Requiem for a Mezzo

Requiem for a Mezzo by Carola Dunn (1996) 215 pages

This mystery is the third in a charming series featuring Daisy Dalrymple, set in Britain in 1923. Daisy's next door neighbor Muriel gives Daisy free tickets to a concert featuring Muriel's sister, Bettina, as the primary soloist. Muriel is in the chorus. Daisy invites Scotland Yard's Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher to accompany her to the concert. As the intermission is ending and the second act is almost ready to begin, Bettina takes a drink and almost immediately dies on stage. Alec runs to take charge. As the chaos is sorted out, almost a dozen suspects bear scrutiny, including Muriel. It's clear that Bettina was not the easiest person to get along with. Several sexual dalliances are considered pertinent to the investigation, as are various strained family relations and issues between the singers in the cast.

In addition to solving the murder, Requiem advances the story line between Daisy and Alec. Jolly good fun.

Death at Wentwater Court

Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn (1994) 216 pages

This first installment in the Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries, taking place in 1923, sets up the infrastructure of the series: Daisy, a young woman from an upper-tier British family, chooses to work for a living. Employed by a top-notch magazine, she takes photos and writes about various estates and the people who live on them. Her social status opens doors for her to be trusted by upper-echelon families, making it easier for her to learn about them and their homes.

Daisy's first assignment is at Lord Henry Wentwater's estate (she knows his daughter). Upon meeting the rest of the family, including Lord Henry's young wife, Lady Annabel, Daisy senses desperate unhappiness in the young bride, with stepchildren almost her own age who obviously resent her. To make matters more awkward, Lord Stephen Astwick, a former suitor to Lady Annabel, is staying at the estate as well, at the invitation of one of Lord Henry's sons. When Lord Stephen is found dead near a break in the ice at the pond, Daisy is present with her camera and she reluctantly takes photos of the scene, in case needed by the authorities.

Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher is called to investigate, and he finds Daisy's insights (and her photographs) valuable. When Lord Stephen's death is no longer considered to be a skating accident, several in the household have reasons to be considered suspects. Through the investigation and the eventual solution to the mystery, Chief Inspector Fletcher and Daisy begin a friendship that continues through the series.

The Winter Garden Mystery

The Winter Garden Mystery by Carola Dunn (1995) 231 pages

Daisy Dalrymple, a young woman from a British moneyed class, has chosen to rebel by writing magazine articles for a living. In this book, set in 1923, she is invited by an old school friend to visit the family's stately manor, Occles Hall, in order to write an article about the old estate. Unfortunately, the friend's mother, Lady Valeria, is not at all pleased to have Daisy visit. Daisy sees immediately that Lady Valeria doesn't get along with anyone; she's the type who even harangues the local pastor about his sermons. When Daisy visits the estate's winter garden with camera in hand, the gardener's helper is distraught to notice a bush is dying in the garden, petrified about what Lady Valeria's reaction will be. When the bush is dug up, a body is discovered under it. The body is that of a perky young parlormaid who left suddenly two months ago.

Daisy is upset when the gardener's helper is charged with the murder, and asks her friend Alec Fletcher, who happens to investigate for Scotland Yard, to get involved. Lady Valeria, true to form, is more distressed about the police presence at the estate than about the death itself. Most of the family members come under scrutiny. This was a quick, enjoyable read, in part due to the colorful dialogue and British-isms, right-oh!

Die Laughing

Die Laughing by Carola Dunn (2003) 276 pages

This book is from the Daisy Dalrymple Mystery series, another series that is new to me. The series began in 1994 and just this summer, the 23rd book was published. These mysteries, set in the 1920s, feature a young woman born into upper-society in England, the Honourable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher. Daisy is rather independent and causes her mother and mother-in-law to feel scandalized because she has a job as a journalist/freelance writer. ("Oh it's just her little hobby," scoffs her mother-in-law.) Daisy avoids using her title Honourable. And she helps solve crimes.

In Die Laughing, Daisy is long overdue for a dental appointment, and when she finally gets to the dentist, she finds him lying dead in the dental chair with the laughing gas turned on. His wife and nurse believe that it's just a terrible accident; the dentist sometimes used laughing gas to calm himself down after a rough day at the office. Some of the clues that Daisy notices make her think that this was no accident, but is instead murder. One of the Chief Inspectors at Scotland Yard is Alec Fletcher, who just happens to be Daisy's husband. Daisy's involvement in the case sometimes causes Alec concern, but on the whole, he seems supportive of his wife's input. I found this book to be a fast-paced read for a rainy day. Now I want to find the first book in the series and follow Daisy's history from the beginning.

Anthem for Doomed Youth / Carola Dunn

Anthem for Doomed Youth by Carola Dunn (a Daisy Dalrymple mystery, #19). 289 p.

Daisy and her husband Alec, a Detective Chief Inspector with Scotland Yard, are supposed to spend the weekend visiting Alec's daughter Belinda at her boarding school. However, Alec catches a case, so Daisy travels with a couple of her friends whose daughters attend school with Bel, and Alec and his team try to figure out who has murdered three men and buried them in Epping Forest. The mystery ends up relating back to WWI, and so does a situation amongst Bel's teachers at the school. I like this series for the post-WWI setting, so the war bits made this an enjoyable entry in the series. Unusually for these characters, Daisy and Alec are separated for almost the entire book, but it works pretty well in the context of the story. Plus we get to see more than usual of a couple of supporting characters, which was fun.

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Rattle His Bones / Carola Dunn

Rattle His Bones by Carola Dunn (A Daisy Dalrymple mystery #8). 231 pp.

This entry was set mainly in London's Natural History Museum, so there was lots of cool stuff in the setting. Unfortunately one of the supporting characters/suspects was so annoying that this will never be one of my favorites in the series.

Damsel in Distress / Carola Dunn

Damsel in Distress by Carola Dunn (A Daisy Dalrymple mystery #5). 234 pp.

This one has visiting Americans in it, for a little spice. One thing I thought was interesting: when the American father doesn't want to tell the police that his daughter has been kidnapped, the Scotland Yard detective (who's unofficially involved) agrees that the British police have so little experience with kidnapping that they won't be all that helpful.

Murder on the Flying Scotsman / Carola Dunn

Murder on the Flying Scotsman by Carola Dunn (A Daisy Dalrymple mystery #4). 236 pp.

About this point in any mystery series, unless the protagonist is a cop or a P.I., you hit the problem of the amateur sleuth who somehow keeps getting involved in murders accidentally. In this one the author has a friend that Daisy is traveling with be the person who discovers the body. That's hardly any less likely, but she distracts us by making the friend a child--the daughter of Daisy's boyfriend the policeman. The character complications make it easier to ignore the unlikeliness of the actual plot. And, of course, this uses the classic murder-on-a-train setting to get a number of suspects in one place and keep them all together.

Requiem for a Mezzo / Carola Dunn

Requiem for a Mezzo by Carola Dunn (A Daisy Dalrymple mystery #3). 238 pp.

One of the less interesting entries in the series; it could have been set in the present day with very few changes. Since I like this series for its setting, that's a negative for me.

The Winter Garden Mystery / Carola Dunn

The Winter Garden Mystery by Carola Dunn (A Daisy Dalrymple mystery #2). 240 pp.

I don't know how historically accurate the setting for these books is--it's England, 1923--but they really make me feel the aftereffects of WWI. Particularly noticeable is the large number of men of a certain age who are crippled in various ways, as well as the number of dead. The books aren't "about" that as such--they're cozy mysteries--but the setting is what makes them interesting to me.

Death at Wentworth Court / Carola Dunn

Death at Wentworth Court by Carola Dunn. (A Daisy Dalrymple mystery #1) 233 pp.

I decided to re-read some of the early books in this series when I was up all night being unwell and didn't have the brainpower to give something new. Since I know that Daisy ends up marrying the Scotland Yard detective later in the series, it is interesting to see just how unlikely every character (including Daisy at this point) thinks a romance between the two of them is. I'd also forgotten that Daisy's dead fiance was a "conchie" who was killed while driving an ambulance, and how that circumstance keeps her from getting normal support from friends and acquaintances, who despise the man because of his conscientious objector status.

Sheer Folly / Carola Dunn

Sheer Folly by Carola Dunn. (A Daisy Dalrymple mystery, 18) 296 pp.

A pretty good installment of this long-running cozy series. One reason I like it is the setting: Great Britain post-WWI. The main character is (minor) nobility, but she chose to marry a commoner--a Detective Inspector in Scotland Yard. Women's roles are changing, and society as a whole is trying to come to grips with changing social roles. This particular book, involving the murder of a wealthy but obnoxious lord at a country house party, had quite a lot of social stuff: peers vs. commoners, wealth vs. status, "superior" servants vs. other servants. These books aren't deep but they are fun.