Richard III: Is the proof in the bones?

Richard Plantagenet

Those of us who have read Josephine Tey's mystery, THE DAUGHTER OF TIME, are very familiar with Tey's spirited and logical (made eminent sense to me) defense of Richard, the last Plantagenet king of England. In her brilliant tour de force, Tey has Alan Grant, her contemporary detective, temporarily out of service with a broken leg, lying in hospital with nothing to do but read and conjecture. He gets caught up in the ages old mystery of Richard while leafing through some books and in the end comes to the conclusion that Richard III was not the odious creature of nightmares which history had made him. (Though many historians discount Tey's conclusions.)

Was Richard a vile murderer? Did he or did he not have his two young nephews - sons of his brother Edward, heirs to the throne - murdered? Did Richard then usurp the English throne? Was Richard the repulsive, arch villain created by Shakespeare? Did he have a crooked arm as well as a crooked back and crooked morals?

Tey thinks not. She posits that most of the descriptions and tales of villainy were written many years after the death of  Richard. The much maligned king died during the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 (War of the Roses). "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!" The last monarch of England to have been killed in battle. Shakespeare's play was written in (aprox.) 1592. Sir Thomas More's accounts of Richard's villainy were also written many years after the so-called facts.

Now that the remains of Richard have been found under a car park in Leicester (which centuries ago were the grounds of a Franciscan monastery where Richard's body is said to have been taken), and positively identified as the remains of the heretofore missing king, one mystery seems to have been cleared up.

Though Tey might have it otherwise, apparently Richard did have a crooked back. Skeletons don't lie. Tey claimed that most of Richard's deformities were products of inventive and vindictive Tudor minds, most especially that of Thomas More who seemed to have borne Richard an everlasting hatred. History is always written by the winners, after all.

Of course Shakespeare's play, written for the Tudor Queen Elizabeth, didn't help matters any. Has there ever been a more foul villain?

Regardless, for years Richard's defenders have worked to polish his image and clean up his act. Other villains with names like the Duke of Buckingham were offered up as the real culprits upon whose orders the two defenseless princes were killed. The boys were certainly never seen again after they disappeared into the recesses of the infamous Tower of London.

I tended to side with Josephine Tey in her assessment written so provocatively and yet logically in her brilliant masterpiece mystery. But now it looks very much as if Richard did suffer from an extreme curvature of the spine which might have given him the 'hunch back' appearance described by Shakespeare.

Source

No 'withered arm' though. So there's that to think about. Also, it was to the Tudor's benefit to have Richard appear as foul as possible in written transcripts many of which as Tey points out were written a hundred or so years after his death.

Source

While the discovery of Richard's skeleton is very exciting news, I'm wondering if it will help revise history is any way. If Shakespeare was correct about the 'hunched' back, was he also correct about Richard's villainy?

Would those battle-scarred, battle-torn, treacherous times account for much of what we, today, view as horrific? Would they also account for Richard, a relatively young man of 32, being portrayed by Shakespeare (and others) as so much older? Not to mention his appearance in most contemporary adaptations?

Will Richard's skeleton prove or disprove anything? I, for one, can't wait to read the first book written about this amazing discovery. In the end, it may just prove that Richard, rather than being a cardboard black and white villain, was more gray than anything else - a convenient scapegoat who was definitely not all good, but perhaps, not as definitely all bad.

And oh, by the way, why does any of this matter?

For me, the truth and understanding of history is always important. As Michael Crichton so wisely said, "If you don't know history then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree."

Friday's Forgotten Book: THE SINGING SANDS (1953) by Josephine Tey

Today is Forgotten Book Friday - as usual - but my book also qualifies as an entry in Bev's Vintage Mysteries Reading Challenge. Funny how that works out.

THE SINGING SANDS is Josephine Tey's last book and while it has a highly unsatisfactory ending (in my view, at least) it is still one of the more elegantly written mysteries I've ever read. On that aspect alone I would highly recommend it, even if you're not familiar with Tey's policeman protagonist, Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard.

I'm not sure quite how to describe this book since so much of it does not fit the regulation whodunit, but I'll do my best.

Alan Grant is off to Scotland to stay with friends and recuperate from a plague of nervous fatigue which has taken the form of claustrophobic panic - a kind of post traumatic stress. Though we're not told exactly why this has come to pass. His unfeeling boss isn't happy to see him go even for a short while, he wonders why Grant can't just shake the thing off.

While on the train, just before his station, Grant chances upon a dead body in a compartment -  B7, to be exact. But Grant is on recuperative holiday, so, despite misgivings, he leaves the death scene in the hands of a conductor and the local police.

But Grant has taken a look at the face of the young man and been impressed by what he's seen. The dead man has the face of someone Grant would have liked to have known as a friend.

Grant is fairly knowledgeable about faces and types since he is, after all, a cop. The dead man intrigues him. Primarily because the face with the arched eyebrows has the look (even in death) of an adventurer. It is a poetic, intelligent face which continues to pop up in Grant's thoughts as he goes about his days spent with friends, fishing and trying to relax, trying to free himself from his damned claustrophobic debilitation.

By chance, Grant's picked up a memento of the death on the train - a newspaper which was lying in the dead man's compartment. Grant had tucked it under his arm and walked away with it - hardly without meaning to. Turns out the dead man had been scribbling lines of poetry on the pages of the paper. The very enigmatic lines mention 'the beasts that talk, the streams that stand, the stones that walk, the singing sands...'

When the police investigation deduces that the man, Charles Martin - apparently a Frenchman - was falling down drunk and died an accidental death, that is the end of the investigation. Especially when he is identified by the Martin family (through an old photo) as their missing son.

Except that Grant thinks the handwriting in the paper - in English - smacks of English schooling. It has the look and feel, to him, of the Englishman.

On this vague deduction and the feeling evoked by the scribbles of 'poetry', Grant begins his own, slowly evolving investigation, on his own time, in between the fishing and the trying to be a reasonably good guest to his caring friends. Friends, by the way, who have even invited a beautiful lady with a title (whom Grant is nearly smitten with, much to his chagrin) to stay for a few days.

An aside: One of the reasons the book's ending was so unsatisfactory to me, is that this character, Lady Kentallen is quite spirited and delightful company. She pops into the story midway, then is left behind and never mentioned again as Grant returns to London a week early. There is also a second character who pops in later in the book as well, an American named Tad Cullen who is searching for a missing friend NOT named Charles Martin. He too is a wonderful addition to the cast, a young pilot who will 'flesh' out the character of the dead man and make me mourn his lost and trusting friend.

But let's return to Scotland: Try as he might Grant can't shake the nagging feeling that the death of  Charles Martin isn't settled at all. He'll get no thanks from headquarters for messing about with an open and shut  case, but Grant is not easily diverted when he gets an idea into his head.

On a hunch, he takes a side-trip to the Hebrides, to Cladda, a fairly isolated windswept spot where legend has it, 'the singing sands' can be heard while walking the miles of deserted beaches. While there, Grant is made no wiser about the mystery of Charles Martin - no one's ever heard of him - but he manages to cure himself of what ails him through enthusiastic soul searching, long walks, and spirited philosophical talks with himself, adding his own poetic ramblings to the mix.

Grant is a cop, but he is also a multi-faceted, humane man. The isolation and the stark beauty of Cladda nourishes him, refreshes his spirit and sends him back down to his friends a relatively 'new' man.

There is much going on in this story, besides a murder mystery. Josephine Tey has also given us a tale of self-discovery, adventure, lost cities in the desert, friendship and loyalty and the unrelenting search for truth.

What really happened to the man in the train with the English schoolboy handwriting and the face of a poet?

Eventually, with the help of Tad Cullen, the roots of an insidious murder plot are revealed and as vile a murderer as you will ever read about, is uncloaked.

To read this book is to take a journey inside Alan Grant's heart and soul, to selfishly wish, in the end, that Tey hadn't died soon after, if only because we'd have liked much more of Grant's company AND his deliberate, rationalized sleuthing. A complex, amazing man, whose company I will miss.

Even if he decides, in the end, that marriage is not for him.

5 Best Books: 5 Best Books Based On A True Story

For whatever reason, I don't normally seem to read fiction books that are based on true stories. But checking through my various lists, I've managed to come up with five. To my surprise, there are actually a couple more but I've spoken about those recently under other headings. At the risk of repeating myself, don't wan't to keep repeating myself. You know how it goes.

5 Best Books is a weekly meme hosted by Cassandra at INDIE READER HOUSTON Don't forget to check in this week to see what 5 Bests other bloggers are talking about.

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1) THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR by Josephine Tey

A story by the wonderful Golden Age writer, updated but based on the notorious 18th century case of Elizabeth Canning, a maid who claimed to have been abducted and held against her will by two women. (Read about the Canning case here.)

Robert Blair, a small town English solicitor is called upon to help Marion Sharpe and her mother when a maid, Betty Kane, accuses them of holding her prisoner in their country home known as The Franchise.

Tey's book has been turned into a film and several television adaptations followed. THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR was picked as one of the 100 Best Mysteries by the UK Crime Writers Association.

2) ELEVEN DAYS by Donald Harstad

Author Harstad was once a cop out in the Midwest himself and this story is based on a shocking real event. Written in a taut business-like manner (which I happen to like very much for this sort of story), this is a police procedural set in the fictional town of Maitland, Iowa and featuring a likable cast of characters, most especially the lead cop, Carl Houseman.

A distress call comes into the police station from a local farm. When the police arrive, they find a horrible scene, a dead family and no clues to the whereabouts of the killer or killers. But this is only the beginning of the violence. The laconic sheriff, Carl Houseman is baffled and though the story may at first appear to be a 'Fargo meets Dragnet' sort of thing, be assured the story soon takes off, resulting in a rock 'em sock 'em ending which will leave you breathless.

This is one of my all time favorite books, a debut by a guy who knew what he was doing and went on to write several more highly recommended books featuring Houseman and his stalwart cop crew.

An aside: This would make a great movie. It surprises me that no one's thought of it.

3) WHITE SHADOW by Ace Atkins

A gritty and violent re-telling/re-imagining of the famous Florida murder of mob boss Charlie Wall. The author is a former award winning reporter turned writer of extraordinary crime books. (As well as the brilliant Nick Travers series.) He takes great care to create fictional characters who will integrate smoothly with his meticulously researched facts. Few writers do this as well as Atkins.

Tampa, Florida in the 1950's was a hotbed of criminal activity -  Sicilian and Cuban mobsters had a strangle-hold on the town. It was an unseemly mix of smoky nightclubs, cigar factories , brothels and gangsters left to practice their various nefarious trades unchecked. So, when a mob boss is bludgeoned to death, the truth is the least of anyone's worries.

4) THE DAUGHTER OF TIME by Josephine Tey

Another Tey book which would easily go on my  own list of 100 Best Books. When Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant is hospitalized with a broken leg, he has enough time on his hands to seek out the truth behind the assumed guilt of Richard the III, the hunch-backed monster of a king who supposedly murdered his two nephews to usurp the British throne. The two young boys were tucked up in the Tower (for their protection) and never seen again.

While lying in his hospital bed, Grant solves 'the case' to Tey's satisfaction (and mine). This is a brilliant story told in 'modern day' detective fashion as Grant uses reason and research material brought to him by a friend, to ferret out the historical truth.

If you haven't read this, I urge you to do so, especially if you have any interest whatsoever in English history and vintage mysteries.

5) THE TOMB OF THE GOLDEN BIRD by Elizabeth Peters

Fictional characters Amelia Peabody and her irascible husband, Radcliffe (known simply as Emerson) and their intrepid family, are back in Egypt and on the verge of making the greatest archaeological discovery in history - the tomb of Tutankhamun. Unfortunately their reputation for trouble precedes them and they have been forbidden from digging anywhere in The Valley of the Kings.

Convinced the discovery of the tomb is imminent, the Emersons try to get Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter (the real-life discoverers of King Tut's tomb in 1922) to relinquish their digging rights but to no avail.

Forced to watch on the sidelines as the greatest archaeological treasure in history is uncovered, the Emersons still manage to find themselves embroiled in another mystery - "...every summer another murder." Eventually they have the satisfaction of knowing they were right in originally figuring that Tut's tomb lay waiting in The Valley of the Kings.

Read about the real life discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb here.

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Couple of other books I've recently recommended that were based on true stories:

THE PERSIAN BOY by Mary Renault

DEVIL'S GARDEN by Ace Atkins

Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge: Two Mini-Reviews

I'm doing two shorter reviews today while listening to the Yankee game - Major League baseball begins officially today. I'm not a Yankee fan but I so enjoy listening to them lose - the possibility of them losing, anyway. Ha! I also enjoy listening to Yankee announcers John Stirling and Susan Waldman.

The Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge is hosted by Bev at MY READER'S BLOCK. Check out who else is participating and read their reviews.

TO LOVE AND BE WISE by Josephine Tey (1950)

Many thanks go to Les over at CLASSIC MYSTERIES for recommending this title. It was one I'd never heard of before even though I am a fan of Tey and had read most of her books. I have to say that this is one of the more unusual mysteries I've ever read. I should have expected no less from the pen of Josephine Tey, a writer known for her inventive story-telling and unique point of view.

Again, Scotland Yard's Inspector Grant is called in to decipher a most troubling conundrum: the disappearance, while camping out overnight in the English countryside, of the enigmatic, young photographer Leslie Searle.

Is it murder? Is it kidnapping? Is it suicide? And where is the body, by the way?

The incredibly good-looking Searle - for reasons of his own - had managed to ingratiate himself into the family of author Lavinia Fitch, becoming a thorn in the side of famous (and oh-so-self-important) radio personality Walter Whitmore and intriguing the heck out of Walter's fiancee, Liz Garrowby. Garrowby is a shy, soft-spoken woman Whitmore has taken for granted never having had a perceived rival before.

Grant had been responsible, in a way, for introducing Searle into Fitch's family circle, so he felt an added interest in solving Searle's mysterious disappearance while the photographer was on a walking tour with Whitmore - the two planning on doing a book together.

TO LOVE AND BE WISE is about mistaken assumptions, gender expectations and the terrible weight of suspicion on the lives of the innocent. It has a heck of a surprise ending that I can practically guarantee you will not see coming.

THE DOOR (1921) by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

Okay, this book has an ending that makes you initially say, "Oh no, she didn't." And then you have to shake your head in admiration for the audacity of Mary Roberts Rinehart.

Again as with most of Rinehart's books, we have murderous doings among the well-to-do in large houses staffed with many servants. Here we have several nasty murders by as cold-blooded a killer as you're likely to meet in any of Rinehart's books. The plot is one of Rinehart's more convoluted ones - you have to stop and catch your breath while you read the denouement just to keep track of who did what to whom.

I don't know how Rinehart did this sort of thing. She must have kept meticulous notes and outlined everything to within an inch of its life. But the story doesn't show all this frantic work behind the scenes. It just moves organically, one unlikely occurrence after another. As I've said before and will probably say again while working my way through Rinehart's books, I simply could not put this book down. I stayed up last night reading until the very last word. (And only figured out who the murderer was during the last few pages. And even then, I said, nah, can't be.)

When current nurse in residence and old family retainer Sarah Gittings goes missing one night, the family of wealthy spinster Elizabeth Bell is thrown into turmoil by as complex a web of secrets, lies and misdirection as you will ever try to decipher. When after the first murder, the canny Inspector Harrison is introduced, it's hard to believe that several more murders and a kidnapping will occur. But even with cops crawling all over the place, this murderer remains undaunted.

THE DOOR is a prime example of the 'had I but known' school of writing of which Rinehart was queen. There is plenty of 'if only she'd said' or 'if only he'd said' going on. But never enough to annoy, only just enough to make you wonder what on earth is meant. I do like the first person viewpoint of Elizabeth Bell, she is a sensible, no-nonsense sort not above taking the law into her own hands.

As the mystery deepens and an arrest is made, a family member convicted and sentenced, Inspector Harrison is not totally convinced they have the right man. Is it possible that a cold-blooded killer has committed the perfect crime?

The vast majority of crimes, I believe, are never solved by any single method of any single individual. Complex crimes, I mean, without distinct clues and obvious motives.

Certainly in the case of Sarah Gittings, and in those which followed it, the final solution was a combination of luck and - curiously enough - the temporary physical disability of one individual.

And I am filled with shuddering horror when I think where we all might be but for this last.

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011: Letter J for Josephine Tey. (1896 - 1952)

The Crime Fiction Alphabet meme is hosted by Kerrie at her blog MYSTERIES IN PARADISE. Today, St. Patrick's Day is Letter J day. For my Letter J entry I choose author Josephine Tey.

Josephine Tey was the mystery writing pseudonym of Elizabeth MacIntosh, author and playwright. (She wrote plays under the name Gordon Daviot.) Tey was born in Inverness, Scotland and apparently, began writing professionally in 1926. Overall, she was not a prolific writer. But what she left us is 'choice.' She wrote several mysteries featuring her likable Scotland Yard inspector, Alan Grant. In my view, she wrote four classics, two of which transcend the 'mystery genre' classification. But all four are superb.

1) THE DAUGHTER OF TIME. (1951) Who really killed the two young princes in the tower? Everyone supposes it was the evil hunchback, Richard Plantagenet, Richard III - well, at least according to Shakespeare and several other historical figures including 'the sainted' Thomas More. Their view: the two boys were cruelly eliminated so that Richard (the boys' uncle) could grab the throne after the death of his brother.

But suppose this assessment is the result of incorrect speculation over the centuries and even, downright vindictiveness? Suppose Richard III was not a villain but a maligned victim of history?

When in 'contemporary' time, Scotland Yard Superintendent Alan Grant is laid up in hospital, he soon grows bored with the pace of the place and the 'invalid' routine. Desperate to find something interesting to do while lying in bed recuperating from a bad fall, he eventually becomes interested in a portrait of Richard III. He then asks a friend to bring him some research material, books, etc. on the much maligned king.

This is a book that takes place while Grant lies in bed and ruminates. So essentially, all the action takes place in his mind. But what a mind it is. And what a writer is Josephine Tey. Somehow she turns this story of historical speculation into a fascinating mystery. A tale of deductive reasoning that is one of the most intriguing books I've ever read.

I knew little about Richard III and the story of the missing brothers. I only knew vaguely what everyone else knows. (At least those that have read a bit of English history in school or elsewhere.) So this book was an eye-opener for me.

For, if Tey is correct, her detective Alan Grant, in the form of surmises and deductions based on some simple research and logic, solves the mystery of the princes in the tower and turns history upside down. A brilliant book that anyone with any sort of interest in history and puzzle-solving and mysteries should definitely read. I think this is her best book. The title, by the way, comes from the old saying: Truth is the daughter of time.

2) BRAT FARRAR. (1950) The best story of 'criminal' impersonation I've ever read. The best story of a 'con' gone right. One of the best mysteries ever, even if you know almost right from the beginning that the hero is not who he claims to be and may, really, be not such a good guy after all.

Simon Ashby will soon turn twenty one and claim his inheritance. Years before, upon his parents' death, his Aunt Bee had come to Latchetts, the horsey and ramshackle country estate belonging to his family, to take care of him, his three sisters and his twin brother Patrick. It has been years since the tragedy of Patrick's disappearance cast a pall over the family. Patrick, a quiet thoughtful boy, has long been presumed to have run off and committed suicide. His body was never found.

Enter Brat Farrar. He is a young man down on his luck who is suddenly given the chance to belong somewhere, a chance to claim part of an inheritance worth a fortune. All he has to do is impersonate the missing and presumed dead, Patrick Ashby. The thing is, you see, that Brat looks exactly like Patrick - close enough to be an Ashby twin. He is the image of Simon, presumably what Patrick would also have looked like grown-up.

What happens next is what some people believe is Tey's finest book. Though I still give the edge to DAUGHTER OF TIME, on some days I might switch the two. Their excellence is so close that there's hardly a glimmer of light between them.

BRAT FARRAR was turned into a superb PBS TV movie in 1986 with a wonderful cast. The story remained almost completely faithful to the book and is a pleasure to watch - if you can find it.

3) THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR (1948) This is basically the story of malicious injustice and the gross power that gossip can have, especially in an 'enclosed' society. A small town English lawyer is called upon to help two women who have been accused of kidnapping and mistreating a young girl. It is based on a real-life 18th century case though Tey sets the book in 'contemporary' times. The 'Franchise' in the title refers to the name of the house in the story. This is the sort of book that makes you uneasy while reading because Tey's expertise is such you're never quite sure if the people you are rooting for are what they claim to be.

4) A SHILLING FOR CANDLES (1936) One of my favorites though others may quibble. Inspector Alan Grant is called in when the body of Christine Clay, a famous film actress is found on a secluded English beach. The young man she'd picked up and brought down to her beach house with her is instantly suspected when 'suicide' turns into 'murder'. When he goes 'on the lam' and the search is on, Tey introduces a delightful young girl into the story. She is Erica, the 16 year old daughter of the local constable and she could easily be the standard for all the young girl detectives that have followed over the years. Certainly she reminds me most of the precocious Flavia de Luce created by Alan Bradley in his prize winning books beginning with THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE. (Though Flavia is younger.) You just can't help but see the resemblance in personality, attitude and intelligence. I loved this character and wish that Tey had brought her back in some other book. (Grant himself is so charmed by the sixteen year old you could easily see him waiting for her to grow up. It would have made a great story.)

Josephine Tey didn't write nearly as much as the rest of the Golden Agers, but what she did write left an indelible impression. She is one of the writers I never tire of re-reading. If you've never read her, be prepared for something a little different, especially in the first three books mentioned above. The fourth book, A SHILLING FOR CANDLES is more the standard mystery, but the inclusion of the wonderfully inventive character of Erica lifts it above the average and makes it one of my personal favorites.