Books › Death At Wentwater Court (Daisy Dalrymple #1)
Death At Wentwater Court (Daisy Dalrymple #1)
First published 2000 · 256 pages
A delightful romp through a 1920s English country estate where the tea is hot, the ice is thin, and the murder is perfectly polite.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping into a perfectly preserved 1920s drawing room, complete with crackling fires, clinking teacups, and a delightfully scandalous secret. The narrative unfolds at a steady, comforting pace, inviting you to sink into the genteel atmosphere of a British country estate in the dead of winter. It balances the nostalgic charm of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction with a refreshing, mildly feminist undercurrent, thanks to its plucky, forward-thinking heroine. The prose is crisp and witty, capturing the polite but sharp-edged banter of the aristocracy. It is an incredibly cozy, low-stakes experience that delights readers who want their murders solved with good manners, sharp observation, and a thoroughly satisfying, tidy conclusion.
- Mood
- cozy
- nostalgic
- genteel
- wintery
- Tone
- wry
- cheerful
- observant
- polite
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- female independence · shifting social classes · facades of the aristocracy · post-war societal changes
- The writing
- Crisp, polite, and lightly witty, capturing the cadence of 1920s British high society with a breezy charm.
- The arc
- Moves from the eager anticipation of a new career to the satisfying thrill of unraveling a genteel puzzle.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave a classic, low-stakes British country house mystery led by a plucky, independent heroine.
Content notes
- non-graphic murder
- period-typical sexism
About the book
This first installment of a cozy mystery series transports listeners back to the bygone era of 1923 Britain, where unflappable flapper and fledgling journalist Daisy Dalrymple daringly embarks on her first writing assignment—and promptly stumbles across a corpse.
No stranger to sprawling country estates, wealthy Daisy Dalrymple is breaking new ground in having scandalously traded silver spoon for pen and camera to cover a story for Town and Country magazine. But her planned interviews with the inhabitants of Wentwater Court give way to interrogation after suave Lord Stephen Astwick meets a dire fate on the tranquil skating pond. Armed with evidence that his fate was anything but accidental, Daisy joins forces with Scotland Yard to examine an esteemed collection of suspects and to see that the unlikely culprit doesn’t slip through their fingers just as the unfortunate Astwick slipped through the ice.
Description from Open Library.
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