[from the back of book] SHE WAS A WISTFUL WIDOW WITH A BABE ON THE WAY ......It wasn't all that shocking when Lady Laura Chamberlain's ne'er-do-well husband met his untimely end. Far more scandalous was Laura's precarious predicament: She was left without a spouse, without means.....and with child! Her unlikely savior was the dashing Lord Wyckham, who deemed it his duty to protect the young widow. Soon Laura found her esconced in his magnificent ancestral manor surrounded by his delightfully eccentic relatives. But Wyckham himslf was the oddest of all: He was a confirmed bachelor, yet he treated Laura as anything but an unwanted relation!
HE WAS HER HANDSOME PROTECTOR....... Lord Wyckham could not, simply would not, fail in his duty! His cousin's widow needed a home, and he intended to provide it. Especially when he took note of Laura's winsome charms, including her puzzling but not altogether displeasing plumpness. Then he discovered the truth! Now, the usually unflappable Wyckham was at sixes and sevens. He began experiencing the most tender feelings for Laura and Her imminent arrival. Was it at long last love? ******
The Baron, Gareth, Lord Wyckham upsets many because of his personal fears. Yet he collects a number of relatives to take care of as his duty. He also has a number of brothers who turn out to be quite lovable. There is Cornelius, who has the parish living -- then Captian the honorable Rupert Wyckham -- Lance, is still in school and the youngest Perry, who is fifteen, all attrictive blondes.
Being put up also is Maria, an unhappy cousin and her three children - 2 sons and a daughter.
There is great uncle Julius, an inventor and quite a character.
And Aunt Antonia, who helped raise Wyckham and his brothers on the death of their mother. A thoroughly enjoyable tale.

It is hard to write a good romance where the heroine is pregnant with another man's child, but Dunn pulled it off. Laura, the heroine, was married to a charming but unstable drifter. He dies in a foolish accident and she is left alone and pregnant. Enter the hero, Gareth, who is a very honorable lord, and offers to take her into the family since he was related to her husband. He has concerns about her pregnancy, and deep-rooted fears about the dangers of caring too much for anyone, dating back to his childhood. The heaviness related to these issues is tempered by some great moments of humor. The eccentric inventor uncle, who eventually invents a carriage, stroller, and play pen, adds a light touch. While the story may not be totally historically accurate(I doubt that the hero would have been allowed to be in the room during the delivery), I don't read my romances for strict historic accuracy, and I didn't see any glaring errors that detracted from the story. It was a touching and fun book, and one that I will definitely re-read over and over again. The hero's brothers are wonderful, and I would like to see books about their future romances. The secondary characters are part of what makes the book so charming.

If you like road trip romances, love triangles (one heroine facing two suitors), a bit of adventure, and an unusual theme, try this book. Heroine Miriam Jacobson is Jewish but a British subject. She is asked by a Rothschild in Paris to help two fellow Britons out with a dangerous but patriotic attempt to get gold to Wellington's armies in Spain. During the trip, Miriam learns more about herself and the two men who soon begin vying for her attention.

This is a rare Regency with a Jewish heroine. Others in this genre are Star Sapphire by Rebecca Danton (Fawcett 1979), although the heroine of that book marries a Gentile (a marquess) at the beginning, and the recently published A Question of Honor by Nita Abrams. Carola Dunn treats the situation of Jews in British society and on the continent with sensitivity, and her heroine (and one of the suitors who is Jewish) act in consistency with their upbringing.

Miss Jacobsen's Journey, long out-of-print, is now available as an e-book (published from Belgrave House). Get it here or look for it at your public library. If you liked this book, you might want to try Bk 2 (His Lordship's Reward) or Bk 3 (The Captain's Inheritance) to learn more about Miriam's future life.

This book is one of Carola Dunn's best. Unfortunately it is also out of print. Fortunately, Belgrave House has issued an electronic version (available only in the Rocket format here). If you don't want to read electronic books, try your local library.

If you are looking for slightly off-beat romances set in the Regency period, I would recommend this, along with her THE FORTUNE HUNTERS. This book is unusual and off-beat because the heroine is Jewish, and as someone else put it, there are two heroes. [Obviously, only one of them will get the girl, though]. The story is also a road trip through Napoleonic France, even through the three - the heroine and the two men accompanying her - are all British subjects. If that were not unusual enough, there is a real adventure based on military necessity thrown into the plot.

You might argue that it is impossible for British subjects to be traipsing through France at this time, and that it is impossible for a book to have two heroes. To the first, I can only suggest that you read this book which makes the case believably that a well-educated and multilingual Jewish heroine can pass as Swiss French. [I won't tell you what identities are adopted by her two companions]. As for the second, well, if the heroine and the reader herself are undecided between two men who are equally charming, what should we call it?

A more conventional synopsis of the start of this book follows.
Miss Miriam Jacobson, the heroine, is Jewish and the daughter of a wealthy merchant. She is about to become betrothed to a rabbi-in-training, whom she has never met. She ends up rejecting him as physically unappealing, and goes off to Europe with her uncle, a physician of some note and much skill. We meet Miss Jacobson and her devoted maid Hannah some nine years later, when she is shabbily dressed, in want of money, and desperate to get back home. The problem is that war has been going on for some ime, and she is now trapped by the turn of events in a continent overrun by French troops from the Baltic to the Adriatic. How is Miriam to get home? She turns to young co-religionist Jakob Rothschild to help her. In return for his aid, he demands that she travel to Spain on a dangerous but necessary mission to save her country. Her companions are two men, neither of whom wants her along, and who despise and distrust each other. Will the journey succeed, and how? Will Miriam get along with the two men?

One of the two men is Jewish, the other is an English aristocrat who despises Jews and who is rather too proud of his country's heritage. Miriam finds herself attracted to the English aristocrat, despite all his flaws and the fact that a marriage between them would be impossible.

The story is deftly told, with respect for the Jewish religion, a smooth interweaving of actual historical events (including the
rise of the Rothschilds), and with a convincing ending. I have read many Regency romances, but this is only the second
romance that has religion (and social prejudice against Jews) specifically invoked as a plot premise. The other - The Star
Sapphire - also featured a Jewish heroine. One of the best parts of this story was the respect and affection that Miriam had
for her maid Hannah, and vice versa.

A quick historical note: The Rothschilds did start up their famous network by having a different son in a different country.
Jakob or James did establish himself in Paris and Nathan in London, at this time. Wellington did pay his army with gold
provided by the Rothschilds. And during this period, at least one British peer married the Christian daughter of a Jewish banker and his Gentile/ Christian wife.

"To Davy Jones Below" is the eighth book in the highly enjoyable Daisy Dalrymple mystery series, and it is as entertaining and as engaging as the previous novels in the series. This time around, Daisy's latest adventure takes place abroad the luxury ship, the S.S. Talavera, during her honeymoon.

Daisy and her policeman fiance, Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, have barely tied the knot, when Alec is informed that he will be sailing to America as soon as their brief honeymmon is over, in order to advise the Americans on how to organise and clean up their Invesgation Bureau of the Justice Department. Of course Alec will have to take Daisy with him -- it is the very prospect of six weeks without Daisy getting herself involved with any police investigations, that sells the Assisstant Commissionor on the idea of doing without him for a while! It has even been arranged for Daisy to do a series of articles on her trip to America. It all seems a little too good to be true -- a trip to America abroad the S.S. Talavera, accompanied by their good friends Philip and Gloria Petrie, and Gloria's millionaire father, Caleb P. Arbuckle! And that's what it proves to be. The first sign that things will not be smooth sailing is the news that Arbuckle's friend, Jethro Gotobed (another millionaire), has married his chorus-girl girlfriend. Arbuckle had hoped to wean Gotobed of the glorious Wanda's charms by inviting him to America. However Gotobed confounds Arbuckle's good intentions by rushing Wanda off her feet and marrying her. Everyone is appalled with this marriage, and even Daisy's rather proletariat leanings are challenged by Wanda's vulgarity.

Daisy and Alec however are firmly resolved to enjoy their extended honeymoon, but their plans suffer a setback as well when a passenger falls overboard, and another passenger, the giddy Lady Brenda, swears that she saw someone push the unfortunate Mr. Denton, into the sea. Upon learning that Alec is a police officer, the harassed ship captain, inveigles him to look into the matter. However Alec is by now suffering from a bout of sea sickness. This leaves Daisy to act as his deputy, and to discreetly interrogate the witnesses. The investigation seems to be going nowhere when another passenger (Mr. Pertwee) falls overboard. This time however Mr. Gotobed cries foul by claiming that Pertwee was shot before he fell overboard. Is there a maniac aboard, bent on throwing unsuspecting passengers into the sea? Or are the two 'accidents' connected? And if so how? Daisy and Alec are determined to get to the bottom of things before another passenger falls into the sea.

This entire series makes for highly enjoyable and entertaining light reading. The violence is minimal in the sense that Dunn does not go in for graphic and horrific detail, and her prose style is crisp and witty, ably capturing the spirit of the 1920s. Indeed there was quite a P. G. Woodehouse air about this particular mystery! And Carola Dunn has created a wonderfully engaging and charming investigative heroine in Daisy: it is Daisy's zest and keeness to help others, a tendency that frequently lands her in the middle of Alec's cases, that is the central force of this series and what makes it so compelling and engaging. "To Davy Jones Below" is a wonderfully cozy read, and great fun.

The day finally arrives when Scotland Yard's Detective Constable Alec Fletcher marries the Honorable Daisy Dalyrymple. As the reception goes on much later than expected, the newlyweds anxiously await leaving for their two-week honeymoon. Before they can escape, Alec's boss informs him that upon his return, he will go to America with Daisy to teach J. Edgar Hoover how to run a clean federal law enforcement organization.

When the newlyweds board the Talevera, they expect an extension of their glorious honeymoon. However, that dream changes when someone is swept overboard and Lady Brenda insists he was pushed. The man is rescued, but two more individuals are pushed into the sea in what are deliberate murder attempts. Reluctantly, Alec leads the investigation with Daisy "assisting" him in her unorthodox manner.

TO DAVY JONES BELOW is an exciting mystery with enough romance so that the novel contains cross-genre appeal. All the key characters seem three- dimensional and the ship's population serves as a floating contained neighborhood. Carola Dunn paints a charming picture of life between the World Wars. It also provides the audience with a detailed glimpse into a bygone era that even then was slowly fading.

Harriet Klausner

This book of Carola Dunn is actually rather untypical of her, or so I believe. I came to Carola Dunn via gentler Regencies which had little overt politics. CROSSED QUILLS (what a marvellous name!) is a book that depends strongly on a reader's understanding of the political and social issues behind the glitter of upper-class life.

Plot summary: The heroine Pippa (Philippa) is the daughter of a deceased Radical MP (radicals being those who advocated greater and faster reform measures than the Whigs, although some radicals belonged to the Whig party). Her father was Prometheus, a brilliant orator and speech-writer, whose honesty and refusal to accept bribes in return for supporting the government was well-known. At his death, his work (in print) is continued by his elder daughter.

Enter the hero, a new peer, who has just succeeded to his great-uncle's barony, and has lived a fairly straightened life with his mother, stepfather (a kindly vicar), and eight siblings - one sister and seven half-brothers and half-sisters. To help support this large brood, he has been writing Gothic romances under a pseudonym, which has affected his writing on any topic. [Think melodrama, abductions, mysterious heirs, mad monks, and so forth. Think lush imagery. Think purple prose].

Lord Selworth needs help in crafting his maiden speech, and thinks of Prometheus. Fortunately his sister Albina (Bina), a young society matron, is old friends with Pippa. She provides him an introduction, and Selworth persuades the Lisle family to come to London and stay with Bina, thus solving two sets of problems.

The rest of the story is taken up by the efforts of Pippa to help Wynn Selworth without revealing her identity, the secondary romance between her sister and Wynn's friend, the disastrous effects of the loose tongue of Wynn's half-sister, and the reaction of society to the revelation of Wynn's identity as a writer of Gothics. If Wynn is "outed", will he be taken seriously as a politician, especially a reforming one? Will his maiden speech be successful?

If you read romances regularly, you know that the answer to both these questions is yes, albeit a qualified yes here. When you read the story, it helps to know the background of political and social unrest, the practice of the government of bribing MPs to vote for the government (usually with the promise of a sinecure or a pension), and above all, the extreme fear that ultra-Tories such as those in the Liverpool government had towards the slightest efforts at reform in the post-Waterloo era. The plight of the unemployed returning soldiers and sailors is touched upon lightly, as is the unhappiness of the Luddites and the future Chartists with the status quo socially, economically, and politically. Some minor but historically figures appear briefly or are referred to - William Cobbett, Henry Grey Bennett, Sir Francis Burdett, Henry Brougham, Castlereagh, and so forth.

I liked this book very much, but found that I had to read it rather more slowly than the norm to appreciate the intricacies of certain situations. The story tone is light but occasionally melancholic, reflecting the frustrations of Philippa with her inability to own her identity to Wynn Selworth (forget publicly!). As I said, if you like the politically oriented stories of Anthea Malcolm (and her successor Tracy Grant), you will probably appreciate this story which is a cross between the Grant/Malcolm books and the typical Regency. Not as politically-heavy, but not for the typical romance reader.

An interesting book, had some details about Gunters which I wasn't aware, the hero Lord Wynn Selworth is actually a little different, thoughtful, who shares rooms with another very quiet gentleman the Honorable Gilbert Chubb. There is some social commentary but subtly done in a way that doesn't ram it down the reader's throat. Lord Selworth is a Whig after all. Philippa Lisle is the heroine, her father wrote radical articles under the pen name of 'Promethesus', his daughter assisted him and on his death continued to write the articles, Lord Selworth needs the expertise of Promethesus for his maiden speech, Pippa's sister needs a season. Philippa's mother suggests, a deal is struck, a romance is played out.

The plot was orignal though it was true to the tradition. Young woman writing political essays under her departed father's false identity and the young lord in need of help with his maiden speech for his former career as a gothic writer made a romantic muddle of his serious speeches. Of this comes a twisting story which has the usual happy ending. This novel followed the regency tradition in shape of characters except for the hero (Lord Selworth) who was a fresh change to the all Mr. Darcys out there. Warm hearted and sensitive but not cynical. The heroine(Pippa Lisle) was on the other hand much related to the heroines of Jane Austen. The political discussion were a spice to the romance and the behaviour of the young lord in the end was really funny. In overall, this book will go down well with Regency fans.

Escaping from a sadistic stepfather with her two young, stepbrothers, Lissa Findley, a gently-bred woman, is forced to become an opera dancer in order to support herself and her stepbrothers. From the stage of the Royal Coberg Theatre, Lissa excites the interest of Lord Ashe, an attractive, young rake, who is determined to get Lissa under his protection and into his bed. To his chagin, Lissa rejects his offer. Not bred to suffer rejection, the astonished Lord Ashe offers Lissa employment in his home as governess to his young nephew. Scarcely able to earn enough from the stage to properly feed herself and her stepbrothers, Lissa accepts Lord Ashe's offer. The situation becomes dicey as both Lissa and Lord Ashe must keep the facts of her real profession from becomming known to the ton and Lord Ashe's family. The second half of the story consists of Lissa's struggle to become a proper governess, avoid scandal, and beat down her own growing attraction to the seductive and charming Lord Ashe.

The author of this delightful regency romance obviously knows what she is about. The main characters are well-drawn, and the regency period is well-researched, i.e., Lord Ashes refers to his horses as "cattle," which is the proper nomanclature for the period. I should have preferred to have seen more emphasis placed on sensual conflict between the two main characters. As the story developed status differential as the main source of concern appears to have taken hold. When Lissa's true identity is disclosed she is too readily accepted by the family as suitable goods as wife for Lord Ashe. Of course she will have to visit her prospective sister-inlaw's modiste for a new wardrobe. That Lissa is not offended by her prospective in-laws superficiality causes one to question her values. That she doesn't throw down the gauntlet at this point and make Lord Ashe and his family eat a little crow suggests the author ran out of steam and went for an early finish.

Another of the genre in which the hero or heroine are not what they seem. Lord Ashe has his eye on Lissa Findlay (not Lisa), an opera dancer, and invites her to a private dinner so that he can offer her _carte blanche_. He is piqued - and appalled - to discover that she has accepted only because she is starving and has seized the opportunity to get some food for her brothers and herself.

His conscience pricked, Ashe arranges a job for Lissa as governess to his nephew and ward, thus providing a home for her and her brothers. This appears to be a satisfactory solution, except that Lissa's past leads members of Ashe's family to leap to other conclusions as to why he has installed her in his household. Ashe himself eventually comes to the conclusion, after (one would have thought) more than enough hints from members of the Findlay family *and* the obvious fact that Lissa is well educated, that she is not what she pretends to be.

Well written, amusing in many parts, and ! Dunn manages to convey in a subtle manner Ashe and Lissa's gradual falling in love. I found the ending and tidying up of loose ends somewhat abrupt, which was disappointing, but otherwise a gently enjoyable book.

I THOUGHT I HAD FINALLY BURNT OUT ON REGENCY ENGLAND PERIOD STORIES UNTIL I READ THIS BOOK.IT HAD EVERYTHING; NAUGHTINESS, GOODNESS, INTEGRITY, LOVE, MYSTERY, IT MADE ME MAD, SAD AND BROUGHT FORTH LAUGHTER AS WELL. LORD ASHE IS MASCULINE AS WELL AS SENSITIVE, LISSA IS IN A NEEDFUL SITUATION BUT IS STRONG AND COURAGEOUS, HER YOUNG BROTHERS ARE TRUE LITTLE GENTLEMEN WHO BECOME A POSITIVE INFLUENCE ON HER YOUNG CHARGE. ALL THE MAIN CHARACTERS ARE STRONG AND I FOUND MYSELF ROUTING FOR THEM. IF YOU LIKE THIS PERIOD YOU'LL ENJOY THE BOOK! PAM W. from LEXINGTON

Lord Amis returns from abroad to be greated with the news from his intended that his father, the earl, has remarried. "A common vulgar female, Pamela Parringale told me, half the earl's age and deeply in debt." Justin sets off to deal with the problem. The heroine is his new step sister.

Mills & Boon large print is set in Times Roman 17 on 18.25pt.

I found this book to be a very charming and entertaining. The characters were colorful and lovable. This was the first Carola Dunn book I had ever read, and I immediately went out and read four more. They were great reads also.

In 1923, a finally married Daisy Fletcher (nee Dalrymple) accedes to her pushy mother's demands that the family spend Christmas at Brockdene, a Cornish estate owned by Lord Westmoor because she is writing an article on the holdings. Accompanying the Dalrymple females for the holidays is Daisy's husband, Scotland Yard Inspector Alec. At Brockdene, they find the Earl does not live there, but the poor side of the extended family, three generations of Norvilles do.

Daisy realizes that the manor contains several angry residents. The matriarch is Susannah Norville, whose husband Albert drowned fifty years ago before she arrived from India with their two sons. Albert's wealthy family rejected her verbal claim as his widow as spurious. Her oldest son Victor returns from to India accompanied by Reverend Calloway, who claims he wed Albert and Susannah. He also has documented proof to his assertion that alters the line of succession to the earldom. However, someone murders the Reverend. Alec contains the crime scene and sends for his team to help investigate. Daisy makes inquiries too, but the killer willingly will murder again.

Daisy and her mother are fun characters who turn this combo amateur sleuth-police procedural into a lighthearted historical romp. The amusing story line becomes a bit jumbled (keep a family tree or two handy) that leads to some confusion as to who's who and whom belongs to who (this homicide occurs before Abbott and Costello). Fans of a buoyant easygoing who-Dunn-it that never takes itself serious will want to read MISTLETOE AND MURDER.

Harriet Klausner

A semi-deserted family estate in the middle of a region rich in smuggler lore, that also boasts of having it's own fair share of ghosts and secret passages, stories of missing treasure, and that is currently home to a family of poor relations -- these are just some of the ingredients that Carola Dunn has used to whip up the latest Daisy Dalrymple murder mystery. Does she deliver? I thought so. "Mistletoe and Murder" turned out to be a rather charming and entertaining read. And while the mystery plot did take a while to get under way, I did not feel shortchanged at all since the authour wisely spent half the book setting the stage -- filling us in on the past and present histories of the Norvilles (both the richer and the poor relations), and fleshing out the various characters that were about to become suspects of the for murder mystery that was about to take place.

It's December of 1923, and Daisy and Alec are about to spend their very first Christmas as a married couple together (barring Alec getting called up to investigate another criminal case, of course). But first, Daisy has to go away for a few days in order to write an article on a distant cousin's estate, Brockdene, for her magazine, 'Town and Country.' Unfortunately for Daisy, when her mother, the Dowager Viscountess Dalrymple, gets wind of Daisy's plans, she comes up with a counter-plan of her own. The Dowager has decided that her entire family will spend Christmas together at Brockdene as guests of Lord Westmoor (the owner of Brockdene). Unbeknownst to the Dowager (who envisions some sort of elegant Christmas do peopled by the "right" sort of people) however, her plans are destined not to be realised: to begin with Westmoor and his family no longer spend Christmas at Brockdene and Brockdene is currently home to Westmoor's uncle's children -- scandal-ridden, poorer relations that have never really been acknowledged; also Daisy's sister has fallen ill, and so neither she nor her husband will be able to attend the Christmas festivities. All in all, not the kind of family gathering the Dowager had in mind.

In attendance however is an ex-missionary priest who has some connection to these scandalous Norville relations, and who seems to have been invited to Brockdene for a particular reason. What this reason is, Daisy isn't exactly sure (though she is dying to know), but she is sure that the reverend's presence is putting a strain on the Norville family, and that the tension and resentment is taking a toll on everyone. Esp since the reverend proves to be a rather stiff-rumped disapproving sort who soon puts a damper on the entire gathering. And then the reverend is found murdered in chapel. The obvious suspects are (of course) the poor Norville relations, but new information soon puts other Norville relations (Westmoor as well) in the running for prime suspect. Why was the reverend murdered and by whom? And as much as Daisy may like most of the poor relations, she cannot deny that one of them may have had the best reason for killing the reverend...

I really enjoyed reading this latest Daisy Dalrymple murder mystery. True, the mystery plot did take a while to unwind. But Carola Dunn told her story in such a charming, elegant and clever manner that I didn't feel impatient at all that the mystery proper took a while to get started. And then there was the poignant subplot involving the 'scandal'-ridden poorer Norville relations. I was truly involved with their plight and was really rooting for them to come out on top. There were, on the whole, very few plot twists, but there were suspects in the plenty. And the novel was rich in atmosphere and period charm, with a good storyline and a telling indictment on prejudice. For me, "Mistletoe and Murder" was a truly excellent read.

Daisy is given a pair of tickets to see her neighbors Muriel Westlea and her sister Bettina Abernathy in a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. She invites her favorite police officer, Alec Fletcher, to go with her. During the concert, Bettina takes a drink from a glass under her chair and immediately falls over dead. There is an odor of almonds. Was it cyanide? She was very unpleasant, but who hated her enough to kill her?

This is an excellent addition to the series. The singers are an interesting group of people, to the point of being bizarre. It is interesting to see the development of the relationship of Alec and Daisy.

Set in 1923 England, this series follows the adventures of the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple, a young woman who has defied convention by choosing to make her own living (as a journalist) rather than let her aristocratic family support her. And her growing friendship with Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, a man decidedly NOT of her class, is a bone of contention between Daisy and her friends.

In this, the third of the series (preceded by "The Winter Garden Mystery" and followed by "Murder on the Flying Scotsman"), we get a glimpse of Daisy's home life in the Chelsea section of London. Friendly with her next-door neighbors, Daisy accepts their invitation to a concert where they will be singing. When one of them dies in the middle of the concert, Daisy and Alec find themselves, once again, investigating murder.

This is an extremely enjoyable and well-done series, and Dunn is adept at creating a compelling portrait of time and place. There's plenty of mystery to spare in this one, with more suspects and clues than Alec and Daisy know what to do with (though the scene in which suspect after suspect confides in Daisy is a bit overdone). It's also refreshing that the "set-up" is so different than in the first two books-instead of sending Daisy on yet another writing assignment at a country manor, Dunn keeps her in London.

This is a charming series, and this book is a strong addition to it.

My first problem with this book was trying to keep the characters straight. (They all seemed interchangeable.) But that problem was soon solved, because I didn't care about any of them enough to try to keep track of them. Which left the setting (the best part of the book) and the plot (not exactly spell-binding). I don't plan to read any others in this series.

Set in 1923 England, this series follows the adventures of the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple, a young woman who has defied convention by choosing to make her own living (as a journalist) rather than let her aristocratic family support her.

In this, the sixth of the series (preceded by "Damsel in Distress" and followed by "Styx and Stones"), Daisy visits relatives at Henley-on-Thames while researching her latest writing assignment, an article on the Henley Royal Regatta. Daisy's relatives' house is packed to the gills with people in town for the Regatta, including the rowing team from Oxford's Ambrose College, who will compete. Needless to say, there is lots of friction between all these people for a variety of reasons, and eventually, one of the rowing team turns up dead just in time to spoil Daisy's weekend plans with her fiance, Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard.

This book is not quite up to the high standards of the others in this series because the suspects all blur together so easily. The individual members of the rowing team all seem more or less the same and are, as far as the reader is concerned, easily dismissed as true suspects. There are only four or so characters truly depicted in-depth, so it becomes very clear that one of them must be the murderer. This is not how a mystery reader likes to solve the mystery.

The recurring characters, however, are as well done and enjoyable as ever, and the little jealousies between the newly engaged Alec and Daisy are fun. Once again, Dunn has created a clever and realistic "set-up" for the mystery, and her depiction of time and place cannot be beat.

Daisy and Alec are to be the guests of Daisy's aunt Lady Cherington for the Thames Cup boat races. Daisy's cousin Tish's beau, and his teammates, including Tish's cousin Cherry. There is some discord in the team. The Hon Basil DeLancy, an out an out cad, is baiting the cox, a Mr. Bott for not being as well borne or socially apt as the rest of them. Harold Bott has a huge chip on his shoulder and responds just as DeLancey wants him to. This all cumulates in DeLancey pushing Bott in the river after he disgraces himself by being sick during the race. Since DeLancey got him drunk the night before it really was his fault. Then, DeLancey dies after becoming sick during a four man race. Bott is naturally a suspect, and Alec takes over the case. He and Daisy seek the murderer.

These golden age mysteries are alot of fun. The murderer was fairly obvious, but getting to the conclusion was still worth reading. The author has a real gift for describing England in the 1920's.

I was pretty disappointed with #2 in the Daisy Dalrymple series. The mystery doesn't start to unfold until about half way through the novel-- the rest is just set-up. When things finally do get rolling, I wasn't very engrossed by the mystery, and found the final resolution anticlimactic.

The Honorable Daisy Dalrymple is working on her second article for Town and Country Magazine. This time, she's been invited to profile Occles Hall by a friend from school. Lady Valeria isn't completely happy about Daisy's presence, but agrees to let her continue. While touring the winter garden, the discovery of a dead bush leads to the discovery of a body. Grace Moss, the parlor maid, was presumed to have run away two months ago. When Lady Valeria pressures the local police into arresting one of the estate gardeners, Daisy's observations convince her that an innocent man has been arrested. She calls her friend Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher to come help, but can they solve a murder that's two months old?

This is the second book in the Daisy Dalrymple series, set in 1923 England. It's a cozy with an emphasis on character and interviewing the suspects over tons of action. But don't misunderstand; it's a great read. Lady Valeria is a strong character, and watching the other characters try to work around her is lots of fun. The pace of the story doesn't lag, with lots of new information and complications coming on a regular basis. Daisy and Alec's relationship is also very fun to watch, as they are not willing to admit to any feelings between them.

If you're looking for a book with lots of shoot-outs and close calls, look elsewhere. However, if you are looking for a good mystery with great characters and an intriguing plot, this is the series for you.

This mystery, set in 1920's London is a great mystery novel that is not cluttered with gore and sexual innuendos. It's interesting and fun. I especially enjoyed the endearing flirtations between Daisy and Alec. Their interactions are a nice change from the often crassness of today's t.v. You won't find much to stress you out here, everything fits into a neat package by the end of the book. It's a great way to relax and be taken away from daily life. And Daisy's such a great gal! I really loved it! Check out Carola Dunn's other Daisy Dalrymple mysteries. They're all great!