I really enjoy the Daisy Dalrymple series. I have read all the books and I always look forward to a new one. Daisy Dalrymple is an enjoyable, smart, and likable character who, somehow, always finds herself involved in an investigation, often by being the one who stumbles on a dead body. And of course, when Daisy finds a body, her husband Alec Fletcher, a detective at the Met, has no choice but to lead the investigation.
It’s the school holidays and Daisy’s house is full of children. During a day out at Crystal Palace a body is found in the public toilets and her trusted nanny behaves strangely. Thanks to her friends and her aristocratic contact, Daisy starts her own investigation.
These novels are always entertaining, fun, and mysterious. With historical accurate details, likable characters, and an intriguing plot, this is another fantastic addiction to this series. If you are looking for a light read that will keep you entertained for a few hours, then this is the right pick. I can’t wait to read Daisy’s next adventure.

Daisy Dalrymple takes a jaunt. Her young cousins are keen to visit Crystal Palace so Daisy arranges a family outing, along with the children's nanny - little realising what mayhem lies store. Much meddling, missing and mysterious nannies and the odd corpse makes for a day to remember - although perhaps not in the manner that Daisy had intended. Enjoyable and entertaining. Not, perhaps, the absolute best in this long running series but always a rattling good read.

I love Carola Dunn's mysteries but I never read any Daisy Dalrymple mystery before and I'm happy I got this one because it was a very good book.
It was fun to read, entertaining and engaging.
I loved the cast of characters, well written and quirky, and I loved the well researched historical setting.
The mystery was good, full of twists and red herrings, and it kept me guessing till the end.
Even if this is the last book in a long series I think it can be read as a standalone and I had no problems in understanding the plot and the characters.
I look forward to reading the next Ms Dunn book.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book, all opinions are mine.

I love, love, loooove cozy mysteries so when I saw this on NetGalley, I jumped on the chance to request an arc. Luckily, the publishers were kind enough to accept my request, and now here we are- back to the decade of the roaring twenties with Daisy Dalrymple and her sleuthing ways.

The Corpse at Crystal Palace</em> is book twenty-three in Carola Dunn's 'Daisy Dalrymple Series'. In this book, Daisy decides to take her family and friends to the Crystal Palace for a little trip around London. Aside from Daisy, there was Bel, Charlie, Ben, “Trings and Deva and Aunt Sakari, the twins” along with “Nanny Gilpin and Bertha”. However, a trip to The Crystal Palace takes a turn for the worse when the young children, including Daisy’s stepdaughter Belinda, discover their Nanny knocked over unconscious in a shallow pond. While all of this is happening, Daisy discovers another Nanny found dead inside a ladies toilet cubicle. Despite this, and Daisy being Daisy, she immediately becomes intrigued and starts her own investigation.

First of all, I want to say that I might’ve found a new series to get into and a new author to look out for. I love Carola Dunn’s writing style and the way she uses language and imagery to really portray the time period. Keeping in mind that the timeline and setting of this series are set during 1920’s England, the smaller details that she sprinkles throughout the novel capture the sensibilities and atmosphere of the “Golden Age”. During this time, it was nearing the end of the "Roaring Twenties" and Dunn makes serval references throughout the novel such as Daisy exercising her right to vote as a woman etc.

This is my first time reading a novel by Carola Dunn and I think I should’ve at least read a couple of the first books in this series. I was quite overwhelmed at first by the number of characters I had to familiarise myself with, but luckily after a few chapters, I could remember who was who. I would recommend new readers who are wanting to delve into this series to start with the earlier books so could avoid being thrust into a crowd of characters all at once. My favourite character aside from Daisy, of course, was little Charlie. He's the most mischievous (and well-mannered) little boy and I really hope he appears more in the other books because I could not get enough of his antics.

I also really liked that we got to see Daisy being a mum and a wife, and I enjoyed the little family moments she would have with her kids when she wasn't sleuthing around for the next piece in her puzzle. I enjoyed the little banters between Alec, Detective Chief Inspector and husband to Daisy, and his wife. Alec is always having to remind Daisy to keep herself out of these cases and to leave them be, but then he ends up listening to her findings which results to them coming together and sharing their information to solve this case. I have a weakness for crime-solving duos.

Overall, this was such a delightful read. I was immediately hooked from the very first chapter and could not stop reading- I even begged my sister to walk the dog just so I could have more time to read without any more distractions.

This was a very satisfying and cosy mystery read that I will definitely be continuing starting from book 1. I cannot wait to discover more of Daisy Dalrymple

4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing me with an advanced reader's copy of 'The Corpse at Crystal Palace'



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Review has been posted on my blog.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group for an advance copy of The Corpse at the Crystal Palace, the twenty third novel to feature amateur sleuth Daisy Fletcher, née Dalrymple set in 1928 London.

Daisy has her two schoolboy cousins staying with her so she arranges a trip to the Crystal Palace to keep them and her brood amused. When Nanny Gilpin doesn’t return from the toilet Daisy goes to investigate and finds the dead body of another nanny. In the meantime Daisy’s stepdaughter, Belinda and her cousins, Ben and Charlie, are following Nanny Gilpin who is following a third nanny and arrive just in time to save Nanny Gilpin’s life. Daisy is intent on finding the killer and avenging the assault on Nanny Gilpin, much to the exasperation of her husband DCI Alec Fletcher who ends up leading the investigation.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Corpse at the Crystal Palace which is a pleasant, light read with some interesting characters and a good plot. It is a while since I spent time with Daisy so it was nice to revisit old friends and to be reminded of how entertaining the series is. It is fair to say that the novels, and this no exception, follow a fairly standard formula but, after time away, I have a fresh perspective and a greater understanding of how well it works. Basically Daisy finds a body and then makes use of her aristocratic and journalistic contacts to conduct her own investigation and ferret out useful information before her husband and his team. The plot synopsis seems complicated but it’s actually very easy to follow as much of the novel is taken up in looking for the third nanny. Who that is is difficult to determine as the victim was nasty and spiteful, upsetting everyone in their orbit.

I like Daisy who is a nicely judged character. She is smart, loyal, incurably nosy and very well connected but above all she is nice. Her escapades are amusing and keep the reader interested throughout.

The Corpse at the Crystal Palace is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

This is the 23rd in a series which I have read in sequence since the first in 1994. I thought it did not compare favourably with most of the others. The plot stretched incredulity rather far, and, especially in the early chapters, the writing brought echoes of Enid Blyton to my mind.

There were lots of false leads, mostly rather uninteresting, and far too much, fairly pointless, conversation. For the first time ever with this series I was tempted to skip to the end. It is not possible, except in a very general way, to work out the identity of the killer until fairly close to the very melodramatic ending.

This may be a blip, or it could be that the series has run its course, and that it is time for Daisy Fletcher to retire from detection and allow Alec to enjoy his promotion in peace!

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the digital review copy