AudiobookDetective Alan Grant is bored to death in the hospital recuperating from a broken leg. He's uninterested in the novels well-wishers have brought for him to read, but he perks up when an actress friend drops off a packet full of photos as a stab at distracting him. He gets particularly interested in a portrait that he immediately classifies as belonging "on the bench" (side of justice) rather than "in the dock" -- and is surprised to find that it's of Richard III, widely known as a notorious murderer of his nephews in order to secure the throne. Grant becomes obsessed with reading about Richard III and, with the help of a newly-met American researcher, begins to untangle the mystery of what really happened to the boys and whether Richard III could've committed such a crime when his face looks like that of an innocent.
Every single scene takes place in Grant's hospital room. Every single scene is nothing but talk -- mostly conversation between Grant and his researcher. And yet it's pretty dang interesting. I think that I would have enjoyed it even more if I'd have taken in the words myself off of a page; instead I listened to the Derek Jacobi-narrated audiobook, which contains one of the most hilariously-bad American accents in the history of bad accents. It's like a cross between a 1920s gangster and a Scottish brogue...and it's strapped onto a character that is supposed to be a "woolly lamb."
This is the sixth book to feature Grant, but the only one I've read. Although I'm sure I would've had more appreciation for his investigative method and a fuller understanding of some of the characters seen only briefly, I didn't feel as though being new to the series hurt this particular entry at all.
B
