Gone West

November 21, 2011
Dunn’s charming 20th Daisy Dalrymple mystery (after 2011’s Anthem for Doomed Youth) takes Daisy, in the fall of 1926, to a remote Derbyshire farm, where an old school friend, Sybil Sutherby, is concerned about the health of her employer, author Humphrey Birtwhistle, who pens westerns under a pseudonym. Due to Humphrey’s prolonged illness, Sybil, as his secretary editor, has taken over the actual writing of his work. When Humphrey “goes west” (a British idiom, an authorial note informs us, to indicate a person has died or disappeared), Doctor Knox, a close family friend, refuses to sign the death certificate because he can’t cite a cause. Daisy’s husband, Chief Det. Insp. Alec Fletcher, comes from London to join the local police in the subsequent investigation. Daisy must tread carefully between her own theories and the official line in a cozy replete with the amenities of English country life. Agent: Northwest Literary Agency.