dynasty. Despite these revelations, people still believe that Richard is the culprit.

Grant tells Brent about a massacre that was supposed to happen in a small Welsh town called Tonypandy. Even though the massacre never took place, everyone insists it did. The Tonypandy phenomenon has many parallels to other historic events. The myth of Richard the monster is simply another example of a popular lie that has taken on a life of its own.

Brent is still determined to write his book and strike a blow for truth. Grant reminds him that he will need the persistence of water dripping on a rock to change people’s minds because they dislike having their settled ideas disturbed.

Despite the tenacity of Tonypandy history, the book ends on a hopeful note. When Grant asks one of his nurses to take a closer look at Richard’s portrait in light of all they’ve learned about his innocence, she concedes that it’s quite a nice face after all.