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Daisy Dalrymple #5
Młoda dama w opałach
Wczesnym latem 1923 roku Phillip Petrie spotyka Glorię Arbuckle, kobietę swoich marzeń i córkę amerykańskiego milionera. Całkowicie traci dla niej głowę. Komplikacje pojawiają się, gdy samochód Arbuckle'ów psuje się nagle pośrodku odludnej okolicy, a zakochanych uprowadzają bandyci. Petrie zostaje odnaleziony jako pierwszy i natychmiast zwraca się o pomoc do swojej wieloletniej przyjaciółki, Daisy Dalrymple. Ponieważ ojciec Glorii nie chce zgłaszać porwania Scotland Yardowi, Daisy stara się rozwiązać tę zagadkową sprawę na własną rękę
285 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
163 people are currently reading
880 people want to read
About the author
Carola Dunn
91 books886 followersCarola Dunn is the author of more than 30 Regency romances, as well as 16 mysteries (the Daisy Dalrymple mystery series is set in England in the 1920s). Ms. Dunn was born and grew up in England, where she got a B.A. in Russian and French from Manchester University. She travelled as far as Fiji before returning to settle in California. After 30 years in the US, she says she still sounds as if she arrived a month ago.
Prior to writing, Ms. Dunn’s various jobs included market research, child-care, construction--from foundation trenches to roofing--and writing definitions for a dictionary of science and technology. She wrote her first novel in 1979, a Regency which she sold to Warner Books.
Now living in Eugene, Oregon, Ms. Dunn has a son in California who has just made her a grandmother, and a large black dog named Willow who takes her for a walk by the Willamette River each morning. (www.belgravehouse.com)
Prior to writing, Ms. Dunn’s various jobs included market research, child-care, construction--from foundation trenches to roofing--and writing definitions for a dictionary of science and technology. She wrote her first novel in 1979, a Regency which she sold to Warner Books.
Now living in Eugene, Oregon, Ms. Dunn has a son in California who has just made her a grandmother, and a large black dog named Willow who takes her for a walk by the Willamette River each morning. (www.belgravehouse.com)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 314 reviews
February 23, 2025
Damsel in Distress is my favorite of the series so far. I like the setting and the characters are great. In this book, the mystery and action hits close to home near Daisy's home in the country as well as with her friend, Phillip, who is enamored with an American young lady who runs into some danger. Phil brings Daisy in to help and their whole group of friends gather at the manor house that Daisy grew up in to find the young lady who was taken by some bad guys. Even DCI Alec Fletcher joins them for the weekend for the craziness. Some things are developing on the romance front too. I am looking forward to see what happens in the next book. I listened to the book via Chirp and enjoyed the narration.
March 24, 2019
While this has been a fun series, this entry took a step up by not having a murder & the question was finally popped. Whew! I've been waiting for that a long time.
As usual, there's a mess & Daisy is called in for help. It makes perfect sense & she performs admirably. She manages to orchestrate things quite well & everything works out in the end, as usual. That's not a spoiler, just the way the series rolls. They're cozy mysteries & a lot of fun. I highly recommend reading them in order.
As audiobooks, they're pretty close to perfect. The narration is great & the plots are simple enough that no large amount of attention is required. They're good for a chuckle & a bit of suspense.
As usual, there's a mess & Daisy is called in for help. It makes perfect sense & she performs admirably. She manages to orchestrate things quite well & everything works out in the end, as usual. That's not a spoiler, just the way the series rolls. They're cozy mysteries & a lot of fun. I highly recommend reading them in order.
As audiobooks, they're pretty close to perfect. The narration is great & the plots are simple enough that no large amount of attention is required. They're good for a chuckle & a bit of suspense.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 19, 2022
This was a fun interlude to the murder mysteries. I love that we got more time with some key characters in this book, like Daisy's dotty cousin Edgar who inherited Fairacres (he reminded me SO much of Wodehouse's Earl of Emsworth), Daisy's mother, Lucy and her beau Binkie, Phillip and his new girl Gloria, and, of course, Alec. This one was suitably madcap, and I enjoyed that. It was more Wodehousian in that respect, too. Part of the plot involves a house party at Fairacres as a coverup for some on-the-sly, Daisy-is-involved-in-a-crime-again business. I loved the humor in this where Edgar, a lepidoperist, would be talking about a moth or butterfly, but the name of the insect throws everyone off. Like when he finds a "Chimney Sweep", so everyone is looking around for a person who is a chimney sweep when he's actually referring to a moth. LOL
These audio books are so perfect. They're usually eight hours or less and are good company when I'm cooking, doing a mindless task at work, etc. They're good fun and don't take too much concentration to follow.
These audio books are so perfect. They're usually eight hours or less and are good company when I'm cooking, doing a mindless task at work, etc. They're good fun and don't take too much concentration to follow.
January 24, 2021
Wieder einmal durfte ich Miss Daisy auf ihren Abenteuern begleiten. Dieses mal galt es, eine junge Amerikanerin zu retten, in die sich ihr Jugendfreund Phillip Hals über Kopf verliebt hatte.
January 7, 2017
I loved the first four in the series as they were cleverly constructed fairly well written fun little stories, but this was God awful. It read like a famous five parody written for the Alabama Mary Poppins appreciation Society. Far far too many what hos and jolly goods by Jove while the reader is left screaming "get on with the bloody plot!" Turning to a page at random and there are two darlings, a right-ho, a jolly good, a simply marvellous, a spiffing, and the sentence "Can't let the side down don't y'know".
The book in general wasn't so bad when Daisy was introduced to the story but Phillip's dialogue was pure dirge. He's just this one dimensional cardboard cut out character spewing out stock "1920s British speak" phrases over and over again and oh wait what was that the word pissing randomly thrown in to describe a character urinating on a tree, and did I really just read "I looked like a ruddy native in a turban"? (in British English ruddy means dirty brown).
"I looked like an Egyptian mummy" would have been fine, it's not being true to the language of the time if you use the word pissing, so that argument holds no weight. Decide what you want, modern language or casual racism, because using both is astonishingly poor writing. Another niggle is the repeated use of the word "hood" by English characters. I think Dunn must have lived in America so long that she's forgotten that we call it a bonnet.
In its defence It got a lot better when Daisy got involved, even if it could only have been more obvious who did it if neon flashing signs had been involved, but I can't forgive the first 1/3 of the book. From the reviews it looks like this is the only weak one in the series, I hope so.
Loses a star because the sentence "Phillip's frightfully pipped, the poor old fish", and there being a character named "Binkie" who is literally only there so that there can be a character named "Binkie", is taking your theme two steps too far. P.G. Wodehouse you ain't love.
The book in general wasn't so bad when Daisy was introduced to the story but Phillip's dialogue was pure dirge. He's just this one dimensional cardboard cut out character spewing out stock "1920s British speak" phrases over and over again and oh wait what was that the word pissing randomly thrown in to describe a character urinating on a tree, and did I really just read "I looked like a ruddy native in a turban"? (in British English ruddy means dirty brown).
"I looked like an Egyptian mummy" would have been fine, it's not being true to the language of the time if you use the word pissing, so that argument holds no weight. Decide what you want, modern language or casual racism, because using both is astonishingly poor writing. Another niggle is the repeated use of the word "hood" by English characters. I think Dunn must have lived in America so long that she's forgotten that we call it a bonnet.
In its defence It got a lot better when Daisy got involved, even if it could only have been more obvious who did it if neon flashing signs had been involved, but I can't forgive the first 1/3 of the book. From the reviews it looks like this is the only weak one in the series, I hope so.
Loses a star because the sentence "Phillip's frightfully pipped, the poor old fish", and there being a character named "Binkie" who is literally only there so that there can be a character named "Binkie", is taking your theme two steps too far. P.G. Wodehouse you ain't love.
October 6, 2021
Damsel in Distress
2 Stars
When the American heiress he has taken a shine to is kidnapped, Philip Petrie enlists Daisy's help to get her back. The only snag is that she cannot inform Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher.
Oh no! This was awful.
To begin with, the pacing is excruciatingly slow with far too much description of nonsensical detail. The interactions and dialogue between the members of Daisy's snobby "set" are annoying, and the supposed period vocabulary (right-ho!, silly chump, poor prune, etc...) is ridiculous.
The kidnapping plot has potential but the identity of the American co-conspiritor is laughably obvious at the start, and the idea that a bunch of spoiled, elitist aristocrats would participate in a search for an unknown American woman is completely unrealistic.
The only enjoyable moments are those between Daisy and Alec, and these are few and far between.
Finally, Mia Chariamonte's narration is dreadful. I hope the next book is better.
2 Stars
When the American heiress he has taken a shine to is kidnapped, Philip Petrie enlists Daisy's help to get her back. The only snag is that she cannot inform Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher.
Oh no! This was awful.
To begin with, the pacing is excruciatingly slow with far too much description of nonsensical detail. The interactions and dialogue between the members of Daisy's snobby "set" are annoying, and the supposed period vocabulary (right-ho!, silly chump, poor prune, etc...) is ridiculous.
The kidnapping plot has potential but the identity of the American co-conspiritor is laughably obvious at the start, and the idea that a bunch of spoiled, elitist aristocrats would participate in a search for an unknown American woman is completely unrealistic.
The only enjoyable moments are those between Daisy and Alec, and these are few and far between.
Finally, Mia Chariamonte's narration is dreadful. I hope the next book is better.
March 4, 2013
This is just like reading a Famous Five book! All jolly japes,cycling, picnics, kidnaps and rescues. A little bit of romance thrown in and it was a few hours of pure escapism. Bless you Daisy Dalrymple.
November 23, 2015
Oh, yay! I do so love being able to report that a sequel is actually stronger than its predecessors - it's so often not the case. Damsel in Distress easily ranks as one of my favourites in the series so far, along with books 1 & 2, in part because there's some significant and highly satisfactory developments on the romance front with Daisy and Alec, and also because we depart from the tried and true "Daisy finds out who helped so-and-so to an early grave" format.
We have a large-scale kidnapping case this time; as cliché as it sounds to have the daughter of an American millionaire end up victim to kidnapping, Carola Dunn really made the most out of the suspense that comes from having Daisy & Friends mobilize in force in a desperate bid to prevent the appearance of another dead body. Unlike the usual whodunnit, this put the actual course of the search (with all its twists, turns and heart-thumping near discoveries) in the forefront and we get to see Daisy at her spunkiest and most intelligent.
All this is very neatly interwoven with the character and relationship developments that I've come to appreciate about this series - we finally find out more about Daisy's family home as well as her mother and her relatives, all of whom had thus far been relegated to footnotes. And of course we can't forget Daisy and her steadfast Alec, both of whom are absolutely lovely together in this book; I'm happy to find that this is one of those well-written relationships where the romance and general cuteness doesn't fade just because we've passed the hook-up stage.
Getting more time with Daisy's circle of close friends was also a highlight, since she'd previously been surrounded mostly by a cast of potentially suspicious strangers - it was particularly fun to see how quickly Alec was adopted by her friends.
We have a large-scale kidnapping case this time; as cliché as it sounds to have the daughter of an American millionaire end up victim to kidnapping, Carola Dunn really made the most out of the suspense that comes from having Daisy & Friends mobilize in force in a desperate bid to prevent the appearance of another dead body. Unlike the usual whodunnit, this put the actual course of the search (with all its twists, turns and heart-thumping near discoveries) in the forefront and we get to see Daisy at her spunkiest and most intelligent.
All this is very neatly interwoven with the character and relationship developments that I've come to appreciate about this series - we finally find out more about Daisy's family home as well as her mother and her relatives, all of whom had thus far been relegated to footnotes. And of course we can't forget Daisy and her steadfast Alec, both of whom are absolutely lovely together in this book; I'm happy to find that this is one of those well-written relationships where the romance and general cuteness doesn't fade just because we've passed the hook-up stage.
Getting more time with Daisy's circle of close friends was also a highlight, since she'd previously been surrounded mostly by a cast of potentially suspicious strangers - it was particularly fun to see how quickly Alec was adopted by her friends.
January 31, 2019
Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
In this instalment of the Daisy Dalrymple series, Philip falls in love, and immediately gets into a scrape. Daisy, of course, is pretty glad to hear about the lucky girl (it gets Philip off her back, and after all she wants him to be happy) and immediately plunges into trouble to help rescue her when something goes wrong. Alec comes into the story later, and mostly unofficially, with plenty of derring-do and dramatic rescue attempts on the part of all concerned.
In a way, there’s not much to say about this book: it’s fairly predictable as far as the fact that you know Daisy is going to get into all the trouble there is to get into, and figure out most of the salient points (with Alec not doing so badly either, of course). Things turn out pretty much okay at the end, not to mention the fact that Alec and Daisy end the book engaged.
The series remains a lot of fun, and rather wholesome fun at that. If you can’t bear Phryne Fisher’s taste in men, it’s a good alternative for a cosy mystery series.
In this instalment of the Daisy Dalrymple series, Philip falls in love, and immediately gets into a scrape. Daisy, of course, is pretty glad to hear about the lucky girl (it gets Philip off her back, and after all she wants him to be happy) and immediately plunges into trouble to help rescue her when something goes wrong. Alec comes into the story later, and mostly unofficially, with plenty of derring-do and dramatic rescue attempts on the part of all concerned.
In a way, there’s not much to say about this book: it’s fairly predictable as far as the fact that you know Daisy is going to get into all the trouble there is to get into, and figure out most of the salient points (with Alec not doing so badly either, of course). Things turn out pretty much okay at the end, not to mention the fact that Alec and Daisy end the book engaged.
The series remains a lot of fun, and rather wholesome fun at that. If you can’t bear Phryne Fisher’s taste in men, it’s a good alternative for a cosy mystery series.
dnf
July 20, 2023DNF at 22%. This book feels different in tone the first four... Too many cringe-worthy moments of dialogue between Philip and other characters, he felt very different compared to his presence in the other books.
September 8, 2017
Well, this one was several kinds of problematic. Honestly, 2 stars feels slightly charitable.
The good:
-the engagement and a couple of associated charming moments (emphasis on the moments, note)
The significantly less good
-Phillip Petrie is a delightful side-character, the typical bumbling, but well-meaning and good-natured aristocrat. He's basically Bertie Wooster, tbh. Fine in small doses, and as a sort of foil for Daisy. As a narrator, annoying as all get-out. Thus, the first quarter of the book was a write-off for me.
-Daisy doesn't appear until a quarter of the way through, when Phillip takes her into his confidence re: his hopefully-soon-to-be-fiance's kidnapping (coincidentally near to where Daisy and Phillip grew up/their estates), but they can't tell the police, for plot reasons. So Alec is kept in the dark, and back in London.
-Alec finally shows up (because Daisy's asked him to come up and meet her mother), but then unbelievably irritatingly, DAISY GETS KIDNAPPED. Thankfully, Daisy is the sort of plucky heroine who gets herself out of kidnapping situations, and this does not last long (thank heavens for small mercies), but I was already skimming, and that plotline did not endear me to the novel
-This is essentially followed by , followed by a rescue attempt that I'd lost interest in about 100 pages prior.
To sum up, it's over halfway through the book before Daisy and Alec even interact for more than a page at a time, and Seargeant Tring and Piper essentially don't appear. Since I am basically here fort he Daisy/Alec banter, with a side of police force fun, this book was pretty much a dud.
I skimmed. Extensively.
The good:
-the engagement and a couple of associated charming moments (emphasis on the moments, note)
The significantly less good
-Phillip Petrie is a delightful side-character, the typical bumbling, but well-meaning and good-natured aristocrat. He's basically Bertie Wooster, tbh. Fine in small doses, and as a sort of foil for Daisy. As a narrator, annoying as all get-out. Thus, the first quarter of the book was a write-off for me.
-Daisy doesn't appear until a quarter of the way through, when Phillip takes her into his confidence re: his hopefully-soon-to-be-fiance's kidnapping (coincidentally near to where Daisy and Phillip grew up/their estates), but they can't tell the police, for plot reasons. So Alec is kept in the dark, and back in London.
-Alec finally shows up (because Daisy's asked him to come up and meet her mother), but then unbelievably irritatingly, DAISY GETS KIDNAPPED. Thankfully, Daisy is the sort of plucky heroine who gets herself out of kidnapping situations, and this does not last long (thank heavens for small mercies), but I was already skimming, and that plotline did not endear me to the novel
-This is essentially followed by , followed by a rescue attempt that I'd lost interest in about 100 pages prior.
To sum up, it's over halfway through the book before Daisy and Alec even interact for more than a page at a time, and Seargeant Tring and Piper essentially don't appear. Since I am basically here fort he Daisy/Alec banter, with a side of police force fun, this book was pretty much a dud.
I skimmed. Extensively.
April 17, 2022
More of this cosy whodunnit series, doing its job of distraction.
October 19, 2020
Although not as exciting a mystery because they were only solving a kidnapping, not a murder, I still enjoyed the book because I really like Daisy and Alec. I did find the story slow at times because there didn’t seem to be any urgency in finding the poor kidnapped woman. Lol.
November 20, 2020
3.5 stars
This was a silly Daisy Dalrymple, at least more silly than usual, and I liked it. Edgar is my new favorite character. I hope he shows up again.
This was a silly Daisy Dalrymple, at least more silly than usual, and I liked it. Edgar is my new favorite character. I hope he shows up again.
September 9, 2023
3,5
Tym razem śledzimy sprawę nie morderstwa, a porwania. Co mnie pozytywnie zaskoczyło, bo spodziewałam się właśnie tego drugiego.
Tym razem śledzimy sprawę nie morderstwa, a porwania. Co mnie pozytywnie zaskoczyło, bo spodziewałam się właśnie tego drugiego.
February 25, 2018
All the subterfuge and plotting to save the damsel in this book was hilarious. it brought to mind the play Noises Off for some reason. Just fun-- and a little silly, but easy to read and enjoyable.
October 7, 2022
A fun installment in the series.
July 3, 2018
This is one of the better entries in this series, which is pretty good overall. Daisy shows her planning and organizational skills, introduces Alec to her mother and her uncle and aunt (the new Lord and Lady Dalrymple), and helps find a kidnapped heiress.
July 23, 2023
Unlike the other books in the Dalrymple series, this definitely felt more Enid Blyton than Agatha Christie! With the kidnap, shady kidnappers and the whole countryside setting building to Daisy and her upper-class friends going on an "adventure" to find the kidnapped love-interest of Philip (Gloria, who Philip somewhat unromantically nicknames "Glow-worm"), roaming country lanes and fields, it was incredibly twee and yet? I found there something so satisfying warm about this book that I could forgive how utterly predictable and jaunty it was.
And it *was* predictable. From the way that we were introduced to Gloria through Philip's adoring eyes, there was only one possible orchestrator behind the kidnap even if it took an age for the characters themselves to piece it together. The tension was more in the race against time to find Gloria before the ransom was paid and the book allows for the introduction of Daisy's family, nudging her relationship with Alex into something official finally.
And it *was* predictable. From the way that we were introduced to Gloria through Philip's adoring eyes, there was only one possible orchestrator behind the kidnap even if it took an age for the characters themselves to piece it together. The tension was more in the race against time to find Gloria before the ransom was paid and the book allows for the introduction of Daisy's family, nudging her relationship with Alex into something official finally.
August 15, 2021
Eher 2,5...
Diesen Band der Reihe fand ich einfach richtig bescheuert... Der Entführungsfall war doof, die entführte Frau war so nervtötend beschrieben das man sich fragt, warum sie so beschränkt und dümmlich dargestellt werden musste??? Phillip den ich als Figur bisher eigentlich ganz gern mochte, wurde auf einmal auch eher beschränkt dargestellt. (Was vorher meiner Meinung nach nie der Fall war. Er ist halt konservativ und hat etwas gegen Daisys Arbeit, aber jetzt wird so getan, als ob er noch nie besonders schlau gewesen wäre usw. Echt ärgerlich.)
Überflüssiger Band ...
Diesen Band der Reihe fand ich einfach richtig bescheuert... Der Entführungsfall war doof, die entführte Frau war so nervtötend beschrieben das man sich fragt, warum sie so beschränkt und dümmlich dargestellt werden musste??? Phillip den ich als Figur bisher eigentlich ganz gern mochte, wurde auf einmal auch eher beschränkt dargestellt. (Was vorher meiner Meinung nach nie der Fall war. Er ist halt konservativ und hat etwas gegen Daisys Arbeit, aber jetzt wird so getan, als ob er noch nie besonders schlau gewesen wäre usw. Echt ärgerlich.)
Überflüssiger Band ...
January 8, 2019
I liked this mystery better then at least one other in the series. I was glad for the relationship development in this installment. It was dragging on before... and this one was intriguing because it was a mystery but it was not a murder mystery, which was a nice change from mysteries I have been reading lately. Even though I love a good murder mystery.
2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover
2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover
July 21, 2017
This is the second book I've read in the Daisy Dalrymple series and I continue to like these characters. In this story, Daisy introduces her mom to her boyfriend in the police force, and helps the police find a kidnapper. I enjoyed the story and the characters.
December 20, 2017
There's not much more I can say about this series that I haven't already.
It is a fun cozy mystery with continuing development of characters set in 1920s England.
Audiobooks are well narrated too :)
It is a fun cozy mystery with continuing development of characters set in 1920s England.
Audiobooks are well narrated too :)
February 20, 2018
The Honorable Daisy Dalrymple is at it again. This time there isn't a dead body. Her dear friend Philip is in love with an American heiress and during a trip to the country where he intends to introduce his family the young woman and he are kidnapped. The kidnappers, city dwellers, truss Philip up and leave him on the Dalrymple estate where he takes up residence and calls in Daisy for her help.
The story moves along at a great pace like the others in the series however since it is a kidnapping it isn't a strong suit of Scotland Yard and the police have been left completely out of the loop. Leave it to Alec to deduce what is going on...
This is another great part of the series involving more of Daisy's friends than Alec'sfriends and coworkers. I would think any of my friends might enjoy this installment but I would say it is best to go in order with this series.
The story moves along at a great pace like the others in the series however since it is a kidnapping it isn't a strong suit of Scotland Yard and the police have been left completely out of the loop. Leave it to Alec to deduce what is going on...
This is another great part of the series involving more of Daisy's friends than Alec'sfriends and coworkers. I would think any of my friends might enjoy this installment but I would say it is best to go in order with this series.
March 20, 2019
Another cute story about Daisy Dalrymple and her cast of friends. The romance between her and Alec is proceeding nicely, and this kidnapping tale was great fun. Daisy is a great book to listen to while I exercise, and a nice palate cleanser between heavier reads.
August 28, 2023
not my favorite
September 14, 2021
Very exciting
November 4, 2022
I have been enjoying this free series on Audible, easy to listen to during my morning jog, without demanding too much concentration. Nevertheless this book was absolute rubbish. Inane situations and dialogues. And people nibbling on chocolate or being fed sandwiches while trying to save someone’s life.
Read
May 4, 2024Fun. A little messy as a story and it needed several people holding the idiot ball to make the plot go, but another good Daisy book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 314 reviews