6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun and mystery in 1920s London., January 8, 2001
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.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Same old Carola Dunn formula for murder (details), February 15, 2010
2 1/2 stars.
Igor Stravinsky was once queried about his limited number of symphonies (about three, more or less) and the interviewer pointed out that another renowned and much more prolific composer (who shall remain anonymous here) had penned over 100 symphonies. The acerbic Stravinsky cleverly responded: "Yes, he composed the same symphony 100 times." That's sort of how I feel about Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple mysteries.
Here is the redundant and standard Dunn formula: A prickly and otherwise unlikable character is murdered, (which always establishes an ample springboard for spawning plenty of likely suspects); Daisy is inevitably present at the crime scene and her boyfriend (later her husband), Scotland Yard Chief Detective Inspector Alec Fletcher, who fruitlessly attempts to prevent Daisy's involvement in the case, is swiftly called in with his recurrent forensic team; a hectic imbroglio regarding Fletcher's territorial rights in the matter, his being possibly supplanted by either a superior or by the local police officials, always arises during the story, and; when the murderer abruptly confesses (usually to keep some sympathetic innocent from being hung), the real assassin turns out to be some widely-beloved principal who is portrayed as having a fairly justifiable reason to snuff the victim -- this killer almost never has to face justice because they are either near death anyway (medical reasons), or they promptly commit suicide in some "fall-on-the-sword" manner, or both.
THE STORY: [The setting is post-WW I England] In this poisoning case, a stunning but foul-tempered and self-indulgent mezzo-soprano is about to sing her role onstage in Verdi's "[Messa da] Requiem," (I wish it had been Fauré's "Requiem in D minor, Op. 48" which is a huge favorite of mine, dang it!), when she imbibes from her glass just preparatory to her aria -- she abruptly drops dead, apparently from cyanide poisoning, in front of 7,000 witnesses.
The victim's multiple lovers (some are married) are immediately scrutinized as are the following suspects: her elderly husband, her unattractive sister, the wives of her lovers, fellow soloists and other persons musical, the victim's personal physician, and so on. It was, of course, inevitable that both Daisy and Chief Inspector Fletcher were present in the audience, on a date. Fletcher takes immediate charge of the case but the clues are as abundant as they are vague.
I had little difficulty in pre-guessing the finale on this one so having anticipated the probable outcome diminished the suspense for me. You'll find that you can do this with some precision after reading only a couple of books from the Daisy Dalrymple series.
I guess I get a little annoyed at Dunn because it is clear to me that she exhibits an obviously intelligent capacity for writing so much better. She always begins with a terrific idea for a cozy murder, including a marvelous setting and characters which are, at least initially, colorful and appealing. From my view, Dunn's mysteries need to be expanded by at least 100 pages as her stories end up being superficial and they lack both character development and atmosphere. Perhaps she feels that her publisher simply does not pay her enough for the additional effort but her mysteries could be notably improved with just a little more literary exertion.
I had actually decided to forsake any further Daisy Dalrymple mysteries subsequent to my second attempt at the series but this one came to me through a previously ordered (four weeks ago) inter-library loan and they charge you five bucks if you don't pick them up! So I did. Of the three I have now read this one was probably the best, the others being:
Death at Wentwater Court (Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries, No. 1) and
Gunpowder Plot (Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries, No. 15). Of course there are many more but unless someone comes forward to inform me that there is one which does not conform to the formula which I outlined above, I plan to move on to other writers. Of other contemporary authors, Val McDermid writes much more true-to-life murder fiction but I really enjoy her writing style and the remarkable depth of her plots -- this one was outstanding:
A Place of Execution.
Perhaps I'm too hard on Carola Dunn as there are many, many authors who write mysteries far inferior to hers, especially the writers of so-called "culinary murders" such as:
The Cereal Murders (Goldy Culinary Mysteries, Book 3). Not to pick on a particular author (there are several), but this sub-genre has really turned into an category of cozys which I have dubbed "Murder Goofy" -- they're really awful and getting worse by the day, just my opinion.
In summary, Dunn's 212-page, 1996 "Requiem for a Mezzo" is quite run-of-the-mill, nothing new here. Some folks are okay with this "Murder-Lite" form of fiction and I can understand how they might become Dunn fans. But if you are accustomed to sinking your teeth into Christie, Tey, Sayers, Marsh, Kaye, and so on, then this entry in the Daisy Dalrymple series will likely fall short for you.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Murder of a mezzo soprano, October 24, 2001
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.
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