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Daisy Dalrymple #18
Sheer Folly
In March of 1926, Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher and her friend and collaborator Lucy aka Lady Gerald, visit Appsworth, reputedly the best grotto in the country, for a book of follies - architectural. Tactless Lord Rydal is rumored to be having an affair with one guest and pursuing marriage with another. The grotto then explodes with unlikable Lord Rydal inside.
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First published January 1, 2009
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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 146 reviews
May 13, 2024
Daisy Dalrymple, now married and called Daisy Fletcher, sets off with her friend Lady Gerald to write an article on Appsworth Hall and its grotto, which Lady Gerald is to photograph.
Early on in the piece Daisy says to her friend, 'I don't suppose anyone at Appsworth Hall will ever have a chance to find out what kind of sleuth I am.' Well on this occasion they very nearly didn't have a chance because nothing of import happens for the first third of the book. There is just a lot of small talk and characters popping in and out with no sign of any action whatsoever.
Eventually, by which time the reader may well have decided to call the whole thing off, the grotto is blown up and one of the guests at Appworth is killed.
After that bit of action the plot reverts to boring chit-chat as Daisy and her husband, who has fortuitously popped down, try to work out who did it and why.
If the reader can follow the plot, it is all revealed and Daisy has once more pulled it off, so to speak!
The early books in the series were very well constructed but, sadly, this one loses its way and as a consequence is nowhere near as good. I wonder, has the series run its course?
Early on in the piece Daisy says to her friend, 'I don't suppose anyone at Appsworth Hall will ever have a chance to find out what kind of sleuth I am.' Well on this occasion they very nearly didn't have a chance because nothing of import happens for the first third of the book. There is just a lot of small talk and characters popping in and out with no sign of any action whatsoever.
Eventually, by which time the reader may well have decided to call the whole thing off, the grotto is blown up and one of the guests at Appworth is killed.
After that bit of action the plot reverts to boring chit-chat as Daisy and her husband, who has fortuitously popped down, try to work out who did it and why.
If the reader can follow the plot, it is all revealed and Daisy has once more pulled it off, so to speak!
The early books in the series were very well constructed but, sadly, this one loses its way and as a consequence is nowhere near as good. I wonder, has the series run its course?
December 14, 2012
A delightful romp and a worthy addition to the series. The premise is simple: Daisy and her friend, photographer Lucy, visit an estate of a rich manufacturer of the bathroom tubs and basins. He has a rare folly – a grotto – on his property, and they are planning to include the folly’s photos and description in their upcoming book on British follies.
Upon arrival to the plumbing tycoon’s house, Appsworth, they meet a fascinating cast of characters, guests and residents of the place, and the first half of the novel is spent in various interactions between those characters. With ultimate skills, the author develops a bunch of interconnected relationships between the mismatched participants of her tale. Their antiques are a treat for the readers. We laugh at their jokes. We wince at their rudeness. We sympathize. We scorn. We learn.
We feel privileged, almost invited to the house, eavesdropping shamelessly and drawing our own conclusions, while the party at Appsworth, all strangers brought together by circumstance, demonstrates the entire range of complex emotions. Love and hostility, envy and jealousy, resentment and class antagonism – they all boil in a cauldron of motivations and sentiments, all centered one way or another on the grotto of Daisy’s book. The passions seethe unchecked, the tensions are rising to the unbearable heights, and eventually the grotto explodes – literally – half way through the novel.
During the explosion, one member of the party is killed. The investigation that follows involves Daisy and her husband, the Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard Alec Fletcher, but that part of the novel is not nearly as compelling as the first, where various interplays are unfolding.
One particular trend of the era (the year is 1926) is worth mentioning: the evolving dynamics between the members of British aristocracy and the rising social group of wealthy industrialists. While the latter have enough money to buy their way upward, the former resent the new reality. These new social conflicts pave the way for many a writer, and Dunn makes use of them in a superbly entertaining way.
Here is a conversation Daisy has with one of the guests, a Lord. They talk about their commoner host, and even Daisy, the most democratic of those born into the nobility, is not immune to his snobbery, although this snatch of their chat definitely inspires a smile:
Another revealing, laugh-provoking quote. One of the guests, an extremely rude, thick-skinned earl, nicknamed very aptly Rhino, insults another guest and doesn’t even notice it.
Dunn’s dialog, as the above excerpts demonstrate, is spot on, sharp and witty and full of nuances. Her descriptions are alive, and her plot solid, although not very fast. Her research is deep and detailed, reflecting the spirit of the time and place she writes about – England after the WWI.
I got caught in the contemplations of one of the characters, a historian, who conducts his own research at Appsworth. Daisy listens to his tidbits of history of the estate and its former owners with enthusiastic interest:
The above quotation feels like the author’s own musing on the topic of historical research. I wonder: what would future historians base their research of our times on? Nobody writes letters anymore; we’ve all switched to emails and Skype. Lots of publications are exclusively online as well. I don’t think the servers will survive another century. Does Carola Dunn ask herself the same question?
In my opinion, this novel of hers breaks the mold of pure mystery. Instead, it’s a tale of manners and class distinctions, of times and changes, with a healthy dose of humor, and except for some unnecessary info dumps in the beginning, it was an unmitigated pleasure to read.
I must also mention that since I started this series, I’ve learned one or two new words in almost every book. Below are the words I learned from this novel. Do you know them? Or am I the only one ignorant? In any case, I love it, when a novel sends me to a dictionary. I relish the new words as if they’re chocolates: rare and delicious.
• Hoarfrost
• Escutcheon
• Loofah – this one my MS Word didn’t recognize either
• Embonpoint
Hooray for Dunn and her extended vocabulary!
Upon arrival to the plumbing tycoon’s house, Appsworth, they meet a fascinating cast of characters, guests and residents of the place, and the first half of the novel is spent in various interactions between those characters. With ultimate skills, the author develops a bunch of interconnected relationships between the mismatched participants of her tale. Their antiques are a treat for the readers. We laugh at their jokes. We wince at their rudeness. We sympathize. We scorn. We learn.
We feel privileged, almost invited to the house, eavesdropping shamelessly and drawing our own conclusions, while the party at Appsworth, all strangers brought together by circumstance, demonstrates the entire range of complex emotions. Love and hostility, envy and jealousy, resentment and class antagonism – they all boil in a cauldron of motivations and sentiments, all centered one way or another on the grotto of Daisy’s book. The passions seethe unchecked, the tensions are rising to the unbearable heights, and eventually the grotto explodes – literally – half way through the novel.
During the explosion, one member of the party is killed. The investigation that follows involves Daisy and her husband, the Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard Alec Fletcher, but that part of the novel is not nearly as compelling as the first, where various interplays are unfolding.
One particular trend of the era (the year is 1926) is worth mentioning: the evolving dynamics between the members of British aristocracy and the rising social group of wealthy industrialists. While the latter have enough money to buy their way upward, the former resent the new reality. These new social conflicts pave the way for many a writer, and Dunn makes use of them in a superbly entertaining way.
Here is a conversation Daisy has with one of the guests, a Lord. They talk about their commoner host, and even Daisy, the most democratic of those born into the nobility, is not immune to his snobbery, although this snatch of their chat definitely inspires a smile:
“…Rebuilding a ruined grotto is hardly a practical act. If you ask me, it shows he has a distinctly romantic streak.” [Daisy said.]
“A romantic plumber! Dreadful thought.”
“It does rather boggle the mind,” Daisy agreed laughing.
Another revealing, laugh-provoking quote. One of the guests, an extremely rude, thick-skinned earl, nicknamed very aptly Rhino, insults another guest and doesn’t even notice it.
It was left to Julia to utter what everyone was thinking. “Rhino, you really are irredeemably vulgar.”
Rhino stared at her with blank incomprehension. “You must be thinking of some other fellow,” he said. “My shield has more quarterings than nine out of ten peers. Hasn’t been a commoner in the family in three centuries.”
Dunn’s dialog, as the above excerpts demonstrate, is spot on, sharp and witty and full of nuances. Her descriptions are alive, and her plot solid, although not very fast. Her research is deep and detailed, reflecting the spirit of the time and place she writes about – England after the WWI.
I got caught in the contemplations of one of the characters, a historian, who conducts his own research at Appsworth. Daisy listens to his tidbits of history of the estate and its former owners with enthusiastic interest:
“Perfect! I suppose they wrote reams of letters about it. And someone saved them all? Being a historian is going to get much more difficult, don’t you think, now that people send telegrams and ring each other up on the phone. No one saves telegrams.”
“That’s an interesting point, Mrs. Fletcher. When it comes to consideration of our times, future historians will have the newspapers, with everything they consider worthy of being printed, and I don’t suppose the bureaucracy will ever cease to produce rivers of paper. But social historians won’t have so much in the way of personal papers to delve into, I guess.”
“Still, most of those personal papers were always produced by a very small section of the population, weren’t they? So history’s been biased towards the rich and literate. Now most people are literate but most can’t afford phones and cables, so they write letters, so history will be biased towards them. Does that make sense?”
The above quotation feels like the author’s own musing on the topic of historical research. I wonder: what would future historians base their research of our times on? Nobody writes letters anymore; we’ve all switched to emails and Skype. Lots of publications are exclusively online as well. I don’t think the servers will survive another century. Does Carola Dunn ask herself the same question?
In my opinion, this novel of hers breaks the mold of pure mystery. Instead, it’s a tale of manners and class distinctions, of times and changes, with a healthy dose of humor, and except for some unnecessary info dumps in the beginning, it was an unmitigated pleasure to read.
I must also mention that since I started this series, I’ve learned one or two new words in almost every book. Below are the words I learned from this novel. Do you know them? Or am I the only one ignorant? In any case, I love it, when a novel sends me to a dictionary. I relish the new words as if they’re chocolates: rare and delicious.
• Hoarfrost
• Escutcheon
• Loofah – this one my MS Word didn’t recognize either
• Embonpoint
Hooray for Dunn and her extended vocabulary!
October 12, 2014
I'm running out of things to say about this series. I still enjoy it a lot (with very few exceptions but this is not one of those). The 'various people meet in a large house and then one gets murdered' is one of my favourite set-ups and it's very well done here. Perhaps Rhino was a bit too over the top horrid on occasions but in a way that's part of the 'rules' for a cozy anyway.
February 14, 2021
Probably the weakest Daisy Dalrymple mystery so far.
March 1, 2010
I liked this one a lot better than A Mourning Wedding, it was more detailed and I really felt you got to know the characters in the novel well before any murder took place, and the motive was a lot more understandable in this one. Still not a patch on Jacqueline Winspear's heroine Maisie Dobbs though!
April 6, 2021
Slow moving at first, it takes a very long time to get to the murder and the intervening time is spent mostly with sniping between characters. It was nice to have a different police presence even if I missed our usual friends, but I was slightly annoyed that while making him very astute at first Dunn then reverses course and makes him over-eager to choose the guilty party. I also really don't understand why there were so many really innocuous secrets being kept throughout the book. But I enjoyed being back with Lucy and getting to know Gerald a little better.
January 11, 2021
Another enjoyable book in this series. Mystery was not quite as exciting as some of the previous ones, but I’m loving the character development and the reader with her delightful voices.
December 26, 2021
Hard to like many of the suspects but way too easy to focus in on the murderer.
February 25, 2014
I really wanted to like this book a lot more than I did like it. I found the writing smooth and fresh, but at the same time I failed to feel engaged. As the protagonist banters with her two friends Lucy and Julia, I felt as though I were being left out of the loop; there were too many instances where it felt as though one of them was making a reference to something that they "got", and I didn't.
In one sense, the book felt more like a comedy of manners than a mystery novel, since at least 2/3 of the book was lead-up to the actual mystery. This first chunk of the book was spent in painting out the characters, but they never felt round. The unpleasant people were thoroughly unpleasant. The pleasant people were all pure of heart and witty. Characters were painted with too broad a brush for me to feel that they were actual people instead of types.
When the mystery did finally come, its solution was lackluster. I found the motive implausible (which, given my love for comic mysteries, is saying a great deal). In addition, for being a Chief Inspector, the detective did precious little detecting, instead stumbling over the culprit by accident. I am sure that this sometimes happens in real life, but having invested so much energy to propel myself through the long pages of chatter to get to the mystery, I felt that I deserved some evidence that the good Chief Inspector earned his keep.
All in all, it wasn't a horrible book. If you enjoy chatty books that are more about how people feel about one another than about mysteries, you'll enjoy it. If you enjoy mysteries which are mostly about detection, you will no doubt find it lackluster.
In one sense, the book felt more like a comedy of manners than a mystery novel, since at least 2/3 of the book was lead-up to the actual mystery. This first chunk of the book was spent in painting out the characters, but they never felt round. The unpleasant people were thoroughly unpleasant. The pleasant people were all pure of heart and witty. Characters were painted with too broad a brush for me to feel that they were actual people instead of types.
When the mystery did finally come, its solution was lackluster. I found the motive implausible (which, given my love for comic mysteries, is saying a great deal). In addition, for being a Chief Inspector, the detective did precious little detecting, instead stumbling over the culprit by accident. I am sure that this sometimes happens in real life, but having invested so much energy to propel myself through the long pages of chatter to get to the mystery, I felt that I deserved some evidence that the good Chief Inspector earned his keep.
All in all, it wasn't a horrible book. If you enjoy chatty books that are more about how people feel about one another than about mysteries, you'll enjoy it. If you enjoy mysteries which are mostly about detection, you will no doubt find it lackluster.
July 11, 2012
This is the eighteenth in a series, and while I suppose it's possible the previous books had plenty of sparkle which has worn off as the series progressed, this put me off enough that I won't be trying them. It takes 150 pages until anyone dies, which is only acceptable in a mystery if written by a particularly good writer, who doesn't need to rely on the puzzle-plot to keep readers engaged. I assumed things would look up when we finally did get to that stage, but that was when it became apparent nothing was going to make me want to actually finish it. I skim-read to find out who was the murderer and was very bored by the solution. The writing is bland and clumsy, there's almost no discernible characterisation, particularly of the heroine, and there was almost no period feel (it's set in the twenties).
March 30, 2018
Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple mysteries are usually a fun romp through the 1920s, with posh people murdering each other and complaining about the changing times. This one is a hard slog, though: Daisy and her friend Lucy go to Appsworth Hall to do a story on its renovated grotto. Once there, they find themselves in the middle of a terrible house party, which gets even worse when the grotto and an earl are blown up by a gas leak. People wander round the Hall's various rooms and talk at each other without revealing their not-particularly-interesting secrets, and the whole thing just seems a little under-baked.
November 15, 2009
How disappointing! The idea for a light country house mystery featuring two clever "professional" women (a writer and photographer)in the 1920's sounded so engaging. I loved the idea that the "girls" were working on a book on the history of follies but the story just didn't take off and the characters (except the victim!) totally lacked personality.
Nothing would have pleased me more than to gobble up this light mystery and then look forward to the author's many, many, other books in the series. But, that is not to be. This confection was not worth the calories.
Nothing would have pleased me more than to gobble up this light mystery and then look forward to the author's many, many, other books in the series. But, that is not to be. This confection was not worth the calories.
October 14, 2019
I like this series a lot but this book was weak. It was repetitious to the point I often thought I had turned to the wrong page and the mystery was "solved" I guess. Maybe I missed the part where they e plain how they discovered who the killer was...but I think not. It was not up to the standard of the earlier novels.
I think the author is getting too caught up in the narrative itself and forgetting that she's writing a mystery plot and not a period piece.
I think the author is getting too caught up in the narrative itself and forgetting that she's writing a mystery plot and not a period piece.
February 2, 2018
This mystery was peculiar, but I wasn't horribly offended by it, so that's something. It was however barely a mystery. The pacing was off, which having finished it I realize is because it was barely a mystery. And it gets wrapped up so quickly that I almost missed confirmation of who the very obvious murderer was.
July 4, 2018
Another enjoyable mystery with Daisy to a country house. It took a bit longer than usual to get to the murder and once we arrived there it wasn't tremendously mysterious as I felt the culprit was obvious. However, spending time with Daisy and her friends is always pleasant.
January 12, 2017
Enjoyable. It seemed to take a while to get into the mystery.
December 19, 2017
I will take a break from this series the books are becoming boring.
December 1, 2018
Done. I’m tired of reading the same book again and again. Everyone is surprised that Daisy is smart and then rude to her. It’s been fun, but four of these books would have sufficed.
March 27, 2023
Sheer Folly is very much a classic English Country House weekend mystery. Well, except for the murder is somewhat…larger than expected in how it’s carried out, rather than the traditional “stumble over dead body.” Otherwise, all the traditional aspects are there: romance flourishing for a young woman with someone her mother doesn’t approve of, illicit assignations, and at least two characters whose untimely death would make you very happy. One of the joys of cozy mysteries for me is the removal of people who are throughly unpleasant in a rather permanent fashion, and then seeing justice upheld because the killer is often equally unpleasant. It’s a way of venting frustrations you would not otherwise indulge in, as we strive to follow Captain Kirk’s dictum, “I will not kill. Today.”
In this installment, Daisy and her friend Lucy are visiting a country manor to photograph the grotto recently restored by the home’s new owner for a book they are creating about follies. Follies, if you’re not familiar with them, are architectural embellishments to gardens on large estates. The idea is something which looks like a building, but is really there primarily for decoration, taking the form of romantic ruins or towers.
Naturally, they are not the only guests. Mr. Pritchard, who made his money via plumbing products, has assembled a sizeable house party including Lady Beaufort and her daughter Julia, who was at school with Daisy and Lucy, a goverment official working on a contract with Pritchard’s company and his decidely vampish wife, a Canadian historian who is not exactly what he seems, and Julia’s suitor, Lord Rydal, who manages to offend everyone, even Pritchard’s social-climbing sister-in-law. She was originally thrilled at the idea of a genuine earl under her roof, but reality falls far short of her dreams.
With this ensemble, tensions build to an explosive pitch, and Alec Fletcher finds himself dragged in to help mop up the aftermath because he’s there with Daisy. Not officially, of course, but on a consulting basis with the local inspector, who most definitely doesn’t appreciate Daisy’s poking around.
There are no great surprises here, but it’s fun. Dunn always does a good job of weaving the relationships together, so while it does take until the midpoint for the death to happen, the tension keeps building. Eighteen books into the series, I am seeing (or hearing, since these are audiobooks) some of the author’s tics. On the whole, though, if you want a relaxing, entertaining story to keep you company on walks or while doing chores, you might want to check this out.
In this installment, Daisy and her friend Lucy are visiting a country manor to photograph the grotto recently restored by the home’s new owner for a book they are creating about follies. Follies, if you’re not familiar with them, are architectural embellishments to gardens on large estates. The idea is something which looks like a building, but is really there primarily for decoration, taking the form of romantic ruins or towers.
Naturally, they are not the only guests. Mr. Pritchard, who made his money via plumbing products, has assembled a sizeable house party including Lady Beaufort and her daughter Julia, who was at school with Daisy and Lucy, a goverment official working on a contract with Pritchard’s company and his decidely vampish wife, a Canadian historian who is not exactly what he seems, and Julia’s suitor, Lord Rydal, who manages to offend everyone, even Pritchard’s social-climbing sister-in-law. She was originally thrilled at the idea of a genuine earl under her roof, but reality falls far short of her dreams.
With this ensemble, tensions build to an explosive pitch, and Alec Fletcher finds himself dragged in to help mop up the aftermath because he’s there with Daisy. Not officially, of course, but on a consulting basis with the local inspector, who most definitely doesn’t appreciate Daisy’s poking around.
There are no great surprises here, but it’s fun. Dunn always does a good job of weaving the relationships together, so while it does take until the midpoint for the death to happen, the tension keeps building. Eighteen books into the series, I am seeing (or hearing, since these are audiobooks) some of the author’s tics. On the whole, though, if you want a relaxing, entertaining story to keep you company on walks or while doing chores, you might want to check this out.
July 7, 2023
I have a friend who is rather partial to books such as Carola Dunn's and every now and again she unearths another one for me to read. They are never in order! I think this could possibly be the 18th, not that I've read 18 but still a few.
Daisy Dalrymple, impoverished daughter of a viscount but who sadly died with no male heirs, and the title, mansion and fortune passed to Daisy's male cousin. Daisy is now a writer for magazines and has been invited to Appsworth Hall to write a piece about the gorgeous stone and shell illuminated folly there, the Appsworths no longer own the hall and lands and Mr Pritchard a self made millionaire with no children and now no wife, has bought it, his sister-in-law keeps house for him and her son, his nephew is now his heir. Pritchard is in the plumbing trade and has his nephew working for him.
Daisy and her friend Lucy are at the Hall along with photographic equipment to take pictures as well, although Lucy wants them for a book. They have a trip in the gardens in the dark to see the folly and it was indeed beautiful. However one of their party Lady Ottaline falls over the edge of the bridge and several of the men jump in to save her. It appears she is having an awful affair with the reptilian Lord Rydal. The plot does become a bit convoluted and the snakey Lord Rydal is found dead in a gas explosion one morning up at the folly. Daisy's husband Alex Fletcher is on his way to join her for the weekend when he finds himself investigating the murder of Rydal along with the local police. An attack is made on another of their number and Alex sets to work to seek the killer before any more of them die off.
These books tend to roll along like waves, pleasant and quiet, but they do get to the end, slowly, and reading this books does tend to make you feel relaxed, particularly with feet up on a swing seat in the shade, smelling the buddleia overhead and two sleeping cats stretched out on the grass below me seeking the coolness too. Nice and relaxed read to pass the day away, before the thunderstorms tomorrow! Now what shall I read next from my massive unread book collection I wonder!
Daisy Dalrymple, impoverished daughter of a viscount but who sadly died with no male heirs, and the title, mansion and fortune passed to Daisy's male cousin. Daisy is now a writer for magazines and has been invited to Appsworth Hall to write a piece about the gorgeous stone and shell illuminated folly there, the Appsworths no longer own the hall and lands and Mr Pritchard a self made millionaire with no children and now no wife, has bought it, his sister-in-law keeps house for him and her son, his nephew is now his heir. Pritchard is in the plumbing trade and has his nephew working for him.
Daisy and her friend Lucy are at the Hall along with photographic equipment to take pictures as well, although Lucy wants them for a book. They have a trip in the gardens in the dark to see the folly and it was indeed beautiful. However one of their party Lady Ottaline falls over the edge of the bridge and several of the men jump in to save her. It appears she is having an awful affair with the reptilian Lord Rydal. The plot does become a bit convoluted and the snakey Lord Rydal is found dead in a gas explosion one morning up at the folly. Daisy's husband Alex Fletcher is on his way to join her for the weekend when he finds himself investigating the murder of Rydal along with the local police. An attack is made on another of their number and Alex sets to work to seek the killer before any more of them die off.
These books tend to roll along like waves, pleasant and quiet, but they do get to the end, slowly, and reading this books does tend to make you feel relaxed, particularly with feet up on a swing seat in the shade, smelling the buddleia overhead and two sleeping cats stretched out on the grass below me seeking the coolness too. Nice and relaxed read to pass the day away, before the thunderstorms tomorrow! Now what shall I read next from my massive unread book collection I wonder!
May 31, 2019
Daisy & Lucy are writing a book about English Country Hose's and their Follies/Grottoes: go for a stay w/ Mr. Pritchard, a wealthy plumbing magnate in order to write about the one he has refurbished.
Julia, a long-ago school friend & her mother have wrangled an invitation to stay; with the ulterior motive of finding Julia an acceptable husband. Also staying is: the completely obnoxious Lord Rydal (Rhino), who is besotted w/ Julia; Sir Desmond, who is doing business w/ Mr. Pritchard; and Lady Ottaline, Sir Desmond's wife who happens to be having an affair w/ Rhino.
Mr Pritchard has added gas lamps to the grotto so it may be enjoyed at night. When the group goes down to enjoy his innovations, Lady Ottaline takes a tumble into the stream as does Rhino.
After Alec, Daisy's husband & Gerald, Lucy's husband arrive for the weekend, unknown to the rest of the guests, Lady Ottaline & Rhino sneak off to the Grotto....
Also on their way to the Grotto are Daisy, Alec, Lucy, Gerald, & Julia, who stop to have their photo taken on the lawn. As the photo is taken a huge explosion rock the estate and the grotto is demolished with Rhino dead inside.
There is no lack of suspects; Alec is asked to work along side the local police & Daisy once again helps to determine who the murderer is.
I am marking this down one * as Carola Dunn once again purposely adds a derogatory remark about Native Americans which I find tasteless and downright rude as in this day & age, there is no reason for that what-so-ever. Her bigotry shows through & she is not Agatha Christie where at the time of authorship such remarks were inappropriately acceptable.
Julia, a long-ago school friend & her mother have wrangled an invitation to stay; with the ulterior motive of finding Julia an acceptable husband. Also staying is: the completely obnoxious Lord Rydal (Rhino), who is besotted w/ Julia; Sir Desmond, who is doing business w/ Mr. Pritchard; and Lady Ottaline, Sir Desmond's wife who happens to be having an affair w/ Rhino.
Mr Pritchard has added gas lamps to the grotto so it may be enjoyed at night. When the group goes down to enjoy his innovations, Lady Ottaline takes a tumble into the stream as does Rhino.
After Alec, Daisy's husband & Gerald, Lucy's husband arrive for the weekend, unknown to the rest of the guests, Lady Ottaline & Rhino sneak off to the Grotto....
Also on their way to the Grotto are Daisy, Alec, Lucy, Gerald, & Julia, who stop to have their photo taken on the lawn. As the photo is taken a huge explosion rock the estate and the grotto is demolished with Rhino dead inside.
There is no lack of suspects; Alec is asked to work along side the local police & Daisy once again helps to determine who the murderer is.
I am marking this down one * as Carola Dunn once again purposely adds a derogatory remark about Native Americans which I find tasteless and downright rude as in this day & age, there is no reason for that what-so-ever. Her bigotry shows through & she is not Agatha Christie where at the time of authorship such remarks were inappropriately acceptable.
June 2, 2022
The eighteenth book in the Daisy Dalrymple series, Sheer Folly, sees Daisy take a trip away to a country estate to write about the family's folly, but it's not long before things go awry and a guest turns up dead. There is something lovely and comforting about this series, which combines cosy murder mysteries and 1920s upper and middle-class life. As you can imagine, being the eighteenth in the series, we are just following the usual cosy mystery formula, which I am perfectly happy with. If it's not broken, then why fix it? There's nothing drastically different in comparison to the previous books, but I did enjoy the combination of the characters and the setting a little more. I think the pacing would have benefited from the revel being just a chapter earlier, and then the solution could have sat with the reader for just a moment more before the end of the book. Other than that it's a lovely addition to the series, and I'm glad that I picked it back up from the library after having to return it when I first borrowed it last year.
June 7, 2020
Another volume in the Daisy Dalrymple series. In this one, Daisy goes off to another country estate to write an article about a grotto (called a "folly.") It's quite a long way into the story before anyone dies, the loathsome Rhino, of course. As usual, Daisy gets herself and Alec involved in the investigation.
At this point, the stories are pretty formulaic and reasonably predictable; I spotted the killer early on, but it's still enjoyable.
And even though the story takes place over the course of 2 or 3 days, it seems like they are away from home forever, leaving the beloved twins in the care of their nanny. How convenient to have a life where you can have children and then leave them with a nanny to raise while you go off and do whatever you like. Of course, parents do a lot of that now, with both parents working. The more things change, the more they stay the same. :-)
At this point, the stories are pretty formulaic and reasonably predictable; I spotted the killer early on, but it's still enjoyable.
And even though the story takes place over the course of 2 or 3 days, it seems like they are away from home forever, leaving the beloved twins in the care of their nanny. How convenient to have a life where you can have children and then leave them with a nanny to raise while you go off and do whatever you like. Of course, parents do a lot of that now, with both parents working. The more things change, the more they stay the same. :-)
February 11, 2022
To be honest, this will be my final foray into this series - I no longer enjoy it as I once used to!
I listened to the audiobook version of this title read by Lucy Raynor. It was unusually high pitched and screechy! Added to which, the storyline was totally flimsy. I have decided that I’m not a big fan of the author taking forever to tell the story - Ms Dunn tediously takes forever to set the scene that, by the time the murder is committed, you neither know nor care who the culprit is! Furthermore, the crime is solved in half the time that it took to set the scene and, not ever by the police!
In my opinion, reading the 10 chapters are more than enough to clue you in to who’s who and what’s what (stop at 5 if you feel that you’ve got it), then read the last 7 chapters to arrive, undispirited, to the conclusion!
If I ever approach another DD tale, that is the approach I shall take!
I listened to the audiobook version of this title read by Lucy Raynor. It was unusually high pitched and screechy! Added to which, the storyline was totally flimsy. I have decided that I’m not a big fan of the author taking forever to tell the story - Ms Dunn tediously takes forever to set the scene that, by the time the murder is committed, you neither know nor care who the culprit is! Furthermore, the crime is solved in half the time that it took to set the scene and, not ever by the police!
In my opinion, reading the 10 chapters are more than enough to clue you in to who’s who and what’s what (stop at 5 if you feel that you’ve got it), then read the last 7 chapters to arrive, undispirited, to the conclusion!
If I ever approach another DD tale, that is the approach I shall take!
January 25, 2024
3.25
In 1926 Daisy and her friend Lady Lucy Gerald head off to a Stately home to take photographs and visit the best grotto in the country.
Leaving her twins and Alec behind, Daisy is looking forward to a productive weekend, little does she or Lucy know that things are going to go awry.
With tension at the House, between an assortment of people, the quiet, productive weekend, turns into a tense, eventful one. With a tactless Lord Rydal, rumored to be having an affair with one of the guests while in ardent pursuit of another. Well, chaos is bound to take place and when the grotto explodes with Lord Rydal in it, it's a question of who didn't do it more than who did it . . .
I have listened to this one before and enjoyed, second time have still enjoyed, though perhaps not as much as my first listen. Still a good addition to this series.
In 1926 Daisy and her friend Lady Lucy Gerald head off to a Stately home to take photographs and visit the best grotto in the country.
Leaving her twins and Alec behind, Daisy is looking forward to a productive weekend, little does she or Lucy know that things are going to go awry.
With tension at the House, between an assortment of people, the quiet, productive weekend, turns into a tense, eventful one. With a tactless Lord Rydal, rumored to be having an affair with one of the guests while in ardent pursuit of another. Well, chaos is bound to take place and when the grotto explodes with Lord Rydal in it, it's a question of who didn't do it more than who did it . . .
I have listened to this one before and enjoyed, second time have still enjoyed, though perhaps not as much as my first listen. Still a good addition to this series.
Read
September 4, 2025Daisy and Lucy are working on a book of grottos together and head to the Appsworth estate where the new owner has completely renovated the folly on his property. On arrival, they realize the house party will include Lord "Rhino" Rydal, a difficult entitled man who rubs everyone wrong. When the folly is blown up right after Alec and Lucy's husband arrive, killing Rhino, no one is surprised to learn that it was murder. But the house party leaves several suspects with motive and opportunity.
As the local detectives work the case, Alec tries to avoid a formal entanglement while continuing to support the search. Can they untangle the many motives to find the murderer? The typical house party format makes for many characters who aren't always clearly distinguished and the ending seemed a bit abrupt without much resolution.
As the local detectives work the case, Alec tries to avoid a formal entanglement while continuing to support the search. Can they untangle the many motives to find the murderer? The typical house party format makes for many characters who aren't always clearly distinguished and the ending seemed a bit abrupt without much resolution.
July 31, 2022
This is the 18th book in this series and I am so fond of them! They're just light little confections, but I find them so much fun.
Originally, the lead character was a flapper type, and the 1920's slang she and her friends used was half the fun. But 18 books in the author has done a great job of maturing Daisy and evolving her life situation. Now she is married with twins. Some of the original cast of friends has been quietly moved out of her life, but others are still there and still as important to her, though everyone's lives have moved on.
This was a great installment in the series. While none of these books are deep, the story was good and the solution to who the murderer was kept me guessing until the end. I wish there were more books that engaged me as well as these!
Originally, the lead character was a flapper type, and the 1920's slang she and her friends used was half the fun. But 18 books in the author has done a great job of maturing Daisy and evolving her life situation. Now she is married with twins. Some of the original cast of friends has been quietly moved out of her life, but others are still there and still as important to her, though everyone's lives have moved on.
This was a great installment in the series. While none of these books are deep, the story was good and the solution to who the murderer was kept me guessing until the end. I wish there were more books that engaged me as well as these!
January 11, 2018
#18 in the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple (and her husband Scotland Yard Detective chief Inspector Alec Fletcher), magazine writer and heiress (no inheritance due to British entailed system) mystery series. It is March, 1926 and Daisy and her photographer friend Lucy are off to Appsworth Manor. Daisy is working on a book describing architectural follies and Appsworth Manor is reputed to have the best grotto in England. Shortly after Alec is able to join her, the grotto blows up killing one of the guests.
Again, a good cast of supporting characters (an absolutely abysmal insufferable lord and lady and a snooty woman who plays up to aristocrats) and snappy dialog.
Again, a good cast of supporting characters (an absolutely abysmal insufferable lord and lady and a snooty woman who plays up to aristocrats) and snappy dialog.
January 22, 2022
This Daisy story starts well - it’s the classic murder in a country house with a limited number of suspects scenario. There’s a touch of snobbery, the abominable Rhino, a strong hint of scandal - and then the mystery of who blew up the grotto that Daisy and Lucy are there to research and photograph. Unfortunately the ending is a big let down - with no prior clues about the culprit, they reveal themselves. Also a scatter of inaccuracies - Welsh cakes are not “rich and sugary,”, in Britain we don’t have muffins for breakfast and on p11 It says Daisy had met Rhino “a couple of times” whilst on p197 she says she’d never met him before!
August 9, 2019
What fun! I admit I’ve always had a thing for “follies” those quirky landscape features many large noble houses seem to have. I am off to find a book on them after this, and it better be a coffee table sized picture book!
At any rate, Daisy and Alec on a slight variation of their usual going’s on were as charming as ever! And a couple of times I found myself saying ‘oh no, it cannot be him— or her...’
I must add that Lucy Rayner was even more spectacular a reader than usual on this book, brava for all those distinctive voices and accents!
At any rate, Daisy and Alec on a slight variation of their usual going’s on were as charming as ever! And a couple of times I found myself saying ‘oh no, it cannot be him— or her...’
I must add that Lucy Rayner was even more spectacular a reader than usual on this book, brava for all those distinctive voices and accents!
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