Death at Wentwater Court - Carola Dunn

Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn


First Paragraph:

Midnight at Ciro's.  The strains of the Charleston died away amid applause for the...band.  As a babble of talk and laughter arose, the young man led his partner from the dance floor.  The older man watching him noted that his well-cut evening togs were slightly rumpled, his face too red even for the aftermath of the vigorous dance.  The youthful tart hanging on his arm didn't seem to care, though an excess of face-paint made it difficult to be sure.


My Thoughts:

This is first book in a favorite historical mystery series, featuring Daisy Dalrymple, who is an 'Honorable'.  Bernadette Dunne narrates and does a good job.  It's the 1920's and Daisy has decided to earn her own living by writing articles for a magazine.  Her social position allows her access to some historical homes still owned and lived in by the nobility.  She begins at Wentwater Court and all goes well until there is a death, presumably an accident.  However, Scotland Yard is called in and it turns out to be not so simple.  Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher and his team arrive and Daisy is drawn to the detective, even though policemen are not quite respectable or so society says.  Times are changing though and Daisy is very helpful - mostly.  A fun series, with a hint of romance, perhaps...


Blurb:

It's the early 1920s in England--the country is still recovering from the Great War and undergoing rapid social changes that many are not quite ready to accept. During this heady and tumultuous time, the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple, the daughter of a Viscount, makes a decision shocking to her class: rather than be supported by her relations, she will earn her own living as a writer. Landing an assignment for Town & Country magazine for a series of articles on country manor houses, she travels to Wentwater Court in early January 1923 to begin research on her first piece. But all is not well there when she arrives. Lord Wentwater's young wife has become the center of a storm of jealousy, animosity, and, possibly, some not-unwanted amorous attention, which has disrupted the peace of the bucolic country household.

Still, this is as nothing compared to the trouble that ensues when one of the holiday guests drowns in a tragic early-morning skating accident. Especially when Daisy discovers that his death was no accident....