|
Publisher:
Kensington Mystery |
Release
Date: July 2001; frequent reprints |
ISBN:
1575667525 |
Format
Reviewed: Paperback |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Genre:
Historical Crime [1923 London] |
Reviewed:
2004 |
Reviewer:
Rachel A Hyde |
|
Requiem For A Mezzo
Daisy Dalrymple Mystery,
No 3
By Carola Dunn
The
Honourable Daisy Dalrymple and her Scotland Yard beau, Alec Fletcher,
are enjoying a production of Verdi's Requiem at the Albert Hall.
One of the soloists is Bettina Westlea, Daisy's neighbor. Right
in the middle of the performance she is poisoned. There is no shortage
of suspects, as apart from her doting husband, just about everybody
disliked her and had a motive to kill her. Daisy has to sift through
the many suspects, including two suspicious Russians, a fiery Spanish
woman, an adulterous Welsh tenor, and even Bettina's own mousy sister,
Muriel.
Just
when you thought that this was going to be a series about country
house murders, here is Daisy back in London and doing something
different. We are still in cozy territory here, particularly as
the murdered woman was so unpleasant. There is not too much tragedy
here to mar a good mystery, and this is a true puzzle whodunit.
This third novel in the series has improved on the first two with
an even more tangled plot, replete with red herrings and colorful
suspects galore. This is less a novel looking closely at post-war
England than it is a straightforward detective novel, very classic
era and thoroughly enjoyable, with the right light touch and plenty
of plot. Effervescent and a real page-turner.
Reviews of other titles in this series
Death
at Wentwater Court, 1
The
Winter Garden Mystery, 2
Requiem
For A Mezzo, 3
Murder
on the Flying Scotsman, 4
Damsel
in Distress, 5
Dead
In The Water, 6
Styx
and Stones, 7
Rattle His Bones, 8 [review
1] [review
2]
To
Davy Jones Below, 9
The
Case of the Murdered Muckraker, 10
Mistletoe
and Murder, 11
Die
Laughing, 12
A
Mourning Wedding, 13
Fall
of a Philanderer, 14
Gunpowder
Plot, 15
The
Black Ship, 17
Sheer
Folly, 18
Anthem
For Doomed Youth, 19
Gone
West, 20
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