Josephine Tey: Daughter of Time

One Word Summary: Tonypandy
More Words: I looked up Richard III on Wikipedia just to verify the official story about his reign. I confess I like Inspector Grant's version much better (Joan Wolf vouchsafes a Good King Richard in her regency, Fools Masquerade, too), although I'm not much interested in searching primary sources to be sure Richard didn't have a hump. As for the story (a spoonful of sugar, really), I got the impression Ms. Tey was a bit of an intellectual snob. First she had her inspector wax eloquent on the decline of the novel. Then, and this doesn't support my accusation, but still... she gave each character a superfluous name. The woolly lamb. The amazon. The midget. The actress. The charwoman. The last two don't count since she didn't actual use those names, but I got so used to thinking of her characters as labels that I don't remember their real names. Anyhow, it's a clever technique, and I can't help but think she overused it to make some point which flew entirely over my head. Ipso facto, she must be an intellectual snob. Because my taste runs to romance instead of mystery the only thing I can really say to recommend Daughter of Time is 1) It's educational and 2) it's short and therefore 3) it's not a waste.