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The Danny Bird Mysteries #3
Death Of A Devil
Danny Bird and the gang are back.
In this, the 3rd book of the popular series, life at The Marquess of Queensberry public house has returned to something resembling normality. Although his complicated love life is still in a state of some disarray, things are looking pretty rosy for Danny Bird.
Not for long…
Something horrible is discovered in the cellar, someone horrible comes to threaten one of the gang, and Danny and Lady Caroline are faced with some of their biggest challenges yet.
With local crime-lord Chopper Falzone keeping a watchful eye on his investment, Danny and Lady Caz must unmask a murderer, find some stolen diamonds and thwart a blackmailer – just another day at The Marq.
As the plot races breathlessly towards its conclusion, everyone realises that secrets, no matter how well hidden, can’t stay buried forever.
Praise for The Danny Bird Mysteries
“A witty and eloquent page turner with laugh out loud moments”
“A classic whodunit brought bang up to date.”
“A modern day Cluedo.”
“Impossible to compartmentalise into one genre, the plot twists and turns through a thoroughly modern tale that will have you totally hooked.”
“A book full of clever plotting.”
“Excellent pacy story, great characters and laugh out loud jokes in places.”
“Funny and ferociously complex.”
“This is a very, very good book. The writing makes it such an easy read. Character development is quite brilliant and I really felt for the protagonist. Would highly recommend.”
“Feels like a mash-up of Poirot and the best British sitcoms. And that's a very good thing. Has all the makings of a cracking crime series.”
“Very different to any murder mystery I've read before, and I loved it. It had me laughing out loud times. A clever well written book that I highly recommend a definite must read.”
In this, the 3rd book of the popular series, life at The Marquess of Queensberry public house has returned to something resembling normality. Although his complicated love life is still in a state of some disarray, things are looking pretty rosy for Danny Bird.
Not for long…
Something horrible is discovered in the cellar, someone horrible comes to threaten one of the gang, and Danny and Lady Caroline are faced with some of their biggest challenges yet.
With local crime-lord Chopper Falzone keeping a watchful eye on his investment, Danny and Lady Caz must unmask a murderer, find some stolen diamonds and thwart a blackmailer – just another day at The Marq.
As the plot races breathlessly towards its conclusion, everyone realises that secrets, no matter how well hidden, can’t stay buried forever.
Praise for The Danny Bird Mysteries
“A witty and eloquent page turner with laugh out loud moments”
“A classic whodunit brought bang up to date.”
“A modern day Cluedo.”
“Impossible to compartmentalise into one genre, the plot twists and turns through a thoroughly modern tale that will have you totally hooked.”
“A book full of clever plotting.”
“Excellent pacy story, great characters and laugh out loud jokes in places.”
“Funny and ferociously complex.”
“This is a very, very good book. The writing makes it such an easy read. Character development is quite brilliant and I really felt for the protagonist. Would highly recommend.”
“Feels like a mash-up of Poirot and the best British sitcoms. And that's a very good thing. Has all the makings of a cracking crime series.”
“Very different to any murder mystery I've read before, and I loved it. It had me laughing out loud times. A clever well written book that I highly recommend a definite must read.”
333 pages, Paperback
Published August 15, 2017
6 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 24, 2021
There are actually two concurrent 'mysteries' in this rather convoluted series installment. Danny and Lady Caroline (Caz) spends most of the book running from serial meetings/interviews with suspects and potential leads, debriefing with their little 'Scooby-gang' back in Danny's pub-kitchen and enlisting sundry assistance from cyber-geeks, crime-lords and local law-enforcement (namely Nick - Danny's 'down-low' lover). The 'Poirot/Marple'-style debrief (held at a funeral service) at the end was somewhat over-the-top, mildly hysterical and quite amusing in parts ... humorous banter, catty-snarks and bitchy-repartee remain the best things I like about this series. 3.5 stars overall.
August 10, 2018
Another wonderful installment in the Danny Bird series, and possibly my favourite so far. Danny, Caz (Lady Caroline to you and me), Ali, Dash and Ray are all back for another riotous escapade, this time gadding about trying to find out who killed the body in the basement of the Marq. The opening of this book is hilarious as a team of ghost hunters trying to communicate with the spirits they believe haunt the Marquess Of Queensbury pub, on Halloween, and get more than they bargained for, plunging Danny and Co. into yet another mystery.
The Danny Bird Mysteries are brilliant fun; hilarious, clever, tightly plotted and populated with colourful and outlandish characters. There's a wonderful element of farce throughout, but never to the point of ridiculousness that pulls you out of the story.
I really can't recommend these books highly enough. Book 4 is on the horizon and I can't wait.
The Danny Bird Mysteries are brilliant fun; hilarious, clever, tightly plotted and populated with colourful and outlandish characters. There's a wonderful element of farce throughout, but never to the point of ridiculousness that pulls you out of the story.
I really can't recommend these books highly enough. Book 4 is on the horizon and I can't wait.
November 1, 2017
Excellent read
Having read the previous books I was not disappointed, a well written fast paced story that kept you guessing to the end.
Having read the previous books I was not disappointed, a well written fast paced story that kept you guessing to the end.
September 20, 2017
DEATH OF A DEVIL, the third in Derek Farrell's Danny Bird series begins on Halloween as gaggle of ghost-hunters discover a body bricked-up behind the pub's basement wall. Trouble (including the return of a truly malevolent "ghost" from Ali's the past) quickly engulfs everyone Danny (and this reader) loves, threatening the happiness of all.
In DEVIL, Farrell delivers everything his fans have come to love and expect and much, much more. Farrell's plotting is fiendishly clever and gracefully advances to a denouemont as intellectually and emotionally satisfying as any I have ever read.
Danny Bird and his best friend Caz are more endearing and complex. Farrell enriches our understanding of who they are and deftly describes the loving dance that is their deep best friendship. At the end of Devil, I worry less about Danny's ability to handle his complicated relationship with his boyfriend, Nick, or to manage his pub and it's crime boss owner, and more about Caz. Always brave, always insouciant, she seems vulnerable in book three in ways she didn't before. I worry that some rough times are ahead for her, but know too, that Danny will be there to help navigate and keep her head above water.
Which brings me to Farrell the writer. He's the real deal. I'd read anything he writes including recipes or to-do lists. Every word is sharply the right word. Every image fully-realized.
The writing in book three, like the first two, is a total pleasure. A joy. It doesn't matter if Farrel is describing a corpse or a hat—the writing masterful and sure, exulting in its mastery. The writing is always fresh, perfectly hilarious or perfectly tragic, giving the grateful reader constant shocks of pleasure:
"Her hat - resembling a Victorian stovepipe that had been covered in tiny black silk roses, then sat on, hard, by an elephant - had a gauzy black veil hanging down in front of her face. Her every move left clouds of Joy by Patou into her wake…"
"You want a pastry? Have a pastry. Try the pastizzi," he said, like some sort of demented gangland Mary Berry. "It's a Maltese specialty. "I glanced at Caz. "A pastizzi would be lovely," she purred, as she finished applying fresh lipstick…"
"I've handled shooters, Bowie knives, one time a Black & Decker drill - cheap shit; buy Bosch if you want the job done without the fucking engine burning out - and a couple of chainsaws. If I wa to get rid of someone these days, I'd use a wood chipper…"
"Outside the car, the familiar landmarks whizzed by. We crossed Piccadilly, the glaring lights still flaming away; advertising products nobody could really need to a square devoid of consumers. The tiny figure of Eros, dwarfed by the greed and the hammering rain, still balancing on one leg, and tring to find his arrows of love up Piccadilly, through which we now drove."
Too often mysteries are merely plot machines––lovely machines, but machines nonetheless. Too often a disconnected and icy cleverness informs them.
What Farrell accomplishes (again) is to gloriously, hilariously, and movingly warn andhumanize a too-often inhuman genre. His characters, even "minor" ones, are fully realized, distinct, living, breathing and important people. Which is why Derek Farrell's latest novel is truly good––brilliant, and clever but not just excellent in a literary sense. DEATH OF A DEVIL is humane. Benevolent. Lovely. Inspiring. And yes, beautiful.
In DEVIL, Farrell delivers everything his fans have come to love and expect and much, much more. Farrell's plotting is fiendishly clever and gracefully advances to a denouemont as intellectually and emotionally satisfying as any I have ever read.
Danny Bird and his best friend Caz are more endearing and complex. Farrell enriches our understanding of who they are and deftly describes the loving dance that is their deep best friendship. At the end of Devil, I worry less about Danny's ability to handle his complicated relationship with his boyfriend, Nick, or to manage his pub and it's crime boss owner, and more about Caz. Always brave, always insouciant, she seems vulnerable in book three in ways she didn't before. I worry that some rough times are ahead for her, but know too, that Danny will be there to help navigate and keep her head above water.
Which brings me to Farrell the writer. He's the real deal. I'd read anything he writes including recipes or to-do lists. Every word is sharply the right word. Every image fully-realized.
The writing in book three, like the first two, is a total pleasure. A joy. It doesn't matter if Farrel is describing a corpse or a hat—the writing masterful and sure, exulting in its mastery. The writing is always fresh, perfectly hilarious or perfectly tragic, giving the grateful reader constant shocks of pleasure:
"Her hat - resembling a Victorian stovepipe that had been covered in tiny black silk roses, then sat on, hard, by an elephant - had a gauzy black veil hanging down in front of her face. Her every move left clouds of Joy by Patou into her wake…"
"You want a pastry? Have a pastry. Try the pastizzi," he said, like some sort of demented gangland Mary Berry. "It's a Maltese specialty. "I glanced at Caz. "A pastizzi would be lovely," she purred, as she finished applying fresh lipstick…"
"I've handled shooters, Bowie knives, one time a Black & Decker drill - cheap shit; buy Bosch if you want the job done without the fucking engine burning out - and a couple of chainsaws. If I wa to get rid of someone these days, I'd use a wood chipper…"
"Outside the car, the familiar landmarks whizzed by. We crossed Piccadilly, the glaring lights still flaming away; advertising products nobody could really need to a square devoid of consumers. The tiny figure of Eros, dwarfed by the greed and the hammering rain, still balancing on one leg, and tring to find his arrows of love up Piccadilly, through which we now drove."
Too often mysteries are merely plot machines––lovely machines, but machines nonetheless. Too often a disconnected and icy cleverness informs them.
What Farrell accomplishes (again) is to gloriously, hilariously, and movingly warn andhumanize a too-often inhuman genre. His characters, even "minor" ones, are fully realized, distinct, living, breathing and important people. Which is why Derek Farrell's latest novel is truly good––brilliant, and clever but not just excellent in a literary sense. DEATH OF A DEVIL is humane. Benevolent. Lovely. Inspiring. And yes, beautiful.
February 25, 2021
Death Of A Devil is the third in the Danny Bird series, with the books being filled with pain, humour and emotion as Danny navigates creating a new life for himself as a bar manager after everything crashed down around his ears in series opener Death Of A Diva, while doing a little amateur sleuthing on the side. Farrell has described them as "contemporary cosy", and this is the perfect label - while there is a fist in the face (and a dead body) in each one, there is also a big hug too.
Death Of A Devil opens in The Marquess of Queensbury pub, known as The Marq, on Halloween, as Danny Bird, best pal Lady Caroline Holloway (aka Caz) and his staff encourage the costumed patrons to enjoy the night and spend lots of money at the bar. Meanwhile, Danny is also hosting a ghost hunt in The Marq's other spaces - which leads to the discovery of a body in the cellar, previously bricked up in an alcove and now revealed after a series of events culminating in the cracking of the brickwork thanks to the enthusiastic dancers in the bar above.
The police are called, but pub owner Chopper Falzone, a local gangster, is also keen to find out who disposed of the body, so Danny is "persuaded" to investigate. There's also the matter of some stolen diamonds which have been missing since the time the body was disposed of in the cellar, which several people would like to get their hands on. Meanwhile, Caz is strongarmed by her hated sister-in-law into getting her brother out of trouble connected to a business deal.
There's a chase around various parts of London as Danny and Caz try to find the murderer and the diamonds and a way to get rid of a blackmailer, while dealing with well-intentioned displays of loyalty that tie the police in knots, until we get to an Agatha Christie-eque final sequence that brings everyone involved together so Danny can lay out the who and why and the how and all the strands are brought together in a satisfying fashion. And then there is a final righteous come-uppance, for Danny and Caz have earned a moment of glee - and this is, after all, a novel from the cosier side of crime fiction, where it would be rude not to tie things up with a bow.
The plot is just the right side of preposterous, with genuine emotional moments. And humour is never far away, whether in Danny's one-liners, Caz's arch comments or the description of the minor characters. But mostly what you should read the Danny Bird series for is the heart and love that Farrell pours out onto every page, putting the readers under the spell of the family Danny is building for himself in his friends at The Marq.
Death Of A Devil opens in The Marquess of Queensbury pub, known as The Marq, on Halloween, as Danny Bird, best pal Lady Caroline Holloway (aka Caz) and his staff encourage the costumed patrons to enjoy the night and spend lots of money at the bar. Meanwhile, Danny is also hosting a ghost hunt in The Marq's other spaces - which leads to the discovery of a body in the cellar, previously bricked up in an alcove and now revealed after a series of events culminating in the cracking of the brickwork thanks to the enthusiastic dancers in the bar above.
The police are called, but pub owner Chopper Falzone, a local gangster, is also keen to find out who disposed of the body, so Danny is "persuaded" to investigate. There's also the matter of some stolen diamonds which have been missing since the time the body was disposed of in the cellar, which several people would like to get their hands on. Meanwhile, Caz is strongarmed by her hated sister-in-law into getting her brother out of trouble connected to a business deal.
There's a chase around various parts of London as Danny and Caz try to find the murderer and the diamonds and a way to get rid of a blackmailer, while dealing with well-intentioned displays of loyalty that tie the police in knots, until we get to an Agatha Christie-eque final sequence that brings everyone involved together so Danny can lay out the who and why and the how and all the strands are brought together in a satisfying fashion. And then there is a final righteous come-uppance, for Danny and Caz have earned a moment of glee - and this is, after all, a novel from the cosier side of crime fiction, where it would be rude not to tie things up with a bow.
The plot is just the right side of preposterous, with genuine emotional moments. And humour is never far away, whether in Danny's one-liners, Caz's arch comments or the description of the minor characters. But mostly what you should read the Danny Bird series for is the heart and love that Farrell pours out onto every page, putting the readers under the spell of the family Danny is building for himself in his friends at The Marq.
October 29, 2018
Book three is the one where we gain more characters, revisit the local gangster scene but in a much bigger way than usual, and of course investigate the latest corpse to turn up in the (very unlucky for this sort of thing) pub. Great fun!
April 27, 2020
Excellent
This series gets better with every novel. Danny and his crew are always entertaining, the dialog witty, the mystery complex enough to keep you guessing. Highly recommended
This series gets better with every novel. Danny and his crew are always entertaining, the dialog witty, the mystery complex enough to keep you guessing. Highly recommended
August 11, 2017
Review to follow
December 5, 2021
A fun, easy read from south of the river
July 7, 2023
Enjoyable murder mystery that is well written with likeable characters.
December 30, 2019
Review to come
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews