Customer Reviews

Gunpowder Plot (Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries, No. 15)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you enjoy mystery novels set in post W.W.I England, and ones that are engaging, polished and well written, you definitely want to read Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple mystery series, and the latest installment in particular, "Gunpowder Plot."

Gwen Tyndall's (an old school chum of Daisy's) family has been celebrating Guy Fawkes in a big way since 1606, and realising that this would make an excellent article for her magazine, Daisy has decided to travel to Gwen's home in Didmarsh-under-the-Edge in order to observe these celebrations. Daisy soon senses however, that there may be another story in the making at the Tyndall's ancestral home and one that has nothing to do with the festivities at hand. Gwen's father, Sir Harold Tyndall, an autocratic bully, who wants his children to do exactly as he wishes, and is especially displeased right now because his only son, Jack, seems more keen to join an aeronautical company than to run the family estate and farm. Never mind the fact that his eldest daughter, Barbara, has been successfully running things all this while! Also adding to Sir Harold's displeasure is the fact that Gwen seems to be attracted to the very man who is trying to steal his son away from him. All in all, the atmosphere at the Tyndall home isn't turning out to be quite as festive as Daisy had expected it to be. The last things she expected though was that things would end with murder, and that once again she and Alec (her "Scotland Yard" husband) would be in the middle of another murder investigation...

The Daisy Dalrymple mysteries may not be great brain teasers, but they are diverting and intriguing puzzlers in their own right. Carola Dunn does a fantastic job of getting the feel and charm of the period; and Ms Dunn also does a first rate job of maintaining a light and (almost) cheerful tone throughout, even though these mysteries usually center on murder and all the sobering emotions that go with it. Swiftly paced and carefully plotted, "Gunpowder Plot" was a wonderfully absorbing and entertaining read. I especially liked how the author juxtaposed the investigation that Alec his team conducted, with what Daisy discovered all her own -- it gave one a clearer and more complete picture of what was going on. All in all, I spent a very pleasant afternoon pouring over "Gunpowder Plot" -- it was well written and delightful, and very, very absorbing to boot.

I discovered Daisy Dalrymple mysteries while at home with a virus...wanted to read a book that was NOT substantive and did NOT require deep thought. Daisy is a delight. The Daisy books take me back to the pleasure I remember reading Nancy Drew books in the 1960s! The GunPower Plot reviews history, takes us to a "stately home" in the Cotswalds...and provides interesting characters via Dolly, her Scotland Yard husband, Alec... and extended family and friends. So enjoyable a mystery that after reading GUNPOWDER PLOT (the newest of the series) I am going through all the Daisy books, one by one. Excellent character development, plots that hold attention...a good dose of history...great for those of us who grew up with Nancy...and great for those of us given to being Anglophiles.

This 15th installment in adventures of the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple continues the light breezy style of this delightful series. Daisy is a houseguest at a country manor, invited to observe a traditional Guy Fawkes celebration. Her intent is to write an article about the festivities, but when the host and an unexpected guest are shot dead, Daisy is once again inadvertently involved in a murder investigation. The plot line is reasonable. The author's efforts to distract the reader's attention from the culprit are a bit heavy-handed, but this slight failing is amply counter-balanced by a supporting cast of quirky characters who are even more amusing than usual for the series. All in all, this is a highly enjoyable book.

This novel, with a murder committed at a country house during Guy Fawkes Night fireworks, with a couple from Australia as suspects, is reminiscent of Agatha Christie's "Peril at End House," but Christie is not so long-winded or disorganized in the plotting.

I enjoy ALL of Carola Dunn's mysteries, and it is hard to find them in bookstores and libraries!

2 1/2 stars.

The fifteenth in the series of Daisy Dalrymple mysteries was my second (and probably final) reading of Carola Dunn works. I had previously read and reviewed Death at Wentwater Court (Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries, No. 1) which wasn't actually too bad until I encountered its abrupt and improbable conclusion. Noting the reviews of my Amazon peers of that particular book, it seemed advisable that I should give Dunn another chance as this work (Number One in the series) did not appear to resonate among mystery lovers as one of her better efforts.

In the book under review here, "Gunpowder Plot," I promptly discovered that Dunn's technique evidently involves conforming to a particular formula in penning her mysteries, a redundant process of which I tired after only the two readings. Her essential mystery ideas were better than average in both instances but each conveyance seemed to lack effort, knowledge, and worthy thought. To me the end results embodied "work product" rather than first-class murder mysteries.

THE STORY: [post-World War I, the English countryside, a manorial estate] At this point in her journalistic career, aristocrat (and amateur sleuth) Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher is married to Chief Detective Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, the latter of whom is just concluding a tiresome case and he is much anticipating the spending of some quality time with his now-pregnant wife. The ever-active Daisy is on assignment to write a magazine article about the estate of family friends. Upon Daisy's arrival she finds that the residents of the household are more than a little on edge and nervy - this is due chiefly to the old patriarch's foul temperament. He's especially angered at the moment that his son and heir apparent has chosen to be an aircraft engineer, a plebian existence at best from the old man's viewpoint. The young man fosters no desire whatever in yielding to the long-established family tradition of managing the estate, a task which has currently fallen to one of three marriage-eligible daughters. Escalating the frigid atmosphere even further, the son has invited a few house guests to the property of whom the old man highly disapproves, one of whom is a successful aircraft engineer who additionally seems keen on courting the clan's youngest of the three daughters. During the evening of the annual Guy Fawkes bonfire celebration, murder ensues and Chief Inspector Fletcher is speedily prevailed upon by a local Chief Constable to investigate.

As I previously mentioned, this yarn launched from an ample springboard: the annual Guy Fawkes bonfire celebration, conventionally sponsored by members of the aristocracy and largely carried out by rural villagers. Here we benefit from a terrific centerpiece for the story but which the author regrettably failed to embellish and expand, thus permitting a potentially marvelous theme to fall through the cracks. (To see this particular topic properly carried through to an exemplary pinnacle read Thomas Hardy's renowned Return of the Native (Penguin Popular Classics).)

The characters here are initially colorful but their subsequent development is inadequate - in the end, the principals seem superficial. This approach to mystery writing represents the literary equivalent of a Potemkin Village, (albeit I duly acknowledge that Potemkin himself was a martyr to the erroneous charge of facade-building.) This story is budding with great potential but my overall assessment is that the writing is somewhat indolent.

An additional concern with this mystery, (as well as with my single previous reading of this author), Carola Dunn seems to embrace little concept of police procedure, even accounting for fictional poetic license. The flawed ethics and marginal forensic processes which she attributes to early 20th Century Scotland Yard investigators are markedly contrary to the more cogent historical actualities. Why would I care about such a divergence from realism in a fictional account? Because this issue links directly with the plausibility of the story... and I found this tale to be pretty fanciful, especially drawing up to the finale.

And it seems that when Dunn reaches an apt page count for publication she directs her detectives to abruptly solve the mystery. These resolutions are typically less than gratifying to the devoted cozy murder enthusiast. I will say outright that some readers will find that this light approach to mystery-writing suits them just fine so I would hardly expect everyone to agree with my analytical assessment of Dunn's work.

In summary, while this whodunit is indeed quite readable, (Dunn does exhibit notable skill in writing dialogue), I wouldn't plan on adding a copy to my personal library to share a shelf alongside Tey, Sayers, Christie, Marsh, and so on. If you have yet to read Carola Dunn then my recommendation in this instance is to first give "Gunpowder Plot" a test run by acquiring the local public library's copy.

While I liked the way 1920s life was depicted at the Tyndall country home, the book was a slow and truncated read for me, with so many characters involved in the investigation (and referred to by different names) as to be confusing. Daisy comes across as believeable: likeable, but not too perfect. I didn't get much of a sense of her husband, Alec, however. The change in viewpoint when one or other of them interviews a witness adds to the choppy sequence of events, and neither one of them actually solves the case in the end. The ending itself was a bit hard to swallow as far as police procedure. Having said all that, I came into this series at book #15, and I can see how fans who have followed Daisy Dalrymple from the beginning might enjoy this book better.

I had the pleasure of meeting the author on an airplane. Such a delightful woman I decided to try her books. Just as lovely as she is.

This was the first book I have read in the Daisy Dalrymple Mystery series. I enjoyed the setting of 1920's England. Trying to figure out the 3 killings of 3 characters was a bit of a challenge.Gave my brain a workout. Just one murder would have been enough for the story, I thought.At times the story was hard to follow. I have another book of this series which I want to read soon, I got it after reading this one, so it was still a good read that made me want to read more Daisy Dalrymple Mystery books. I liked the larger print of the book in paperback form. Very easy on the eyes. B. Jackson

The Honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher returns with fireworks in the 15th installment of this historical mystery series. Six months along in her pregnancy, Daisy is traveling with her old friend, Gwen Tyndall, to Edge Manor, the Tyndall family estate, to write an article for her American readers on the annual Guy Fawkes gala that has taken place here for centuries.

Gwen's father is a testy baronet who likes to have everything and everyone under his thumb. He is also something of a snob, and is very upset when his son Jack invites a 'commoner', a friend who is an aeronautical engineer, to stay with them for the gala. Jack wants to become involved with airplanes, but his parents are outraged by the idea of their son working somewhere other than the family lands. When Jack finds the body of his father and a 'common' woman (Mrs. Gooch) who was visiting, with her husband, from Australia, dead in the study following the huge fireworks display, he is the first suspect once it is thought possible that murder took place.

Although Daisy had kept her husband's occupation private, Alec is called in to investigate the matter for Scotland Yard. Gwen's family is delighted at the prospect of having a friend of the family involved in the investigation, and Daisy is once more the confidant for many of the suspects' secrets. Gwen's sister Barbara has been the one running the estate in Jack's stead, although it was apparent her father didn't approve. This causes a lot of tension, as well as Gwen's seeming attraction to the man Jack wants to work with, both situations enraging their father. But no one can understand why Sir Harold would kill a stranger and then shoot himself on the night of the gala, which was Sir Harold's pride and joy. Suspects range from the children to perfect strangers to burglars, but Daisy, despite the fatigue and hunger brought on by a healthy pregnancy -- er condition -- uses her charm and common sense to pull the pieces together to help Alec solve the mystery with a minimum of fuss.

Dunn presents a wonderful cozy series depicting the many changes that England was experiencing in the 1920s. Daisy is a respectful young woman with a mind of her own whose views reflect the changing times mingled with understanding of how things used to be. Her love and loyalty to her friends and family is one of her most fantastic characteristics, but she is also open-minded enough to understand the vagaries of human nature.

This is an historical mystery with a delightfully developed plot for those who don't care for a lot of violence and bloodshed. www.gumshoereview.com