Blurb:
Agatha has moved to a picture-book English village and wants to get in the swing. So she buys herself a quiche for the village quiche-making contest and is more than alarmed when it kills a judge. Hot on the trail of the poisoner, Agatha is fearless, all the while unaware, that she’s become the next victim …
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Very much
For people who like: Cosy mysteries, the Cotswolds, the English countryside, Miss Marple atmosphere with a tougher touch
My thoughts:
This is the first book in the Agatha Raisin series. After reading some of M. C. Beaton Hamish Macbeth books I decided to give Agatha Raisin a try and I was not disappointed.
Agatha Raisin is not a very likeable heroine, at least not at the beginning. She is a tough business woman who usually gets her way by bullying and/or flattering others and that’s about all she can do. Being nice doesn’t come naturally to her. When she – very uncharacteristically – gives all the credit for a local charity event that she organized to a friend, she immediately regrets it when he benefits from her action.
Obviously she also does not learn any lessons from previous events. She buys a quiche to enter it into a competition, someone dies from eating it which gets her into an awkward position. However, a little later she has no scruples to take a cake from a communal freezer to offer it to someone as her own, even though she has no idea whose cake it is and what might be in it. She just does what gets into her mind, not considering any consequences.
This also brings me to another question. Don’t they have to keep retained samples from food at such occasions? That should be standard procedure on occasions like the competition or even the storage freezer! That way the mystery would have been solved a little earlier.
All characters in the village were interesting and entertaining, and the Cotswolds are a great setting for the whole idea of a hardened ex-PR agent trying to ingratiate herself with the locals. The whole story was a pleasure to read; humour, atmosphere and a cosy mystery all combined to a very nice package.
Oh, the cover! Isn’t that a lovely cover?I don’t read chick lit but always like those illustrated covers and fancy fonts. So I am more than pleased with the covers of these Robinson editions.
Location: The fictional village of Carsely, Cotswolds, England, UK
Product info and buy link :
| Title | Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death |
| Author | M. C. Beaton |
| Publisher | Robinson Publishing |
| ISBN | 9781849011341 |
| I got this book from | I swapped it |
| Buy link | Buy Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death |
| More info | The Agatha Raisin series |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
Murder is a Tasty Dish. The most hated man in the most dour town in Scotland is sleeping with the fishes, or-more accurately-dumped into a tank filled with crustaceans. All that remain of the murdered victim are his bones. But after the lobsters are shipped off to Britain’s best restaurants, the whole affair quickly lands on the plate of Constable Hamish Macbeth.
Exiled with his dog, Towser, to the dreary outpost of Cnothan, Macbeth sorely misses his beloved Lochdubh, his formerly beloved Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, and his days of doing nothing but staring at the sheep grazing in a nearby croft.
Now the lawman has to contend with a detective chief inspector who wants the modus operandi hushed up, a dark-haired lass who has an ulterior motive to seduce him, and a killer who has made mincemeat of his victim-and without doubt will strike again …
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Yes
For people who like: the Highlands, cosy mysteries
My thoughts:
I can’t say I was too thrilled with the murder method. Not that I ever am, mind you, but the corpse in the fishtank being completely eaten is rather unsavory. The whole idea has been done more tastefully (but maybe tasteful was not M. C. Beaton’s intention anyway) by David Wishart in Food for the Fishes.
All that aside, this time the setting was different again. Where in book one there were tourists to be questioned, in book two the local gentry, here they are hostile villagers. There is quite a surprising variety of characters in those books.
One word to Blair. Why this oaf is still leading the investigations is a mystery to me. Why do the “rival” police officers always have to be so mind-numbingly dumb and antagonistic. Instead of securing Hamish’s cooperation (after all, he has solved the last two crimes single handedly and made Blair look rather stupid) he gives him mundane tasks and does everything he can do be an ass. By rights he should have been sent packing after book two.
Priscilla is becoming more and more of a nuisance mystery. She turns up at the end of the book and acts kind of jealous because of another woman’s affection to Hamish. Of course, her own various fiancés and guys she drags up to Scotland are perfectly ok. Strange double standard. Can’t say I like her.
Location: The fictional village of Cnothan, Highlands, Scotland, UK
Images from wikipedia and sxc.hu user arinas74
Movie tip
Product info and buy link :
| Title | Death of an outsider |
| Author | M. C. Beaton |
| Publisher | Robinson Publishing |
| ISBN | 9781845296681 |
| I got this book from | I bought it |
| Buy link | Buy Death of an outsider |
| More info | The Hamish Macbeth series |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
When Priscilla Halburton-Smythe brings her London playwright fiance home to Lochdubh, the whole town is delighted — save perhaps for love-smitten bobby Hamish Macbeth. But the morning after a posh engagement party, one of the guests, Captain Bartlett, is murdered on a grouse hunt.
Unfortunately, the prime suspects are the party guests. And a second murder soon follows the first. Now Hamish Macbeth must cut through the alibis before the killer strikes again . . . all the while trying to woo the lovely Priscilla from her jealous boyfriend.
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Yes
For people who like: Very cosy mysteries, Scotland, the British upper class
My thoughts:
This is the second instalment in the Hamish Macbeth series and this time we meet a few more locals. However, the locals are mostly gentry from the wider area, not so much the Lochdubhians (or whatever the inhabitants of Lochdubh call themselves).
I liked Hamish in the first book already, but now I like him even better. He really is Mr.Nice. Unfortunately, his sidekick, well, not really, Priscilla is not his sidekick but rather his crush, left a bad impression this time. Not only did she get engaged to a guy who she knew was a total prick, she also stayed engaged even though she realizes that they are not suited at all to put it mildly. And why? Because she doesn’t want to stand up to her parents! I hate women like that. Whining about their own weakness, but nevertheless not doing anything about it.
The mystery was a good one. It might be me but again I had no clue who the murderer was but was pleased with his/her identity. Hamish is a clever one indeed.
For cozy mystery lovers this series is a must read.
Location: The fictional village of Lochdubh, Highlands, Scotland, UK
Map from wikipedia, landscape by macleod from sxc.hu
Movie tip
Product info and buy link :
| Title | Death of a cad |
| Author | M. C. Beaton |
| Publisher | Robinson |
| ISBN | 9781845296667 |
| I got this book from | I bought it |
| Buy link | Buy Death of a cad |
| More info | The Hamish Macbeth series |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
When society widow and gossip columnist Lady Jane Winters joins the local fishing class she wastes no time in ruffling feathers – or should that be fins? – of those around her.
Among the victims of her sharp tongue is Lochdubh constable Hamish Macbeth, yet not even Hamish thinks someone would seriously want to silence Lady Jane’s shrill voice permanently – until her strangled body is fished out of the river.
Now with the help of the lovely Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, Hamish must steer a course through the choppy waters of the tattler’s life to find a murderer. But with a school of suspects who aren’t willing to talk, and the dead woman telling no tales, Hamish may well be in over his head for he knows that secrets are dangerous, knowledge is power, and killers when cornered usually do strike again.
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Yes
For people who like: very cosy mysteries, Scotland, lovely scenery, plots that don’t make your heart beat faster
My thoughts:
After reading a couple of Isabel Dalhousie books I thought there is nothing more cosy out there, but I was wrong. This Hamish Macbeth book is even less nerve wrecking than The Sunday Philosophy Club series. Considering there was a murder in the first and nothing even close to petty theft in the latter this is no mean feat. At the moment I am in the mood for some very easy and unexciting reading, so M.C. Beaton was just right for me.
I very much enjoyed the quiet setting in a Scottish village in the Highlands out in the sticks. Our hero, the village bobby, solves the crime and leaves his detective colleagues from the big city far behind. Hamish Macbeth is calm, apparently rather slow (don’t let appearances deceive you, he is rather witty and had some great comeback lines in this book) and easy going.
His love interest (unrequited, but then again maybe not altogether so) and her father, the local land owner, are just the stereotype characters you would expect, at least so far. She, down to Earth, independent thinker, turns down all suitable marriage candidates; the father, the loud, irate, “my daughter is too good for you” type. Perfect! We didn’t meet any other village people here as the plot revolves around a group of tourists who have come to Lochdubh for a week to learn the tricks of the casting trade. All the sleuthing and snooping is done among them, so there was not much room to get to know the locals.
The mystery was an ok plot, there were some hints as to the murderer, but I never knew who it was until the end. However, had it been more obvious, I wouldn’t have minded, this series clearly lives from the setting, the local characters, its hero and the atmosphere.
Great for light reading! There are many more books in this series and I am curious to read M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin series as well. Thanks, Caroline, for pointing me to those books.
Location: the (fictional) village of Lochdubh, Highlands, Scotland, UK
Map from wikipedia, photos by chris1961 and brO at sxc.hu
Movie tip
Product info and buy link :
| Title | Death of a Gossip |
| Author | M. C. Beaton |
| Publisher | Robinson |
| ISBN | 9781845296650 |
| I got this book from | I bought it, because Caroline recommended the series to me |
| Buy link | Buy Death of a Gossip |
| More info | The Hamish Macbeth series |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
In this delightful second installment in Alexander McCall Smith’s best-selling new detective series, the irrepressibly curious Isabel Dalhousie, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, gets caught up in an affair of the heart—this one a transplant.
When Isabel’s niece, Cat, asks Isabel to run her delicatessen while she attends a wedding in Italy, Isabel meets a man with a most interesting problem. He recently had a heart transplant and is suddenly plagued with memories of events that never happened to him. The situation appeals to Isabel as a philosophical question: Is the heart truly the seat of the soul? And it piques her insatiable curiosity: Could the memories be connected with the donor’s demise? Of course, Grace—Isabel’s no-nonsense housekeeper—and Isabel’s friend Jamie think it is none of Isabel’s business. Meanwhile, Cat brings home an Italian lothario, who, in accordance with all that Isabel knows about Italian lotharios, shouldn’t be trusted . . . but, goodness, he is charming.
That makes two mysteries of the heart to be solved—just the thing for Isabel Dalhousie.
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Yes
For people who like: cosy mysteries, philosophical musings, Edinburgh
My thoughts:
This is the second instalment in “The Sunday Philosophy Club “ series and another delightful read. The atmospheric Edinburgh setting, the “mystery” and the lovely characters make for another very cosy read.
Isabel herself is a character I am not 100% sure about. Do I like her or do I dislike her? In this book I tended towards the latter because she came over as a terrible busybody who just can’t leave anything alone. Her excuse that she has a “moral obligation” to act because someone told her something and now she is somehow responsible for the outcome is rather shaky. Ian never asked her to act – either on his behalf or independently – and still she digs and digs and hurts people along the way. She is the type who stops at nothing just to salve her own conscience (which is an oxymoron really, when you come to think about it).
In this particular case she tries to find the person who donated the organ and does so by flipping through papers to find a death, eventually finds one that seems the right one and assumes he is the donor. How naive and simplistic can you get? And this from a person who is supposed to be a philosopher who thinks every little detail through until the very end. First of all how likely is it that an organ donor dies in the city where the recipient lives? Who says that the dead person was an organ donor at all? Her method is “assuming – acting” without one bit of thought for the people involved. So she goes, hurts the supposed donor’s family and makes an enemy at the same time.
There is no end to her rash acts and inconsideration in this story. When it would be better to call Jamie to get her out of a tricky situation she rather calls Ian and gets him into an even trickier one! The poor man just had a heart transplant, but she calls him (without warning to boot) to go and meet the person eye to eye who supposedly causes his anguish!
And what about the wish of the donor’s family to remain anonymous? It’s nothing to Isabel. To hunt them down she doesn’t shy away from asking a journalist friend to call in a favour from a surgeon who surely has to violate medical confidentiality. Then she goes and visits the mother who tells her that the father of the donor doesn’t know about the donation and she wants to leave it at that. Can you guess Isabel’s next action? Right! She goes and visits the father (who seems like a nice guy to her) and tells him about it.
She goes through the whole story pondering philosophical issues, pondering what it takes to be a good and charitable person and at the same time judges any situation or person according to her whim and acts on that without any respect for the wishes, feelings and possible consequences for other people.
The most amazing thing is that Isabel still comes over as only human and rather likeable – even though I wanted to beat some sense into her throughout the book.
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Product info and buy link :
| Title | Friends, Lovers, Chocolate |
| Author | Alexander McCall Smith |
| Publisher | Anchor |
| ISBN | 9781400077106 |
| I got this book from | I bought it |
| Buy link | Buy Friends, Lovers, Chocolate |
| More info | Alexander McCall Smith’s website |
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
Isabel, the editor of the Review of Applied Ethics and an occasional detective, has been accused of getting involved in problems that are, quite frankly, none of her business. In this first instalment, Isabel is attending a concert in the Usher Hall when she witnesses a man fall from the upper balcony. Isabel can’t help wondering whether it was the result of mischance or mischief. Against the best advice of her no-nonsense housekeeper Grace, her bassoon playing friend Jamie, and even her romantically challenged niece Cat, she is morally bound to solve this case.
In a nutshell:
I read it in: English
I liked it: Yes, very much
For people who like: cosy mysteries, philosophical musings, Edinburgh
My thoughts:
What a treat! After reading “The perils of morning coffee” I was eager to read the first book in the series and I wasn’t disappointed. “The Sunday Philosophy Club” was not only cosy, but even gentle, and thoroughly enjoyable.
Isabel Dalhousie sort of becomes entangled in a mystery – to tell the truth, she gets involved by choice –, and tries to get behind the reason for a young man’s death. A death that the police finds unsuspicious, it was an accident to everybody but Isabel.
In her sleuthing attempts she meets interesting people and continuously ponders philosophical issues. It was interesting to observe how her awareness of how to be nice and charitable was thrown out the window when she herself assumes the worst of people and is not too shy to share those thoughts with others. Often we would just read an inner monologue where she tries to decide what to do and what it entails, then again she has delightful conversations with her housekeeper Grace, her niece Cat and other people somehow involved either in her life or the case. Especially Grace was a wonderful character whom I will be happy to hear more about in the next books.
I very much liked the location (how could one not love Edinburgh?), the description of social life there and the different circles Isabel got in contact with, the philosophers, the musicians, the financiers. Our sleuth Isabel has quite a vivid imagination. She is rather quick with her assumptions and conclusions, and in her mind someone turns from friend and ally to murderer in a heartbeat. It was fun to see how her carefully thought out ideas turned to dust.
Now I am coming to Jamie. I am not sure what to think about Isabel’s relationship with him. In the short story I read previously he was there also (that story is set later on, not sure when) and from the context and his being mentioned in the way he was I gathered he was Isabel’s boyfriend, husband, someone along those lines. Now it turns out he is Cat’s ex boyfriend and Isabel and he are only good friends, even though Isabel might be a little bit in love with the younger man. So, I am curious to see how that relationship develops and into what direction.
This was a delightful first book of a series that makes me want to read the next one right NOW.
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Images from wikipedia. Usher Hall by Kim Traynor
Product info and buy link :
| Title | The Sunday Philosophy Club |
| Author | Alexander McCall Smith |
| Publisher | Anchor |
| ISBN | 978-1400077090 |
| I got this book from | the library |
| Buy link | Buy The Sunday Philosophy Club |
| More info | The Sunday Philosophy Club series |
| and more | Alexander McCall Smith’s website |
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
The new Honey Driver mystery – Chefs can be arrogant, competitive and downright murderous at times, so when Bath International Taste Extravaganza (BITE for short) organize a best chef competition, Honey Driver, the Hotels Association police liaison officer, senses trouble. Her instinct proves correct when the winning chef is found dead in his own kitchen. Then a second, and a third . . .
In a nutshell:
I read it in: German (Dinner für eine Leiche)
I liked it: No
For people who like: food mysteries, cosy mysteries, Bath and who don’t mind a convoluted story with neither head nor tail
My thoughts:
"A Taste to die for" is the second book in the Honey Driver series and the first one I have read. There is no need to read the first book to get into the story.
Honey is the owner of a small hotel in bath and at the same time liaison between the police and the hotel association. Why a position like that is necessary at all I have no idea but apparently it is. Again, why a liaison would be actually not only included in the investigation but also actively engaged in it is another mystery. Honey goes around questioning people as if she had a right to do so and, astonishingly, people acknowledge that right and tell her whatever she wants to know. If someone tries to refuse she is not beneath blackmailing by suggesting if they won’t cooperate she will simply ask someone else, i.e. a person the witness feels he has to protect, and thus she manages to extract the information from them after all. I personally would tell her to piss off and come back with the investigating police officer.
The mystery in this book is convoluted at best. There are so many potential candidates for position of murderer that after a while I completely lost track. Who hated whom and why got so entangled that towards the end I really couldn’t care less about who did it and why. The whole story felt disconnected and situations seemed to be thrown in at random in order to confuse the reader.
On the side there is a romance between Honey and the police detective, that started in book one. Those two continuously undressed each other with their eyes, but then never got down to it. Unfortunately this did not lead to a tension where the reader – if so inclined; after all this is a mystery, not a romance – was eagerly anticipating the consummation of their love.
Originally I found the setting very interesting, as I work in the hospitality industry myself, but my expectations were not met. I don’t think the setting could be more unrealistic than it was. The behaviour of those hotel managers towards each other left a lot to be desired. There were shouting matches and almost violent outbreaks because of some minor issues which were just ridiculous.
Even considering that Honey’s hotel is a private one it is hard to imagine that she would allow an eighty year old permanent guest who dabbles in occultism and speaks to ghosts to help out at the reception and answer phone calls.
Also I have never seen a hotel manager who passes out from drinking too much in the hotel bar and spends the night on a sofa in the hotel’s public areas. This was just too much.
The only credible aspect of the story was the behaviour of the chefs, I give the author that. Cooks in general are a very special species and chefs are even stranger. So their behaviour rang true to some extent.
All in all I found the story hard to follow, it didn’t make much sense to me, the included romance was lacklustre and the plot disappointing. The only saving grace was the location and the descriptions which made me want to visit Bath. I would only recommend this for the die hard English cosy mystery lover who has read all other series out there already and is looking for something new to give a go.
Location: Bath, England, UK
All images from wikipedia
Product info and buy link :
| Title | A taste to die for |
| Author | J. G. Goodhind |
| Publisher | Severn House Publishers |
| ISBN | 978-0727877413 |
| I got this book from | my mom who picked it up from a grab table |
| Buy link | Buy A Taste to Die For  |
| More info | The Honey Driver mysteries |
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
In the 1920′s, in post-WWI England, the Honourable Daisy Dalrymple, newly married to Detective Inspector Alec Fletcher, is asked by her brother-in-law to discreetly investigate a series of poisoned pen letters that many of the local villagers have been receiving. When the pompous and unbearable brother of the local vicar is killed by a very large rock dropped on his head from a great height, it seems clear to all that this campaign of gossip has escalated to murder. With the help of her husband, who’d rather she not get involved in murder, Daisy undertakes to uncover the identity of the viper in the local nest is and who that person has driven to murder before the murderer strikes a second time.
In a nutshell:
I read it in: German (Miss Daisy und der tote Professor)
I liked it: Yes, sort of, but now I’ve had enough of Daisy for a long while
For people who like: village gossip, the English country life, the 20s, the English upper class, cosy mysteries
My thoughts:
This is the fourth Daisy Dalrymple book that I read and I liked this one best. I found the setting extremely appealing, a small village with all the gossip and underlying currents of tension. Daisy is staying with her sister and brother-in-law and at first only tries to find out who is the writer of the anonymous letters her brother-in-law is receiving. She goes about this in her usual way, which means she goes someplace and everybody tells her their innermost thoughts. I know I am complaining about this every time but how realistic is it if someone tells a woman he has never seen before about the anonymous letters he is receiving just because "it feels good to tell someone". If it wasn’t for Daisy’s inexplicable ability to make everybody confide in her there never would be much "sleuthing" going on.
The murder happens only after half of the book and the solving of the crime, once more, is done in such a haphazard way that I could only wonder at the end how on Earth they got their killer. Daisy makes assumptions and comes up with theories that are so out of the blue, it is bordering on the ridiculous. In the end there was no definite proof, but Daisy, Alec and Inspector Flagg were all convinced they got the case solved. This was so, but how it happened I can’t say. The reasoning made no sense to me.
In the course of the investigation there were some statements being made that were simply false, like for example at one point a witness says something like "Do you think X found out who the letter writer is and was murdered because of that?". One page later Alec would say to Daisy "Do you remember how the witness said that X found out who the letter writer was?" Actually, no, I don’t because the witness never said that.
If you want a puzzling mystery and an ingenious detective or two solving the crime in an Agatha Christie way, then this is not the right choice. If you want nice atmosphere, country gossip, the usual characters (venomous old spinster, drunken pillar of the community, busybody pastor’s wife etc.) and a cozy atmosphere, then go for it!
Location: A village in Kent, England, UK
Product info and buy link :
| Title | Styx and Stones |
| Author | Carola Dunn |
| Publisher | Kensington |
| ISBN | 978-0758213952 |
| I got this book from | the library |
| Buy link | Buy Styx and Stones |
| More info | The Daisy Dalrymple mysteries in chronological order |
| and more | Two free Daisy Dalrymple short stories |
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
In July of 1923, the Honourable Daisy Dalrymple travels to Henley-on-Thames to visit her aunt and uncle as well as to work on her latest writing assignment – to cover the Henley Royal Regatta for an American magazine. Daisy plans a simple trip researching her article, enjoying the races, and, come the weekend, having a pleasant time with her fiance, Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard. But the tensions between the Ambrose team’s coxswain, Horace Bott – a shopkeeper’s son and scholarship student at Oxford – and rower, Basil DeLancey – the younger son of an Earl and all-around bounder – are constantly threatening to erupt into violence. The team then proceeds to lose their next heat in the eight because Bott is ill from the previous night’s overindulgence, an action he was goaded into by DeLancey. DeLancey publicly humiliates Bott. Bott, in turn, publicly swears revenge. The following day, in the coxless four, DeLancey himself keels over and dies mid-race. Foul play is immediately suspected, with Bott the logical suspect. But nothing is obvious in this tangled web of jealousies and secrets, and while Inspector Fletcher investigates the murder, Daisy once again must ferret out the truth.
In a nutshell:
I read it in: German (Miss Daisy und der Tote auf dem Wasser)
I liked it: Yes, but slowly I am getting sick of Daisy
For people who like: Cosy mysteries, sports events, the 20s, the English upper class, rowing
My thoughts:
This is the third Daisy Dalrymple mystery that I have read and I know that soon I will need to take a break from her.
"Death on the water" has an interesting setting. A widely known regatta takes place and we learn about the rivalries between teams as well as the problems misfits (i.e. members of the lower classes) have to deal with when attending a college – especially, it seems, when they are smarter than the average nobleman’s son.
However, I would have preferred to learn about those problems in a less "ram them down your throat" way. Before we encounter even one situation where the low class boy is being harassed by his supposed superiors he already pours his little heart out to the ubiquitous Daisy, even though he has only seen her for the first time at the very moment. Again she wonders briefly why everybody wants to take her into their confidence, but then again, she is so curious, not to say nosy, that she takes to being the confidante like a fish takes to water. She really got on my nerves with her "I’ll stay to make sure s/he is alright" demeanour when, in reality, she just wants to stay in order to know everything that is being said and done. How her fiancée Alec puts up with that shit, I don’t know.
The sleuthing seemed to be somewhat slow and little goal oriented. If there hadn’t been a witness of sorts and a murderer ready to confess (either through words or actions) Alec would have been in the dark forever. On top of that the case is not quite as clear as it seemed, which only comes out almost as an afterthought. And once more – I feel like I am turning into a fighter for the plebs reading those books – I got the uncomfortable feeling that exceptions are being made for people simply because they belong to a class that seems to be untouchable.
I have one more Daisy Dalrymple book from the library, "Styx and Stones", which I will read and then I will call it a day for now. There is only so much lenience towards the upper class I can take.
Location: Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, UK
Product info and buy link :
| Title | Dead in the water |
| Author | Carola Dunn |
| Publisher | Kensington |
| ISBN | 978-0758227294 |
| I got this book from | the library |
| Buy link | Buy Dead in the Water  |
| More info | The Daisy Dalrymple mysteries in chronological order |
| and more | Two free Daisy Dalrymple short stories |
| and even more | Henley Royal Regatta |
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Blurb:
It’s the early 1920s in England – the country is still recovering from the Great War and undergoing rapid social changes that many are not quite ready to accept. During this heady and tumultuous time, the Honourable Daisy Dalrymple, the daughter of a Viscount, makes a decision shocking to her class: rather than be supported by her relations, she will earn her own living as a writer.
Landing an assignment for Town & Country magazine for a series of articles on country manor houses she travels to Wentwater Court in early January 1923 to begin research on her first piece. But all is not well there when she arrives.
Lord Wentwater’s young wife has become the center of a storm of jealousy, animosity, and, possibly, some not-unwanted amorous attention, which has disrupted the peace of the bucolic country household. Still, this is as nothing compared to the trouble that ensues when one of the holiday guests drowns in a tragic early-morning skating accident. Especially when Daisy discovers that his death was no accident …
In a nutshell:
I read it in: German (“Miss Daisy und der Tote auf dem Eis”)
I liked it: x Yes, with some reservations about the ending
For people who like: cosy mysteries, mystery with no violence (except, of course, for the murder), easy reading, the atmosphere of the 20s
My thoughts:
“Death at Wentwater Court” is the first book in the Daisy Dalrymple series. I read it after reading the fourth instalment “Murder on the Flying Scotsman” which I liked quite a bit.
In this first book Daisy meets Alec Fletcher, the smart detective for the first time and the foundation stone for their future relationship is being laid. We also find out why Alec is always investigating the crimes taking place in “High Society”, I had already wondered about that. Daisy is a very nice, down-to-earth girl. However, her overall likeable-ness started to get on my nerves when everybody, really everybody, wanted her to stay/go with them when they had to confess to the police or talk about a difficult topic. Those people only knew her slightly, if at all, and still she became their confidante almost immediately. Even Alec himself, who is a police officer, talked about the current case as if she was a co-worker instead of a , let’s face it, nosy female who just happened to be at the right place at the right time. His readiness to tell her confidential information was odd, to say the least.
Spoiler below!
The discovery of the culprit was based on another confession made in Daisy’s presence which was a bit of a disappointment.
What followed after was downright shocking. I know this is supposed to be a harmless cosy mystery, but somehow the end rubbed me the totally wrong way. Daisy played judge, jury and executioner (or rather the opposite) in one go and decided to let the culprit go free by coming up with a cunning plan to get him out of the grasp of the police. As justified as this may seem, it was highly irregular. The motivation behind this was basically to protect the noble family involved from being dragged through the press and prevent further pain. All very nice, indeed, however, if the same incident had happened in a working class environment, I am sure, the outcome would have been different. The subsequent outburst of Alec was understandable. How quickly he was placated and the laissez faire attitude of his superior – a friend of the family involved–, made me feel slightly uneasy.
It might very well be that the situation during those times was exactly like that – hang the rabble, spare the upper classes – but really, in a mystery novel one expects to see justice done. If a jury had found the accused not guilty, which would have been not unlikely, then all would have been good. As it was it leaves an uncomfortable feeling with me.
Location: Hampshire, England, UK
All images from wikipedia
Product info and buy link :
| Title | Death at Wentwater Court |
| Author | Carola Dunn |
| Publisher | Robinson |
| ISBN | 978-1845298654 |
| I got this book from | the library |
| Buy link | Buy Death at Wentwater Court |
| More info | The Daisy Dalrymple mysteries in chronological order |
| and more | Two free Daisy Dalrymple short stories |
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
