Fall of a Philanderer by Carola Dunn (Historical mystery)
It had been a while since I read this, so when I bought a hardcover copy, I re-read it. It was just as much fun as I remembered.
Carola Dunn writes a series of charming mysteries set in England during the 1920’s, one of my favourite historical periods. I love the clothes, I love the manners, and I love reading about the effects of World War I on English life. The books in this series are definitely “cozies”, without the gritty realism that I find so alien and depressing. The main character is the Honourable Miss Daisy Dalrymple, the daughter of a viscount who died in the Influenza pandemic. Daisy’s brother, who was to inherit the title and family estate, and who would have provided for Daisy, died in the trenches. Daisy takes advantage of the loosening of social mores to embark on a writing career that would have been unthinkable for a woman of her breeding a decade earlier.
Fall of a Philanderer is one of the later books in the series, so Daisy has already met, fallen in love with, and married a Scotland Yard detective, Alec Fletcher. While on holiday at the seaside, Alec and Daisy discover the dead body of a serial adulterer, who seems to have been pushed off a cliff. Given his behaviour, the only surprise is that no jealous husband, enraged father, or jilted lover had bashed him over the head long since. Alec, forced to cut short his holiday and take over the case, has only too many suspects to choose from.
I’d recommend starting this series at the beginning, but it’s not necessary, and this book is as a good a place as any.
