Another Review at MyShelf.Com

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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