Heirs of the Body

September 30, 2013
Set in 1927, Dunn’s entertaining 21st Daisy Dalrymple mystery (after 2012’s Gone West) takes Daisy to her childhood home, Fairacres, in Worcestershire. Daisy’s cousin, Lord Dalrymple, needs her help vetting candidates for designation as heir apparent to his title and estate. A number of claimants from the far corners of the British Empire, including a South African diamond merchant and a Jamaican sailor, gather at Fairacres, where drawing-room manners clash with colonial informality and ignorance, much to Daisy’s mother’s dismay. When strange accidents begin to happen, Daisy and her Scotland Yard inspector husband, Alec Fletcher, suspect that one of the candidates will go to great lengths to establish his right of inheritance—perhaps as far as murder. Daisy and Alec must do their utmost to discover a possible killer and protect the innocent as well as the legitimate heir. Fans of Downtown Abbey will be delighted. Agent: Alice Volpe, Northwest Literary Agency.

November 15, 2013
In 1920s England, a family mystery offers the aristocratic wife of a police officer new scope for her sleuthing. The Honourable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher's family is currently headed by her childless cousin Edgar, Lord Dalrymple, a former schoolmaster with a passion for butterflies and moths. Upon the death of Daisy's father and brother, Edgar inherited the title and estates. Now, he's trying to find the male heir who will eventually succeed him. After advertising worldwide, the family lawyer has come up with a list of possible claimants, all descended from one man, and gives the ever-inquisitive Daisy permission to sit in on the interviews. The four possible heirs are a South African diamond merchant, a Scarborough hotelier with a French connection, a mixed-race boy from Trinidad, and a Jamaican sailor whose pregnant wife has come to England to forward his claim since he is currently not to be found. All the prospective heirs are invited to join Daisy, her husband, Scotland Yard detective Alec Fletcher, their children and other relatives at Fairacres to celebrate Edgar's 50th birthday. A series of unsettling incidents reaches a climax with the death of one of the possible heirs. Was it accident or murder? The lucky sailor arrives just in time to come under suspicion, leaving Daisy and Alec to discover which of the claimants is the true heir and which is willing to kill to forward his claim. Perhaps not the strongest of Daisy's period mysteries (Gone West, 2012, etc.), but another charming valentine for fans of classic British mysteries.

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December 1, 2013

Lord Dalrymple is turning 50 and needs Daisy's help figuring out the family tree. Some disreputable characters come out of the woodwork hoping to claim rights as heirs. Dunn is up to number 21 in her witty historical cozy series (after Gone West).

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November 15, 2013
The long-running Daisy Dalrymple series, set in England in the late 1920s, adds another smart, engaging title. Daisy is charged with helping her cousin Edgar and his wife sort through a convoluted and gap-filled family history to discover who is his rightful heir. Inquiries from Daisy's attorney brother bring forth some interesting candidates from the family lines throughout the world, but as time passes, the issue becomes still murkier as proposed heirs, gathered at a party, become victims first of accidents and then murder. Daisy and her Scotland Yard detective husband, Alec, disagree over her involvement in the crime, but Daisy's clever and loving approach to finding answers helps assuage the tension. Slow pacing and complicated family story lines impede the narrative flow a bit, but the immersive period details, appealing main characters, and surprising plot turns generate enough momentum to take readers to the satisfying finish. Fans of Rhys Bowen and Jacqueline Winspear will find the same depth and feisty female characters here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)