Last Days of Richard III

John Ashdown-Hill was (sadly, he passed away earlier this year) a terrific writer, he made nonfiction read like fiction. This book's focus was very narrow: just the last few months of King Richard's life (coincidentally, tomorrow is October 2, and King Richard's birthday. I know you were dying to know that!). Rather than fearing Henry Tudor's invasion, Richard was clearly looking forward to it. He had no doubt he would defeat the would be usurper and secure his claim to the throne. He went hunting, visited his mother, made plans to remarry. In short, he was living his normal life until he was tragically cut down on August 22 at Bosworth Field. Ashdown-Hill also gets into the search for Richard's DNA, and how he traced it to Canada. It was the samples taken from Richard's many times over great niece, Joy Isben, that were used to confirm the remains found in 2012 were indeed Richard, although this book was written before that event. All in all it was very interesting, and he paints a Henry Tudor in a much more decent light than I would have, pointing out that he actually treated Richard's remains with respect and had him properly buried.