The Winter Garden Mystery

The Honorable Daisy Dalrymple heads to Occles Hall on assignment for Town and Country magazine. The occupants of the stately home include Daisy’s old school friend, Roberta, her very handsome brother Sebastian, and her domineering mother. While Daisy prepares to photograph the winter garden, one of the gardeners discovers a body buried in a shallow grave. It’s the missing parlormaid, who was presumed to have run off with a traveling salesman several weeks previously. The local police quickly arrest the young Welsh gardener who had been in love with the parlormaid, but Daisy is not convinced of his guilt. She calls her friend Alec Fletcher at Scotland Yard and asks him to find a way to take over the investigation.

In some ways this show more series reminds me of the Maisie Dobbs series. Both series begin in the 1920s shortly after the end of World War I. Daisy and Maisie have similar demeanors and they take similar approaches to investigative work. The series also reminds me of Anne Perry’s Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series and Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight Mysteries, where a young aristocratic woman is attracted to a policeman from a lower social class. show less

The Winter Garden Mystery is the second book in the Daisy Dalrymple Mystery series. Set in the 1920s, this series is along the lines of the Royal Flush series by Rhys Bowen or the Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood, mysteries being solved by young women who want more out of life than living at home with Mummy until getting married and becoming a housekeeper. In this case Daisy wants to be a writer and is currently writing articles for the Town and Country Magazine.

Her most recent assignment is to write about the stately home of Occles Hall. But when she is photographing the grounds she stops to investigate a recent digging. She uncovers the dead body of Grace Moss, a missing parlour maid. This solid mystery is delivered with charm show more and style as Daisy once again works with Scotland Yard’s Detective Inspector Alex Fletcher and together they explore alibis, feuds and secrets as they uncover the identity of the murderer.

While I am usually in the mood for darker mysteries this lighter version is packed with charm and engaging characters. Witty dialogue helps to make The Winter Garden Mystery an enjoyable and easy read when one is looking for something on the light side. show less

The Honorable Daisy Dalyrymple is visiting an old school chum while writing about her ancestral home when a body is discovered in the garden. Although the local police are happy to pin the housemaid's murder on her young foreign swain, Daisy has doubts. She calls in her childhood friend Philip Petrie and her new friend, Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, to help her investigate. Who killed Grace? Was it the beautiful but spineless heir who had gotten her pregnant? His best friend, the jealous Ben? His devoted sister, manipulative mother, or cowardly father? Grace's father or fiance? Or was it the travelling salesman who was seen talking to her only hours before she was killed? There are no physical clues. Only Daisy's stubborn will and show more insight into human nature can help her solve this case.

This is not as good as the first Daisy mystery, [b:Death at Wentwater Court|638247|Death At Wentwater Court (Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries, #1)|Carola Dunn|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266604731s/638247.jpg|624489]. The main characters have already been introduced, so Dunn spends less time drawing them out. The murder itself is not one of those incredibly convoluted schemes that takes the latest forensic tech to solve. It is just a basic small village murder, and is simply solved by buying rounds of drinks at the village pub and interviewing suspects. The real delight to these books is the 1920s themselves, which Dunn draws with a deft and light hand. Reminders of a depressed economy, rumbles of discontent against the upper classes, growing independence for women, and the damages of the first World War are woven throughout. And the characters themselves are fresh and breezy. Daisy has a great deal of spirit and sympathy, but as smart and kind as she is, she is still very much a product of her upbringing--she can't bring herself to shingle her hair, or stop grouping people according to class. This is, overall, a murder as cozy as a murder can be, and well worth the few hours it will take to read. show less

[This is a review I wrote in 2017]

The Winter Garden Mystery is the second in a long series of gentle cosy crime mysteries by Carola Dunn, the Daisy Dalrymple mysteries.

Daisy Dalrymple, or more correctly the Honourable Miss Dalrymple, is the daughter of aristocracy but the family estate was passed onto a cousin when her only brother was killed in the First World War. Daisy is expected to live with her mother at the family estate’s Dower House but, independently-minded Daisy prefers to make her own way in the world and house-share with a friend in London, while earning her living as a writer for a country magazine. Daisy has a particular skill for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and becoming embroiled in murder show more investigations.

It’s 1923 and Daisy is off to stay at Occles Hall to write an article for Town and Country about the history of the house and estate. Invited by the daughter of the house, a girl she was at school with though not particular friends with as the girl was a few years older, Daisy isn’t at all sure what to expect. She’s heard a few stories about the Lady of the manor, Lady Valeria, who carries before her a formidable reputation as an unrelenting battleaxe and Daisy starts to wonder what sort of an assignment she’s taken on.

When she arrives Daisy is soon put at ease by the welcome from horse-fanatic Bobbie, otherwise known as Roberta, her younger Adonis-like brother Sebastian and the family’s secretary, Ben Goodman. Sir Reginald also makes Daisy feel quite welcome, though he is a rather absent-minded man and spends all his waking hours at his estate’s dairy, creating award-winning cheeses. Lady Valeria is the only uncomfortable presence so Daisy does her best to avoid her and goes about writing her article and photographing the Hall and gardens.

A visit to the winter garden is a must as it is February at the time of Daisy’s visit so the winter garden is the best-looking part of the estate gardens to show off in the photos and article. Daisy is handed over to the young Welsh under-gardener, Owen, for the tour of the winter garden and on their visit Daisy spots a dead azalea bush in the middle of the garden which looks quite out-of-place amidst the winter flowering shrubs and evergreens. Owen is dismayed and calls on the head gardener straight away. They go to dig it up and make the shocking discovery of a dead body wrapped in a sheet buried under the dead bush. What’s more, the body is that of young Grace Moss, previous parlourmaid at the Hall and particular friend of Owen. She had disappeared a couple of months previously and it was assumed that she had gone off to London to find fortune and fun. A shocking secret lies buried with Grace as well… something to ruffle feathers and rock relationships up at the Hall.

The local Inspector proves to be worse than useless, so Daisy surreptitiously calls on her friend Alec, Detective Chief Inspector Fletcher, from Scotland Yard; an acquaintance made on a previous case Daisy found herself mixed up in and who seems to be as fond of Daisy as she is of him… though both are very aware that they come from different social classes and so their friendship is frowned upon by some members of the upper classes…

Daisy refuses to leave the excitement at the Hall and head back home to London, so Alec needs to find and catch the killer, with some urgency, before they strike again. Daisy’s meddling nature may well be putting her at risk. The trouble is, with a number of likely suspects and little hard evidence, can this murderer be caught?

A gentle 1920s cosy crime mystery, peppered with social etiquette, manners, and featuring the interesting and newly independent Daisy Dalrymple, finding her way in the new 1920s upper and middle class society. A very enjoyable and easy, lightweight read. Absolutely no gore, no deep psychological twists and no suspense of the sort to stop you sleeping at night. A very good, Golden Age-style, old-fashioned murder mystery. If you enjoy the Daisy Dalrymple series, you may also enjoy the Maisie Dobbs books by Jacqueline Winspear and the Kate Shackleton mysteries by Frances Brody.

A complete list of The Daisy Dalrymple mysteries to date (up to April 2017):
1. Death at Wentwater Court
2. The Winter Garden Mystery
3. Requiem for a Mezzo
4. Murder on the Flying Scotsman
5. Damsel in Distress
6. Dead in the Water
7. Styx and Stones
8. Rattle His Bones
9. To Davy Jones Below
10. The Case of the Murdered Muckraker
11. Mistletoe and Murder
12. Die Laughing
13. A Mourning Wedding
14. Fall of a Philanderer
15. Gunpowder Plot
16. The Bloody Tower
17. Black Ship
18. Sheer Folly
19. Anthem for Doomed Youth
20. Gone West
21. Heirs of the Body
22. Superfluous Women show less

The Winter Garden Mystery
3.5 Stars

For her new assignment with Town and Country magazine, the Honorable Miss Daisy Dalrymple travels to Occles Hall in Cheshire where she inadvertently stumbles across a corpse in the winter garden. When the innocent Welsh under-gardener is accused of the crime, Daisy is determined to uncover the truth.

Daisy is a simply delightful character. She manages to convey both inquisitiveness and caring without being excessively nosey or snooty. While she does sometimes rush headlong into trouble, she also takes appropriate precautions and often saves the day. Her slow-burn romance with the dark and sexy Detective Chief Inspector Alex Fletcher is also progressing nicely.

Unlike the first book where the mystery is show more resolved too hurriedly, the investigation here involves more commonplace policework (at least for the 1920s), namely questioning suspects and witnesses, and following up leads. There are one or two rather predictable twists and it is possible to guess the culprit and motive quite easily.

The real highlight of the book is Dunn's skillful portrayal of small-town life in rural England, particularly the social and economic changes in the aftermath of WWI, which add a touch of realism to the cozy genre.

Bernadette Dunne's narration took some getting used to in book #1, but she is growing on me. I look forward to the next installment. show less

On this second outing with the Hon. Daisy Dalrymple I have to wonder if she'll start to be a Jessica Fletcher-esque harbinger of doom for people she visits which could be problematic for her job of photographing and documenting some of the stately homes in England.

The beginning implies that there have been connections between herself and Inspector Fletcher but no meeting with his relatives yet, but she is suspicious when she finds a body while exploring the gardens of the latest stately home she's visiting. There she finds an acerbic mistress of the house who has caused bad blood with people around her.

One of the maids who was supposed to have run away to London turns up dead under some flowers and the investigation is slipshod, the show more welsh undergardener is blamed but Daisy is certain he's innocent, she gets Fletcher involved.

I like this series, light but with enough detail not to annoy. Though the cover is not to my liking, That's not Daisy on the cover, and many of them have her with too-short hair, she spends some time during this story debating getting a bob and losing the long hair she has throughout the story. show less

1920s, England, family-dynamics, friendship, murder, murder-investigation, due-diligence, law-enforcement, situational-humor, verbal-humor, cosy-mystery*****

I found the audio on sale and Daisy seemed a familiar character so I bought it. Good thing, too! Loved the story and the vivid characters. I got fooled with a twist or two and the red herrings were well done. Even better was finding that the series is done by Bernadette Dunne, although this is the first I've heard with her doing the British! Good fun. Enjoyed it so much I'll have to dive into the TBR pile and see if I have more hiding there before I buy.