Black Ship (Daisy Dalrymple Series #17)

by Carola Dunn

Overview

In September 1925, Scotland Yard DCI Alec Fletcher inherits a large house on the outskirts of London, from a recently deceased great-uncle. Fortunately so, as he and his wife, the Honourable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher, are the recent proud parents of twins and their house is practically bursting at the seams. Though in need of a bit of work, this new, larger house seems a godsend- set in a small circle of houses, with a communal garden and Hamstead Heath nearby, the setting is idyllic.

Idyllic, that is until a dead body shows up half-hidden under the bushes of the communal garden. Now rumors of bootleggers, American gangsters, and an international liquor smuggling operation via black ships have turned everything in their new neighborhood upside down. Alec is assigned by Scotland Yard to ferret out the truth behind the dastardly dead - but it's up to Daisy to find out who the dead man is, what his relationship to her new neighbors is, why he was murdered and who did him in!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312598655
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/15/2009
Series:	Daisy Dalrymple Series , #17
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	266,812
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.32(h) x 0.82(d)

About the Author

Carola Dunn is the author of the Daisy Dalrymple mysteries as well as numerous historical novels. Born and raised in England, she lives in Eugene, Oregon.

Editorial Reviews

Dunn provides an intriguing view of the Prohibition era from the English perspective, besides casting a witty light on the social changes of the day.” —Publishers Weekly

“An interesting take on Prohibition.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Entertaining and well researched.” —Romantic Times on Black Ship

“Delicious...pleasantly reminiscent of the old-fashioned English mysteries of a bygone era.” —Denver Post on Gunpower Plot

“Cunning...appropriate historical detail and witty dialogue are the finishing touches on this engaging 1920s period piece.” —Publishers Weekly on The Bloody Tower

“The period sense remains vivid, the characterizations are excellent, and the mysteries are, if anything, more perplexing than ever.” —The Oregonian on Rattle His Bones

From the Publisher

At the start of Dunn's diverting 17th Daisy Dalrymple 1920s mystery (after 2007's The Bloody Tower), Daisy and her Scotland Yard detective husband, Alec Fletcher, have inherited a large house from Alec's great-uncle near London's Hampstead Heath. While the couple are delighted with the extra space for their growing family, they have doubts about their new neighbors. Then the maid discovers a dead body in the garden one morning, and Daisy and Alec become entangled in a case involving bootleggers, American gangsters and black ships (e.g., rum-running vessels). Meanwhile, the nanny can't get used to the idea that Daisy as a modern mother actually wants to play with her babies. Dunn provides an intriguing view of the Prohibition era from the English perspective, besides casting a witty light on the social changes of the day. (Sept.)

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Publishers Weekly

A sleuthing couple who move to a new home suspect their new neighbors of murder. The Honorable Daisy Dalrymple and her Scotland Yard detective husband Alec Fletcher are about to take up residence in No. 6, Constable Circle even though the lawyer for Alec's uncle's estate seems unenthusiastic. But a chance to move their growing family into a large, albeit shabby, house is too good to pass up. As it turns out, the lawyer's daughter is part of the Jessups, purveyors of fine wines and spirits and the charming family who live next door. When the Fletchers' honeymoon acquaintance, hapless ex-FBI agent Lambert, now tracking down bootleggers for the Treasury Department, arrives on their doorstep with no money or papers, they take him in, little knowing the trouble he will cause. Nicely settled in their refurbished house, they bid farewell to domestic bliss when a man is found murdered in the gardens outside their home and Alec gets the case. The dead man proves to be an Italian-American enforcer whom Daisy had seen leaving the Jessups' house. Daisy feels sure her new neighbors, who admit to shipping spirits to the United States, can't be cold-blooded murderers and sets out to prove it despite Alec's usual resistance to her meddling. Ever-curious Daisy (The Bloody Tower, 2007, etc.) adds an interesting take on Prohibition to her modest mystery.

Kirkus Reviews