The Daisy Dalrymple Series 1-5, Carola Dunn
OKAY LET'S TALK ABOUT THE DAISY DALRYMPLE SERIES. Seriously, I love this series, I'm excited, are you excited? GET EXCITED.
So the first thing I want to say is that the Daisy Dalrymple series is somewhat misnamed, as Daisy's not the only protagonist (though I LOVE HER and she is perfect). She shares the series with her eventual husband Alec Fletcher. I'd call that a spoiler, but, uh, well, they get engaged in book five (of twenty-two) and you can pretty much see it coming from the end of the first book so, they get married. That's a thing that happens. It's a large part of why I like the series so far: we get to see Daisy and Alec's relationship develop, we get to see them interacting and falling in love and (more importantly, at least to me) staying in love. Also we get to see them fight crime. That's fun.
So, the Daisy Dalrymple series is a cozy mystery series set in 1920s Britain (I think the first one is set in 1923), starring the eponymous Daisy, a writer and the daughter of a viscount with an uncanny knack for having people tell her all sorts of random things, and her eventual husband Alec Fletcher, a Detective Chief Inspector at Scotland Yard. He's middle class and ten years older than Daisy, he thinks this is a big deal, literally no one else (except his and Daisy's mothers) thinks it is, it's all good. Alec also has a daughter from his first wife, Belinda, and she is such a joy?? She's a realistic well-behaved nine-year-old and I love her. Sadly we don't get to meet her until book four and she doesn't often have a lot of screen time in the books. But she is a darling and she's well worth the wait.
Anyway, the period details seem accurate to me, I love Daisy and Alec and Belinda, and the other members of the recurring cast are a great deal of fun. Now let's dive into the actual books.
Death at Wentwater Court is the very first book in the series, introducing our heroes, most of the recurring cast, and the conceit, ie, Daisy is working on a writing assignment and trips over a body. In this case, the assignment is a profile of the eponymous Wentwater Court, and the body is that of the odious Stephen Astwick, drowned in an icy pond. No one particularly mourns him, and everyone has an alibi, which makes it particularly difficult to suss out who might have killed him, if it even was a murder. Alec Fletcher is in the area investigating a jewel heist and gets shanghaied to find out if it was murder and if so, whodunnit. He and Daisy proceed to investigate while charming the pants off each other. It's cute, actually pretty funny, and oh my heart, the ending with Lord and Lady Wentwater made me cry in a good way.
Book two is The Winter Garden Mystery, one of my favorites if only because it shows off Daisy's talent for calmly sailing in the face of adversity and Alec's friends mocking his obvious crush on her. Daisy is doing a writeup on Occles Hall, invited by her friend Bobbie, but immediately disdained by Bobbie's mother Valeria, who could give Lady Catherine de Burgh a run for her money in the snobbery sweepstakes. Shortly after arrival, Daisy finds a body under a bush in the gardens, and after encountering the local police (and having a very dim view of their talents), she calls up Alec as the only policeman she can trust. More charming of each other ensues, plus, PLUS, queer characters WHO GET A HAPPY ENDING GUYS. THEY GET A HAPPY ENDING. THEY. GET. A. HAPPY. ENDING. I can't emphasize that enough. Anyway, fun book, obvious killer is obvious, but the queer characters get a happy ending and I don't care.
Requiem for a Mezzo is a good deal of fun, or at least I thought so. Daisy's talent for having people talk to and at her results in her getting a pair of free tickets to an operatic concert starring one of her neighbors. Since Daisy's roommate Lucy doesn't want to go (or more likely, because she wanted to), Daisy invites Alec along, and the two have a grand old time until the mezzo dies on stage. Yay. Our corpse, Bettina, is another one of those people who makes enemies as easily as breathing, so it's not too easy to find who might ACTUALLY have done it. Halfway through the book, there's another attempted murder; this is the first book in the series to start a train of murders, though not the last. Notable for its exploration of opera society (spoiler: pretty much everyone hates everyone else, even if they are actively sleeping together) and being the first time Alec actively involves Daisy in an investigation-- the last two times she sort of ended up helping by force.
Murder on the Flying Scotsman is the first time we get to meet Belinda! It's also basically Murder on the Orient Express but I don't super mind because BELINDA. Daisy is headed up to Scotland to cover a castle somewhere, but her assignment, for once, isn't relevant to the plot. What is relevant is that Alec's daughter Belinda has stowed away on board the train, because her father is up in the north country somewhere and she wants permission to visit her friend Deva at home. For the record, Belinda ships Daisy/Alec just as much as I do. Anyway, she winds up befriending Albert McGowan, who, along with pretty much his entire family, is going home to the deathbed of his miserly brother Alistair. Unfortunately for everyone, Albert is murdered, and since his entire family is on the train and his entire family stands to benefit from Albert's death, well. Much interrogation and some distinct cuteness ensues.
Damsel in Distress is the fifth book in the series, In Which Daisy's brainless friend Philip finally stops proposing to her in favor of proposing to someone he actually likes and Alec finally proposes to Daisy. Also notable because no one actually dies in this book. Instead, Philip's fiancee Gloria is kidnapped, and Philip begs Daisy's assistance in getting her back. Since Daisy happens to be visiting her childhood home in the area, she calls up a bunch of childhood friends and manages to sweet-talk her cousin, the current viscount, into hosting a "house party" that is actually a rescue mission. She also calls Alec up to a) meet her mother and b) maybe help them find Gloria. If he's interested. Daisy's friends promptly adopt him. Alec isn't sure how he feels about this.
Also, SPOILER:
Daisy is briefly kidnapped herself, and straight-up just digs her way out the roof of the cottage where she and Gloria are being held and gets them both out to the forest. Unfortunately Gloria is recaptured, but Daisy just climbs a tree in a thunderstorm like it ain't no thing. She's so amazing. I love her.
SPOILER DONE.
So, in conclusion, this is a bunch of cute cozy mysteries with an ongoing relationship that I love and BELINDA. I love it. The writing can be stilted sometimes and the plot is occasionally outright stolen from various Agatha Christie novels but I don't even care, I love Daisy so much. Recommended.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/395728.html. Please comment over there if possible.
So the first thing I want to say is that the Daisy Dalrymple series is somewhat misnamed, as Daisy's not the only protagonist (though I LOVE HER and she is perfect). She shares the series with her eventual husband Alec Fletcher. I'd call that a spoiler, but, uh, well, they get engaged in book five (of twenty-two) and you can pretty much see it coming from the end of the first book so, they get married. That's a thing that happens. It's a large part of why I like the series so far: we get to see Daisy and Alec's relationship develop, we get to see them interacting and falling in love and (more importantly, at least to me) staying in love. Also we get to see them fight crime. That's fun.
So, the Daisy Dalrymple series is a cozy mystery series set in 1920s Britain (I think the first one is set in 1923), starring the eponymous Daisy, a writer and the daughter of a viscount with an uncanny knack for having people tell her all sorts of random things, and her eventual husband Alec Fletcher, a Detective Chief Inspector at Scotland Yard. He's middle class and ten years older than Daisy, he thinks this is a big deal, literally no one else (except his and Daisy's mothers) thinks it is, it's all good. Alec also has a daughter from his first wife, Belinda, and she is such a joy?? She's a realistic well-behaved nine-year-old and I love her. Sadly we don't get to meet her until book four and she doesn't often have a lot of screen time in the books. But she is a darling and she's well worth the wait.
Anyway, the period details seem accurate to me, I love Daisy and Alec and Belinda, and the other members of the recurring cast are a great deal of fun. Now let's dive into the actual books.
Death at Wentwater Court is the very first book in the series, introducing our heroes, most of the recurring cast, and the conceit, ie, Daisy is working on a writing assignment and trips over a body. In this case, the assignment is a profile of the eponymous Wentwater Court, and the body is that of the odious Stephen Astwick, drowned in an icy pond. No one particularly mourns him, and everyone has an alibi, which makes it particularly difficult to suss out who might have killed him, if it even was a murder. Alec Fletcher is in the area investigating a jewel heist and gets shanghaied to find out if it was murder and if so, whodunnit. He and Daisy proceed to investigate while charming the pants off each other. It's cute, actually pretty funny, and oh my heart, the ending with Lord and Lady Wentwater made me cry in a good way.
Book two is The Winter Garden Mystery, one of my favorites if only because it shows off Daisy's talent for calmly sailing in the face of adversity and Alec's friends mocking his obvious crush on her. Daisy is doing a writeup on Occles Hall, invited by her friend Bobbie, but immediately disdained by Bobbie's mother Valeria, who could give Lady Catherine de Burgh a run for her money in the snobbery sweepstakes. Shortly after arrival, Daisy finds a body under a bush in the gardens, and after encountering the local police (and having a very dim view of their talents), she calls up Alec as the only policeman she can trust. More charming of each other ensues, plus, PLUS, queer characters WHO GET A HAPPY ENDING GUYS. THEY GET A HAPPY ENDING. THEY. GET. A. HAPPY. ENDING. I can't emphasize that enough. Anyway, fun book, obvious killer is obvious, but the queer characters get a happy ending and I don't care.
Requiem for a Mezzo is a good deal of fun, or at least I thought so. Daisy's talent for having people talk to and at her results in her getting a pair of free tickets to an operatic concert starring one of her neighbors. Since Daisy's roommate Lucy doesn't want to go (or more likely, because she wanted to), Daisy invites Alec along, and the two have a grand old time until the mezzo dies on stage. Yay. Our corpse, Bettina, is another one of those people who makes enemies as easily as breathing, so it's not too easy to find who might ACTUALLY have done it. Halfway through the book, there's another attempted murder; this is the first book in the series to start a train of murders, though not the last. Notable for its exploration of opera society (spoiler: pretty much everyone hates everyone else, even if they are actively sleeping together) and being the first time Alec actively involves Daisy in an investigation-- the last two times she sort of ended up helping by force.
Murder on the Flying Scotsman is the first time we get to meet Belinda! It's also basically Murder on the Orient Express but I don't super mind because BELINDA. Daisy is headed up to Scotland to cover a castle somewhere, but her assignment, for once, isn't relevant to the plot. What is relevant is that Alec's daughter Belinda has stowed away on board the train, because her father is up in the north country somewhere and she wants permission to visit her friend Deva at home. For the record, Belinda ships Daisy/Alec just as much as I do. Anyway, she winds up befriending Albert McGowan, who, along with pretty much his entire family, is going home to the deathbed of his miserly brother Alistair. Unfortunately for everyone, Albert is murdered, and since his entire family is on the train and his entire family stands to benefit from Albert's death, well. Much interrogation and some distinct cuteness ensues.
Damsel in Distress is the fifth book in the series, In Which Daisy's brainless friend Philip finally stops proposing to her in favor of proposing to someone he actually likes and Alec finally proposes to Daisy. Also notable because no one actually dies in this book. Instead, Philip's fiancee Gloria is kidnapped, and Philip begs Daisy's assistance in getting her back. Since Daisy happens to be visiting her childhood home in the area, she calls up a bunch of childhood friends and manages to sweet-talk her cousin, the current viscount, into hosting a "house party" that is actually a rescue mission. She also calls Alec up to a) meet her mother and b) maybe help them find Gloria. If he's interested. Daisy's friends promptly adopt him. Alec isn't sure how he feels about this.
Also, SPOILER:
Daisy is briefly kidnapped herself, and straight-up just digs her way out the roof of the cottage where she and Gloria are being held and gets them both out to the forest. Unfortunately Gloria is recaptured, but Daisy just climbs a tree in a thunderstorm like it ain't no thing. She's so amazing. I love her.
SPOILER DONE.
So, in conclusion, this is a bunch of cute cozy mysteries with an ongoing relationship that I love and BELINDA. I love it. The writing can be stilted sometimes and the plot is occasionally outright stolen from various Agatha Christie novels but I don't even care, I love Daisy so much. Recommended.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/395728.html. Please comment over there if possible.