Anthem for Doomed Youth

January 10, 2011
Set in 1926, Dunn's enjoyable 19th Daisy Dalrymple mystery (after 2009's Sheer Folly) will please fans of traditional English whodunits. When the graves of three men turn up in Epping Forest, once a royal hunting preserve just outside London, Det. Chief Insp. Alec Fletcher, the lead investigator, is relieved that his wife, Daisy, along with her friends Melanie and Sakari, are away at their daughters' school for the weekend, so she won't be able to nose her way into the case. Later, Melanie's daughter discovers a dead teacher while lost in the medieval maze of Bridge End Garden. Leave it to clever Daisy to figure out that all the bodies are related to the Great War. The aristocratic but very modern Daisy makes a formidable amateur sleuth as she acts to stop more murders and get justice for the victims.

November 1, 2010

The Honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher can't escape involvement in murder no matter how good her intentions.

DCI Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard is called in when three bodies are found buried in the heart of Epping Forest in the spring of 1926. The local police officer, DI Gant, is so annoyed that he walks off, leaving Alec and his crew with no help. The first order of business is to identify the three men and find a connection between them. It is Alec's wife Daisy who comes up with the idea that they may have had a World War I service connection. Colonel Pelham, a retired soldier, was a brute and a bully whose wife is delighted with his demise; the other two victims were young enough to have served under his command. While Alec continues to search for clues, Daisy and her friends Melanie and Sakari attend a sports day at their daughters' school. There they encounter another bully—Harriman, the boys' games teacher—along with several teachers who suffered greatly during the war. When Melanie's daughter finds Harriman's dead body in a maze they're visiting, Daisy does her best to protect the girls from the inquiry, which is being run by the choleric and incompetent DI Gant.

The latest edition to Daisy's long string of investigations (Sheer Folly, 2009, etc.) is amusing and sprightly, and as evocative of the period as ever.

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March 1, 2011
DCI Alec Fletcher receives a high-profile case with orders to solve it quickly and keep his wife, Daisy Dalrymple, away from the investigation. Since Daisy will be heading off to visit their daughter at her boarding school, this should not be a problem. Unfortuately, Daisys daughter, Belinda, and her friends encounter a body in the maze at the public garden, leaving Daisy and her friend Sakari Prasad to speculate about the murder and ponder whether it could be related to Alecs case, which centers on the discovery of three bodies in Epping Forest. The victims all served in the same company during WWI, and their deaths may be related to wartime events. Dunns striking portrait of Daisy continues to remind readers that there were strong women with careers in England during the 1920sand women who successfully balanced work and parenthood. As always, Dunn combines an entertaining story with fascinating historical material.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)