Hungry Spirits

Daisy Gumm Majesty Mystery #4

by Alice Duncan

Daisy Gumm Majesty, spiritualist to people with more money than sense, is asked by a Salvation Army captain to teach a cooking class for immigrant German ladies. Since Daisy's only culinary talent is burning water, she's sure the captain is nuts.

But Daisy steps up and forces herself to confront her own prejudices about Germans, whom she blames for her veteran-husband's war illness.

Then one of her students disappears and Daisy discovers that the help her students need has nothing to do with cooking-there's an anarchist's scheme about to boil over.

Genres: Mystery, Historical, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery

236 pages, Paperback

First published June 16, 2010

About the author

Also writes as Emma Craig, Rachel Wilson, Anne Robins and wrote two books under the name of Jon Sharpe (Pecos Belle Brigade and California Crusader).

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hungry Spirits (Daisy Gumm Majesty, #4) by Alice Duncan.

Daisy's home life is the same a usual...well almost the same. It seems her good friend Johnny Buckingham (Captain at the Salvation Army) needs her and won't take no for an answer. She's needed to teach a cooking class. If there's one thing daisy is totally inept at -it's cooking. Flossie, Johnny's wife, has promised to be there for all of Daisy's needs during those classes. So after trying every which way to get out of this crazy obligation and failing-Daisy is preparing to teach a cooking class at the Salvation Army. The students will be women from various walks of life and several countries who have lost just about everything due to the war and that miserable Kaiser.

Daisy continues to earn a good living at being a spiritualist, which she admits is a total fraud. Nevertheless her beloved Billy, now incapacitated from the war, is unable to earn a living as he is confined to a wheelchair and in considerable pain. She soon learns by accident of Billy's plans to cope with this pain.

I've enjoyed getting into daisy's life due to the excellent writing of this author. Daisy doesn't have an easy life but she tries her best to remain optimistic. The characters are down to earth as their relationships develop. A light read and quite entertaining.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Hungry Spirits, set in 1920s Pasadena, Daisy Gumm Majesty knows how to make ends meet, for herself and her fractured family. Husband Billy, gassed in the war, is in a wheelchair struggling to breathe. Aunt Vi cooks beef wellington for the rich and famous while Daisy learns to scramble an egg. White bread, and the effective use of stale breadcrumbs, unites the students of a Salvation Army cooking class. And Daisy, who’s still not sure about those eggs, becomes their teacher.

I’ve seen the Pasadena of today, and I loved imagining how it was through author Alice Duncan’s words. I grew up knowing the consequences of war in British families, but Alice Duncan brings those consequences to life on this side of the Atlantic too. I loved Daisy’s Methodist roots (yeah, I have some too). And I loved her concern for people, her ability to set aside her own doubts (about Germans) and her neighbors’ (about “communing with spirits”) in order to get the job done.

Daisy doesn’t in fact commune with spirits. She reads the cards because it earns money and keeps the listener satisfied. She channels her imaginary spirit for the same reasons. She makes her own clothes, looks and acts her part in public, and in private is just a really nice young woman holding her own in a complicated world. If that world’s complications happen to include cooking classes and car chases, well so be it.

Hungry Spirits is definitely a fun and enjoyable little slice of life, with mystery and history entwined, and a pleasing humanity. I’ll be looking out for more of this series to add to my to-read list.

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daisy is coerced into teaching a cooking class at the Salvation Army for a group of women, many of whom are immigrants. Daisy, well-known for her inability to boil water, learns to cook after much help from her Aunt Vi. She also discovers her prejudice against all Germans, who sent her husband home from the war crippled, is unreasonable. As she tries to help the women with more than her cooking lessons, she unknowingly puts herself in grave danger. Lucky for her, Detective Sam Rotondo, her husband's best friend, comes to her aid.

Highly recommend this historical mystery series. A great plot accompanied by a well-rounded cast of characters. Rich with descriptions pertaining to the food, clothing, and customs of the period(1920s).

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daisy Majesty earns her living (and helps support her working class family) as a spiritualist, though she doesn't believe in spirits. Her friends and neighbors are still getting over the losses of World War I, which may soon include Daisy's badly injured husband Billy. Although Daisy can't cook at all, she's persuaded to teach a cooking class by her friends in the Salvation Army. One of the women in the class claims to be Swiss by birth, but Daisy suspects she's a German, in the country illegally. Daisy hates Germans but finds herself liking this woman despite her bias. Daisy narrates in a frank, humorous matter, even when things become difficult.

[Maryanna Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story Continues to Intrigue

I love these stories. It is so interesting to read about the issues of the day and lifestyle in Southern California just after World War I. The characters are delightful and I keep coming back, book after book, to enjoy their story. The author makes a good case for the stupidity of war and leaves me wondering how we could have gone to war so many times after the devastation of the first world war. These books clearly demonstrate, although everything changes, everything (human nature in particular) remains the same. I enjoy escaping into these books. I find them so relaxing.

[Elizabeth Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daisy Gumm Majesty is a great fake spiritualist, an excellent seamstress, an acceptable alto, a decent piano player, and a terrible cook, but good friend with a big heart and a finely honed sense of right and wrong, which is how, despite her lack of talent, she finds herself teaching a cooking class for the Salvation Army, and she winds up helping two WWI German refugees find legal U.S. asylum, all while accidentally helping to bring a couple of murderers to justice, and having adorable small-scale adventures with her extended family along the way.

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daisy is con into teaching a cooking class for the Salvation Army. One of her students is secretive and Sam Rotondo knows,something about the student. Aunt Vi helps Daisy with her cooking. Billy's health continues to decline. A nice light read.

[Little Red Readinghood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fine twenties mystery. Not a murder mystery which makes this series a nice change.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Robert Alvarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Hungry Spirits," is the fourth in the "Daisy Gumm Majesty Mysteries," by Alice Duncan.

My softcover copy has a grand total of 280 pages, including end pages.

There are several constant threads in this Cozy Mystery series. One of them is that Daisy cannot cook to save her life. Good thing her life is not dependent on her cooking skills, otherwise she would already be dead since before the end of the first chapter of the first book.

Seriously, in spite of her distinct lack of cooking skills, she was asked by Captain Johnny Buckingham of the Salvation Army, who is good friends with Daisy's husband, Billy, to lead a cooking class, as a way of helping some of the people the Pasadena Chapter is helping improve their lives.

Strangely enough, the cooking class goes very well. Of course, Daisy has help from her Aunt Vi, who is not only a marvelous cook, but cooks for the family.

This is how Daisy meets Gertrude Minneke, one of the students in her cooking class. Gertrude is having a serious problem, and eventually, asks Daisy for help. Alas, Daisy is unable to help Gertrude and her brother, Eugene, and also tells her why she is both unable and unwilling to help them. And I shall leave it at that, because to reveal more would be to need a major "spoiler alert."

I enjoy this series of Cozy Mysteries very much. Although Daisy is not a real Spiritualist/Psychic Medium, the fact that Ouija boards, Tarot cards and Palmistry is a part of this series is enjoyable for me.

I look forward to the fifth in this series, "Genteel Spirits."

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Duncan's series is just fun. It is not great literature by any means, but she really captures the voice of a simple 21 year old California girl in the 1920's. Daisy lives at home with her father, mother, aunt, and WWI physically disabled and PTSD husband. All the women work and earn the incomes as the men can not. Daisy's job is as the spiritualist to the rich, and she is "darn good at it", even as she freely admits in private that it is all fake.
This time the plot revolves around Daisy being asked to teach cooking classes at the Salvation Army to immigrant women they are helping out. The hilarious part is that Aunt Vi, a professional cook, has to teach Daisy everything before each class, as Daisy is the worst cook ever. As she becomes more involved with her students, the plot thickens into a dangerous situation.
But as in all Duncan's books, the plot is secondary to Daisy's ongoing struggles with her husband Billy's situation of poor health and poor attitude. He was gassed in the war and is now in a wheelchair most of the time, in constant pain and addicted to morphine. Daisy tries to carry on with an upbeat attitude but it is not an easy life for her either. I feel like I know and understand Daisy more than most books' characters and that is what I enjoy in this relatively light series.

[Krystyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mrs Beeton has nothing to worry about with Daisy in the kitchen

Another good read that will have you smiling in places and feeling sad in others. Her talent in the kitchen is legendary if you want inedible food. That's why she's shocked to find out that the Salvation Army wants her to teach a cooking class. Everyone else thinks it's hilarious as she's been known to burn water. However she is persuaded to do so for a small group that is being sponsored by the Salvation Army. Her students are all refugees but she starts having doubts about two of them. The first says she's Swiss but she is sure she is German whilst the second disappears when Sam comes around. Why? Then there is Billy who has gathered a supply of morphine for when things get too bad. Will she work out what her students are hiding? Will she survive her cooking classes? Will her favourite client actually make it down the aisle?

[Kerry Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another wonderful tale in the life of Daisy.
This time Daisy is asked to teach a group of women how to cook. If you've read any of this series you will probably be grinning already.
Although you can read these stories as a stand alone it is lovely to watch the characters grow in back story and depth of character.
One small warning for those who have a friend or loved one dealing with extreme pain, there there is a portion early on that deals with how Billy is coping and Daisy's reaction.
I received a free copy of this ebook from ebook discovery. This is my honest and freely given review.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I read the book I found it was very I interesting to find out facts relating to WWI. The characters are alive and believable. The story is one that many people from that time period can relate to. Daisy was to negative about life but I had to remind myself of all the negative things happening in her life. I recommend this book.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cozy mystery series with a twist. The Daisy Gumm Majesty mysteries are set in the period after WWI. She's a spiritualist, fake but kind, married to a veteran suffering from the effects of mustard gas. If it weren't for the timeframe and the spiritualism, this would be much like many other cozy mystery series. Enjoyable, though.

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is growing on me! Of course, I didn’t start with the first book, but I greatly appreciate the characters. Daisy is always involved in something. I enjoyed the surprise of the villain and I’m proud that Daisy had a change of heart about the Germans. Overall, great book!

"I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily review this book. This is my honest review."

[Virginia Winfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series of books. Daisy is a great character. I enjoy that these books take place after WWl and involve spiritualism. Daisy has such a great family and I really love that Sam is so gruff. I received a copy of this book from Book Discovery for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great series! Humor, tears, frustration and joy. All can be found in this series based in So. California in the 1920’s.

[Tatiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining as always, with a good story to boot.

[Jeannie Huie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable mystery! Daisy is a wonderful character. I love the 1920s America, just after the Great War! I received this book from the author and this is my freely given opinion.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

#4 in this cute cozy mystery series

[Susan Mabry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another delightful and delicious mystery by Alice Duncan! A great way to clean your palate after a heavy, historical novel!😂😊

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the characters and the history. But, I liked the earlier stories better.

[Valarie]

Not much mystery this time, but still enjoyable.

[moxieBK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hungry Spirits (A Daisy Gumm Majesty Mystery, Book 4) — Alice Duncan (18 chapters) Nov. 10-Dec. 10, 2018

It didn’t take me a month to read this book, but I started reading it, got a couple of pages in and place it aside.

In Hungry Spirits, the protagonist, Daisy, is recruited to educate some of the more unfortunate widows and single gals of the war on the art of cooking—never mind that she professes to be the worst cook ever (she has mentioned that in several former books.) But there is more going on than just cooking, if only her friend-enemy (Sam,) would clue her in, she might be able to help him more than he thinks. Because of that, a little something a whole lot worse happens, putting Daisy in mortal peril.

I really like this series. The style the author writes in flows naturally and makes for entertaining, if not sad at times, reading. The series is based on a married woman who needs to survive after the Great War; her husband is invalid from mustard gas he suffered in the war. The biggest thing I enjoy about the series is the historical setting. I’m not sure it it’s accurate, but it certainly feels that way, and I like that a lot. There are not a lot of of cozies set during this period and that appeals to me.

Daisy is a “spiritualist.” She knows she’s a fraud, but I think she helps a great deal more than she realizes, because she is indirectly dispensing common sense advice. (She has stated that some people prefer to believe an inanimate object more than a human; I think this is true even today.) What really sets this series apart though is that the narrator is speaking in a way that tells us that these events happened in the past. That aspect draws this reader in and keeps the plot moving.

This is the start of a second book set. It is just as fresh as the first set, although I remember the very first book as being the best, so far, of the bunch.

Three stars.

[Lonny Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This is the fourth book in the Daisy Gumm Majesty series by Alice Duncan. While I like her Mercy Allcutt series more, this is still a pleasure for me to read. Daisy is a Spiritualist ( what we would call a medium ) in 1921 Pasadena, CA. She is also a fraud, a point she readily confesses to the reader. She rationalizes by saying she helps people deal with their grief over lost loved ones. After WW1 and the Spanish Flu pandemic there were a lot of loved ones to grieve. She soothes, comforts, and gives common sense advice. And it allows her to help support her family much more than a job as a clerk or elevator operator. Her husband was permanently disabled in the war; his lungs destroyed by mustard gas. Her Father is hampered by a weak heart, ordered to retire from his job as a chauffer by the family Doctor. So Daisy, her aunt Vi, who works as a cook for a wealthy family, and her Mother, who is Head Accountant at one of Pasadena's top hotels, support the family. What is nearly unique about this series is that every book does not center around a murder. Some times Daisy gets involved by choice, as when she exorcises the ghost, actually a young woman hiding from an overbearing father, from a client's basement. Sometimes she is dragged in as in this book in which she is kidnapped by anarchists who force her to drive them to San Diego. The book proceeds at a leisurely pace, offering glimpses into life in the Twenties as seen from Daisy's view. It touches on immigration, which was a hot button issue then as now. It examines prejudice through Daisy's hatred for Germans and what they did to her husband. I am a bit of a sucker for period mysteries and particularly for those set in the 1920's so this is right in my wheelhouse. Though it is clearly a cozy, there is occasional violence as when the Police take down Daisy's kidnappers. I enjoyed it very much and will continue reading the series. Recommended.

[Linda Brue · Rating 4 out of 5]

HUNGRY SPIRITS, Alice Duncan, 2010 (Kindle)
This series about Daisy Gumm Majesty, spiritualist to "those with more money than common sense" is my favorite of Duncan's three mystery series. I just love Daisy; she's ever hopeful, even in the face of daily hardship, and nothing stops her for long. I love her relationship with her family and clients, in particular her ailing husband, who returned from the war an invalid. When a friend asks her to teach a cooking class to help disadvantaged ladies sponsored by the Salvation Army, Daisy tries to get out of it. Everybody knows that she can't cook! Expecting disaster, she grudgingly agrees, and disaster shows up all right--but it has nothing to do with her cooking skills. I enjoyed this one especially because Daisy is forced to confront her dislike for Germans, since she blames them for the war and her husbands' condition. This is a series I CAN heartily recommend.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

just started this morning, good so far. not into story yet, shes repeating the background which is helpful if you have not read the others in a while. I'm getting them all in order. i still think her husband will die eventually and she ends up with the cop, but nothing so far.

each book in the series is getting better. this one had a error when it referred to the dog spike as a girl when he is really a boy

this one daisy is teaching cooking at the salvation army which everyone is laughing about as daisy cant cook. but everything goes well until she gets mixed up with some criminals and they kidnap her to drive them to Mexico. Sam comes in and saves her. i still think she ends up with him, have to request the next book in the series. her husband billy is not doing very well.

[Gloria Mccracken · Rating 2 out of 5]

You would think that a mystery of such a small size (about 250 pages) would be action-packed just to get everything in. It isn't. There is little mystery and less action. And the main character is self-deluded, prejudiced, and just plain silly. This is the fourth in a series. One wonders how it got that far. I, for one, don't plan to read the earlier ones to find out. Life is too short.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as much like the Maisie Dobbs books as I had hoped but still an enjoyable little mystery set in Pasadena during the early 1920s. I enjoyed the cooking lessons that Daisy gave to the ladies being sponsored by the Salvation Army.