| Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher frequently helps her husband, an inspector at Scotland Yard, solve crimes, but lately she's been doing more crime solving on her own. It seems this year she can't even take the holidays off! Things start off with Daisy's mother, the Dowager Viscountess Dalrymple, telling her that she, her husband and step-daughter Belinda, must all come to an ancestral estate in Cornwell (located in the United Kingdom). Her mother informs her she has no choice in the matter. However, when she arrives, they find they'll be spending the holidays with the a family who hasn't said a nice word to each other in ages.
Daisy is left in an umcomfortable situation listening to another family snipe at one another and finding out some less than flattering things about the estate's unflattering and scandolous history. There's even talk of ghosts and haunted treasure. But everything comes to a head when one of the guests is found dead in the family chapel on the estate. However, this is no accidental death. The victim was stabbed! Now Daisy must shift through this family's secrets, skeletons, and scandals to find out who committed this crime. Daisy's convinced there's no ghost at work-just greed! However, trying to get to the bottom of everything is nearly impossible when the family is desparate to keep their dirty little secrets to themselves! This is one of many in Carola Dunn's series about Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher and the way she seems to fall into crime solving. Set in the 1920's, Daisy is a very progressive, feminist character. She's a very modern and progressive thinker for her time. Dunn does an excellent job painting a vivd portrait of how the estate looks in the reader's mind. She also does a wonderful job creating the overbearing mother and the once-wealthy, now down on their luck with nothing but a family name and a big house types! This is a fun read for anyone who loves a good mystery-especially one set in the U.K. in a haunted old estate. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear) How difficult to spot villain? - Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues Time/era of story: What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 60% Kind of investigator Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Any non-mystery subplot? descript. of violence and chases - 10 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Female Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - Female Age: - 60's-90's Profession/status: Eccentric: Yes Motive of antagonist - money/treasure Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor Setting Europe Yes European country: - England/UK Misc setting - fancy mansion Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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