Requiem for a Mezzo

Requiem for a Mezzo
3 Stars

The Honorable Miss Daisy Dalrymple and Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher attend the opera only to find themselves enmeshed in a murder investigation when the Soprano Mezzo, who also happens to be Daisy's neighbor, is poisoned on stage. As the details emerge, it is revealed that more than one person might have wanted the diva dead.

Not as entertaining as the first two books mostly due to the fact that the mystery leaves much to be desired.

To begin with, the victim is a nasty piece of work and it is difficult to drum up any sympathy for her. The suspects, of which there are far too many to keep track of without a notebook, are all stereotypical and cartoonish, and it is easy to figure out the culprit and the motive. show more

Nevertheless, the ongoing character development for Daisy is engaging and her relationship with Alec is progressing in the right direction. The playful banter between Daisy, Alec, and the two police officers under his command is particularly entertaining.

Overall, not the best effort, but I am enjoying the series and the next one takes place on a train á la Murder on the Orient Express! show less

From the book jacket: The Honourable Daisy Dalrymple attends a performance of Verdi’s Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall with Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard. What should be a pleasant afternoon is disrupted when Bettina Westlea, the mezzo-soprano, falls dead onstage. But it was no accident – she was poisoned.

My reactions
Book number three in this delightful cozy mystery series set in 1920s England. Daisy may be “to the manor born,” but she is fiercely independent. She’s also observant, intelligent and an astute judge of character. DCI Fletcher seems to rely on her more in this episode, as she was present when the death occurred, and the mezzo was her next-door neighbor. There are plenty of suspects show more including other performers, jealous lovers, a long-suffering sister, and a possible anarchist. I wish I had been listening to the audiobook, only because of the many “foreign” characters; I think the narrator might have had a great time with all those accents!

It's a fast read with a satisfying resolution. I’ll keep on with this series. show less

cosy-mystery, England, family-dynamics, friendship, infidelity, opera-stars, murder, murder-investigation, law-enforcement, due-diligence, situational-humor, verbal-humor, London*****

Daisy is back in her flat in London and meets the neighbors. This leads to tickets to a musical evening with DCI Fletcher, and that means murder. Lots of suspects and convoluted interpersonal entanglements, laughable interchanges, and even some unexpected interference. Good read for a time at home from weather or pandemic.
Bernadette Dunne continues to embody the characters and join in on the fun.

Daisy is planning a relaxing evening out with Alec, not expecting that it's going to turn into a murder mystery with the victim being an unpleasant mezzo soprano who is coincidentally Daisy's neighbour. There's a lot of people with motive to kill her and things keep getting complicated with a lot of red herrings and some other unpleasant people to deal with.

It's not a bad read, didn't like it as much as the others in the series but it's fun reading and she does get the period feel well, she reads like a lot of the authors of that era that I've read before.

The Honorable Daisy Dalrymple writes magazine articles for a living and for fun, pokes her nose into the cases of her friend, Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard. In this, the third book of the series, the attraction between Daisy and Alec continues to deepen while they sort out their class differences. This book is ostensibly about the murder investigation of an unpleasant opera singer, but the mystery is so far from thrilling that only my affection for the main characters kept me reading. If you liked the first two books about Daisy, you might as well read this one, but don't expect too much.

I don't mean to damn it with faint praise--I enjoyed reading this, and the writing has a cozy charm all its own. But I realized as I wrote show more this review that a week after reading it, I couldn't really remember the plot and had, in fact, utterly forgotten who the murderer was. show less

One of the earlier books, Daisy and Alex are growing close indeed. Once again, she becomes enmeshed in a murder case. She invited Alex to a concert and the mezzo soprano died in the middle of the performance.
The mystery is solvable, perhaps too easily? But the story is enjoyable. I like the setting and the characters, and the narrator reads the story well.

Daisy and Alec finally get to go on a date to a concert at the Albert Hall. Unsurprisingly the mezzo-soprano, also Daisy's next door neighbour, drops dead during the concert and it looks like she was murdered. Alec and his team take on the case and Alec, unsuccessfully tries to prevent Daisy from getting too involved. This is another fun and fast read, and I love how the relationships of the main characters develops between the books.