I've read my share of royal history, both fictional and historical, so I enjoyed this counter approach to the subject. However, the alternative version that she presents is one where Richard is whiter than white, and the Tudors were the bad guys. While I gave up on understanding each and every royal relationship—you may have to be English to do that—Grant’s process is fascinating. Rarely does a procedural, after so clearly identifying the perpetrator, go on to thoroughly exonerate him. With Titulus Regius enacted, the two princes represented no threat to Richard once he was crowned king.

Moreover, every book he reads seems to describe Richard III as being both a loyal, devoted brother, a wise leader, someone who was loved and respected, a peacemaker, someone who forgave his enemies. In a way, I could relate quite well to Inspector Grant as he was laid up in hospital with nothing to do but stare at the ceiling, bored out of his head. At least I had seen the TV series about Henry Tudor (Henry VII) which at least allowed me to think of the actors' faces for certain characters like Elizabeth Woodville.Richard III had been credited with the elimination of two nephews, and his name was a synonym for evil.

This novel, published in 1951, not only holds up well but shows up many a modern "master" of the form. The hero, a history professor, launches a scathing attack on Tey's arguments as "hopelessly unprofessional and untrustworthy for her 'slavish' following of Clements Markham's argument". Grant, who is well attuned to the subtleties and complexities of human nature, is disgusted by the black-and-white tale of malevolence and evil, simple and unequivocal, universally accepted and completely wrong. He prides himself on his ability to divine from the face a sense of a person’s character, their virtues, vices, weaknesses and habits of mind. Folio commissioned Hokyoung Kim for the artwork, while the late author’s wife, Wendy Benchley, provides a fascinating new introduction.Tey lays out such a convincing case that that the last Plantagenet’s infamy was simply the results of a successful propaganda effort by the first Tudor, the future Henry VII that I have absolutely no doubt at all that all of the crimes laid to Richard, Duke of York, the future Richard III — including the deaths of the two princeling sons of Richard’s beloved older brother, Edward IV — really belong on Henry VII. Stuck in one place, tired of tracing the possible pictures in the cracks and fissures of the ceiling above him, bored beyond belief, and ready to bolt – or stage a revolt, whichever might allow him to release some steam. Little People of America, the world’s oldest and largest dwarfism support organization, has taken great care to advocate for abolishing the use of the word.