1945, Daisy's life is turned upside down when her home burns down with her mother inside. While recovering in hospital, the war ends and she finds herself without a job as well as neither a home or family. The local priest helps her to find a new role as an assistant whose tasks include working in a hotel. One day a murder occurs and Daisy is convinced the police have the wrong man...
Death at the Dolphin is a stand alone, cosy murder mystery novel set in Oxfordshire, England in 1945.
Daisy is a wonderful lead character and the narrative is written from her first person perspective. We are instantly sympathetic to her due to her guilt over her mother's death. She has had an important role in national security during the war but is then at a loss during peace time. The murder gives her a purpose again, especially when an Austrian Jewish refugee is accused.
The victim is a retired teacher who was passionate about social justice so who could have wanted her dead? There is little forensic information which is appropriate to the genre of cosy murder mystery. I can easily imagine this being made into a TV drama and there is a good antagonism between Daisy and the lead detective Inspector Thaxted.
I enjoyed the larger than life characters of JB and Declan, as well as the myriad of potential suspects. The setting of the hotel means that guests and staff all fall under Daisy's suspicion. The aftermath of the war feels like it is authentically represented through the attitudes of the characters as well as the devastation many have experienced.
Death at the Dolphin is a very enjoyable murder mystery with a strong narrator and plot.

Murder,mystery set in a small village ,just after the war. Daisy finds herself surplus to requirements as the men return to work,but soon finds herself embroiled in a murder. Great characters.

This well done book (appears to be a series debut), set in post WWII Britain, features young Daisy Moore whose services as a codebreaker are no longer needed and who is in need of a job and a home after a catastrophic fire. I found this to be really enjoyable!

Sort of a cross between Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes that I found completely enjoyable. Looking forward to reading other titles from this author.

As a huge fan of Golden Age mysteries and Gretta Mulrooney, I couldn’t resist gobbling up her latest crime novel, Death at The Dolphin, in one sitting.

It’s 1945 and the war might be over, but Daisy Moore does not have much reason to celebrate. Still overwhelmed by guilt after her mother’s death in a house fire, Daisy needs a job and somewhere to live, so when she is offered a job at the Dolphin Hotel in the Oxfordshire village of Fernfield, she jumps at this chance. Working in a quiet village is a change for Daisy and her previous life in London, however, when a dead body is found in the hotel bedrooms, Daisy realises that she must use all of the secret skills she acquired during the war to catch a killer.

Lucinda Laidlaw has been found dead after her skull had been bashed in by one of the hotel’s stone dolphin ornaments. Pacifist Lucinda lived with Austrian Jew refugee Felix Koller – who was also the beneficiary of her will. Wounded war veteran Inspector Thaxted is sure that Felix is Lucinda’s murderer, but Daisy is not so sure. Are her suspicions correct? Is Felix innocent? And if Felix wasn’t the killer, then who could possibly have wanted to kill Lucinda?

Daisy certainly has her hands full with this case – especially as there is someone watching from the shadows who will do whatever it takes to keep her from uncovering the truth…

I love Gretta Mulrooney’s crime novels and with Death at the Dolphin, she adds another feather to her cap by writing a gripping historical crime novel packed with tension, suspense and red herrings and plenty of shocks and surprises to keep readers guessing and on the edge of their seats anxious to find out whodunnit.

Daisy Moore is a wonderful detective who is smart, fearless and intelligent. The skills she learned during wartime will certainly stand her in good stead and allow her to solve this case and catch a killer.

Whatever time period she is writing in, Gretta Mulrooney always delivers a top-quality crime novel and she has done it again with her latest novel, Death at the Dolphin.

This was an enjoyable read. Daisy Moore gains post-war employment with stage and screen actor, J. B. Berrow , in Fernfield, Oxfordshire. She has to adjust living in a rural environment after moving from London. Daisy takes care of J. B. 's correspondence and helps out at his hotel, The Dolphin. After Lucinda Laidlaw, a retired school teacher, is murdered at the hotel, Daisy becomes an amateur sleuth and attempts to solve the crime. The story has many twists and turns, and the reader will discover that many of the characters have secrets. I highly recommend this book to other cozy mystery readers. I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley, and the opinion expressed is strictly my own.

I love historical mysteries and this one did not disappoint. Excellent characters and loved the main character, Daisy. Would love to see more books with her!

A clever mystery set in post war England.
I felt for Daisy at the beginning of the novel as she went from doing a highly important job that required great intelligence to bring surplus to requirements once the men returned from war. She was also left alone in the world after a house fire.
I loved that she had some friends who kept an eye out for her and found her a job. There were such a lot of really nice characters in this book. Working for a hotelier/actor sounded like a strange mix but it turned out to be very interesting especially after the murder occurred. Daisy's sharp mind worked overtime trying to figure it all out much to the annoyance of the very capable Inspector Thaxted. The little village had a surprising amount of suspects and I was completely stumped until the final reveal. This was a clever mystery that kept me guessing and I hope there will be more books with Daisy and Thaxted.

Gretta Mulrooney is a. British author, a prolific writer of character -driven mysteries, some standalone, some in several beloved series. I particularly enjoy the Detective Siv Drummond novels. Mulrooney writes in an easy to read, descriptive tone, almost in a breezy cozy style. Don’t get me wrong, these are not vicars looking for missing dog mysteries. There are usually brutal murders, flashbacks and intricate motives. This is a standalone story. Fascinating history combined with a strong thriller. Excellent, as expected.

A superb murder mystery set in an English village at the end of WWII. The multidimensional characters help to keep the reader guessing in this book with lots of twists in the plot. I look forward to reading more books by Mulrooney .

There's something about the way the author writes that makes the words flow easily, and the pages turn themselves!

A pitch perfect thriller! . . . This author is an absolute master of mystery storytelling.

Death at the Dolphin by Gretta Mulrooney
Funny choice for a title since this is also the name of a book by the great Ngaio Marsh although that is a theater and this is a hotel.
No matter because I love this author, having discovered her a year or so ago on Netgalley. I have read all the Siv Drummond books and several of the Tyrone Swift series. I was a bit leery of this one since it is set during the post WWII years which is not my favorite but I took a chance and I’m glad I did.
I love Daisy and her cohorts and the story was fascinating. This author’s books are so atmospheric that I feel I’m there. Loved the Cockney rhyming slang, some I had heard before and some not. Learned a new word, buckshee means free.
I hope this turns into a series because I am not ready to let go of Daisy, JB, the inspector and the Fernies. Except you know who, if you read the book. And if you haven’t, get to it!
P.S. I would love these books to on audio because they would all be excellent for listening.

Death at the Dolphin is about a young woman named Daisy who finds herself in need of a job & housing post WWII. A close friend helps find her a position (factotum) for an estate/small hotel in the English countryside town of Fernfield, away from her usual home base in London. As you can imagine from the title, a murder occurs at the Dolphin hotel and Daisy uses her curiosity and skills to find answers. She faces several obstacles during the investigation and there are several sub plots. I found this book interesting as it showcased what a small town looked like post war - though people were having a brighter outlook, prejudice toward various groups, including foreigners, were rampant. Did this prejudice lead to the murder at the Dolphin? You'll have to read to find out!

I enjoyed this book and thought it was a fun mystery, but it did get a bit stale at times. There were also several subplots and many, many characters. I found myself getting mixed up re: who's who. Overall, it was an enjoyable, quick read. Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read a ARC of this title.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Londoner Daisy Moore, jobless and homeless at the end of the war takes a job in Oxfordshire as a general factotum for actor and hotel owner Jeffrey Berrow. Not long after she arrives a woman is found murdered in one of the hotel rooms. Daisy , unable to leave it to the local constabulary, decides to launch her own investigation into the murder.

I very much enjoyed this latest novel from Great Mulroney and would most definitely recommend it to others.

This was just the right mystery for my reading pleasure after having read a string of thrillers. Spending time in the village of Fernfield in Oxfordshire with Daisy after VE Day was a nice change. Daisy had spent the war working at Whitehall but, now that the war is over, she has been made redundant. Her life is at a crossroads. Her family home has been lost in a fire that took her mother's life and Daisy blames herself. How will she find a home, a job and a future? It comes in the form of JB Berrow, an actor and owner of the Dolphin Hotel. It's not in any way the kind of job that taxes her mental powers like the code breaking she did at Whitehall but it's a place to call home and it pays her bills. She misses London and Fernfield is just plain boring. But not for long. Besides her job as a personal assistant to JB and filling in s needed at the Dolphin, she finds herself with a new challenge - solving the murder of one of their guests. She is found dead in her room, killed by an architectural gargoyle. The police, of course, wish she would keep her nose out of their investigation but Daisy isn't having it.
I really liked Daisy with her can do attitude and her sharp mind. Following her thought process to unmask the killer kept me guessing - and I guessed wrong to the very end. I wouldn't mind spending more time with Daisy if she finds herself solving another case.
My thanks to the publisher Joffe and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

After reading a couple of Gretta Mulrooney's books in the Siv Drummond series I thought this would be another instalment but it turned out to be a stand-alone or maybe the first episode in a new series. Well, who can tell, I wouldn't mind because I liked the book.

This historical mystery is set in England right after the end of the Second World War and features Daisy Moore, a former Whitehall codebreaker. Daisy gets the boot as soon as the war ends and men are coming back to take jobs over once again from the women that served loyally during their absence.

After her mother dies in a house fire, being unemployed and out of a place to live, her priest, or actually her mothers priest, finds her employment at a country estate hotel in Oxfordshire as the assistant to rich owner's estranged husband.

Pretty soon after her arrival one of the villagers, Lucinda Laidlaw, a local charity worker and a pacifist, is killed in an unoccupied room in the hotel. Feeling rather underemployed and smarting to use her analytical skills, Daisy sets out to find the killer, with a little help from her employer. This brings her in some dangerous situations and in a kind of love-hate relationship with the detective on the case. Well in the end they manage to solve the case between the three of them.

I wouldn't mind a follow up, because I kind of liked the interaction between Daisy and some of the other characters.

Maybe not quite on a par with the last Siv Drummond book, buy at least 3 stars.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

Enjoyable Sleuthing…
Enjoyable sleuthing in this standalone historical mystery. Daisy takes a position at the Dolphin Hotel set in a tranquil Oxfordshire village. All seems well until a body is discovered in one of the hotel bedrooms. Can Daisy get to the bottom of the matter - and can a certain someone stop her. An entertaining read - with a well crafted cast of characters, an engaging storyline, red herrings aplenty and a plot nicely laced with wry humour.

What did all those smart women who took on the important roles in England during WWII do when they were unceremoniously thrown out of their jobs when the war was over. Well, one, Daisy, ended up in a small village as an assistant to an actor who also owned a hotel. It wasn't the exciting and mental challenging job as a code breaker she was use to but she had to put food the table somehow. Things were going along fairly smoothly until someone is murdered in a room at the hotel. Now at least Daisy had something to challenge her mind as she decided to help the police, if they wanted it or not. But it might have been as dangerous as living through the Blitz in London...

It was interesting to read about England right after WWII and especially about one woman who had an important role that used her brain but as soon the war ended she had no job, no way to earn money which she needed, and a big whole in her life where she once had done meaningful work. This was a smart mystery. It fooled me. I thought I knew who the murderer was before the end but I was wrong. And the depiction of the village was realistic. People were prejudice against outsiders, Jews, and Germans. After all, it was just after the war. It was filled with secrets, gossip and some good people too.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest opinion.

Death at the dolphin by Gretta Mulrooney.
London, VE Day, 1945.
Daisy Moore is at a crossroads.she needs a job and somewhere to live. She gets one at the dolphin hotel. But when a body turns up she must use her skills to find the murderer.
Really good read. I did like Daisy. 4*.

Post VE Day 1945. Daisy Moore's secret employment at Whitehall has finished and after causing the death of her mother (so she believes) and burning down their home, she finds herself at the Dolphin Hotel in Fernfield, Oxfordshire. When a murder occurs at the hotel Daisy starts to ask questions much to the irritation of Inspector Peter Thaxted who is investigating. But between them can they gather all the clues.
An entertaining well-written cozy mystery with its cast of varied, and likeable characters especially the main ones.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.