Styx and Stones by Carola Dunn

Daisy’s brother-in-law has a problem and he is asking for Daisy’s help. He misstepped 6 years ago and now is receiving poison pen letters. Could Daisy come and help him figure out what is going on? She could bring Belinda and escape to the country and enjoy some time away from the town’s stifling heat. Daisy isn’t sure what she can do but she wants to help John so she goes.
While there, she finds out that John isn’t the only one receiving letters. She’s just about to solve the issue when she stumbles over a dead body. At first, she thinks it’s the local vicar but it turns out to have been his visiting scholarly brother. What is going on?
Alec and Daisy actually have a pretty significant fight but it is smoothed over when they actually talk to each other which was nice to see in a book.

Four stars

This book came out January 1, 1999

Follows Dead in the Water

Followed by Rattle His Bones

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus

Opinions are my own

Dead in the Water by Carola Dunn

The Henley Royal Regatta is on! And Daisy is visiting her aunt and uncle so that she can write about it. Also staying at their house is one of the regatta teams made up of a mixture of young men and slightly older men who are just back from the war. There are some class issues betwixt the men as well. But Daisy just wants her story. Too bad one of the young men on the team gets murdered. Is it because of his personality or is his family trying to hide something?

Three and a half stars

This book came out January 1, 1998

Follows Damsel in Distress

Followed by Styx and Stones

Borrowed as Audible Plus book

Opinions are my own

Damsel in Distress by Carola Dunn

Both Daisy Dalrymple and Philip Petrie's families have assumed that the two of them will marry. But the two are more friends than anything else and Philip has always felt some obligation to Daisy after her brother (his best friend) died. But Daisy has Alec and Philip... Philip has just met Gloria Arbuckle, daughter of an American millionaire. Her golden hair has turned his head and he's pretty sure he's falling in love. Except that Gloria has been kidnapped. He can't call the police so he calls in Daisy. And she is delighted to help her old friend. Especially if it means he'll marry her and finally get their families off their backs.

It's going to take some maneuvering, and Daisy herself ends up kidnapped for a little bit. The end is quite happy with Daisy and Alec taking the next step and Philip finding his place in the world.

Four stars

This book came out in 1997

Follows Murder on the Flying Scotsman

Followed by Dead in the Water

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible

Opinions are my own

Requiem for a Mezzo by Carola Dunn

Once again, Daisy is pulled into a murder mystery when her next-door neighbor is killed onstage. Unfortunately, as often happens in mystery stories, Bettina Westlea (her stage name; in real life Mrs. Roger Abernathy) has a lot of people that really don't like her. Her sister Muriel has always lived in her shadow and still acts as her housekeeper today. Her husband is a quiet man who knows of her many affairs but has suffered through them without a noise of complaint. Then there is the woman she beat out for a coveted role and the numerous scorned lovers. Really, it could be anyone.

We see Alec and Daisy's relationship grow in this book as well as they spend more time together. And it may be that Daisy's friend Lucy is even beginning to thaw in regards to the handsome inspector as well.

Three and a half stars

This book came out July 1, 2001

Follows The Winter Garden Mystery

Followed by Murder on the Flying Scotsman

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus

Opinions are my own

The Winter Garden Mystery by Carola Dunn

Daisy Dalrymple is off to another manor house to take pictures and write up the history for her magazine. She is somewhat regretting that this house will not have the same excitement as the last one. After all, it's not like another murder is going to be committed, right? Well, certainly not while she is there. But a dead body is discovered in the Winter Garden.

And it's not like there weren't undercurrents to begin with. Lady Valeria Parslow rules her family and the village with an iron fist. No one is allowed to step out of line. Her son Sebastian, a beautiful man, is kept on a particularly short leash. His sister Roberta ("Bobby") is actually the one who invited Daisy in the first place. Lady Valeria was not happy about it and her ire only grows when Daisy, fearing that the local police force is too intimidated by Lady Valeria to investigate properly, calls in Scotland Yard. Detective Inspector Alec Fletcher to be exact.

Three and a half stars

This book came out March 15th, 1995

Follows Death at Wentwater Court

Followed by Requiem for a Mezzo

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium

Opinions are my own 

Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn

Daisy Dalrymple is breaking the barriers of the 1920s by striking out on her own (rather than marrying) and becoming a reporter/photographer (though, don't tell her editor because he doesn't believe women can take pictures.) Her first assignment takes her to Wentwater Court where the tensions are running somewhat high between the family as the father has remarried. His three children are having trouble getting used to their stepmother, especially since she is only a year older than her oldest stepson. To make matters worse, Lord Stephen Astwick has been invited to their house right after the Christmas holiday and he is making decided advances toward the stepmother while the daughter of the house seems to be obsessed with him. Lord Astwick all seems to be an oily snake. So it should not be a surprise that he ends up dead. Daisy and one of her old acquaintances are the one to find him floating in a hole where ice used to be.
Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher is called in and immediately appreciates the help that Daisy is able to give him. She is levelheaded and insightful, able to provide a clear picture of everyone at the party as well as seeing things in her photographs that aren't necessarily available to the naked eye. 
This was a nice start to a cozy series. Daisy seems smarter than the average amateur; not rushing into danger, sharing her evidence with the professional. I think I've read this series before and eventually she grated on my nerves but I can't remember why so I'm going to continue listening.

Three and a half stars

Followed by The Winter Garden Mystery

This book came out in 1994

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium

Opinions are my own

Murder on the Flying Scotsman by Carola Dunn

I had never read a Daisy Dalrymple before and I'm so excited to have found a new series.
Daisy, a magazine writer, is on the train to Scotland when her potential beau's nine-year-old daughter, having run away from home, finds her. The train has already pulled away from the station so it's too late to send her home. Also on the train? One of Daisy's schoolmates whose entire extended family is also on the train in a last ditch effort to get the family's notoriously pinch-penny, misogynistic patriarch to change his will. It seems that Alistair McGowen believes that the family money should only go to someone in the direct male line. Right now, the only one that meets that description is his scapegrace twin brother. The older man spent a large portion of his life in India and (according to the rest of the family) now has some strange ideas. Like leaving his money to a young Indian doctor.
Amazingly, it's not the usual person (Alistair) who gets murdered. Instead, it's his brother Alistair. Belinda (the nine-year-old) is the one who discovers the body. Daisy takes a look at the scene and immediately deduces that this is not a natural death.
There is some terms used in this book that are firmly in the "racist" category these days. The overall tone was that everyone should be accepted because of who they are, not what they look like, but there were a couple of cringeworthy moments.

Four stars
This book comes out April 24 (originally published 1996)

Follows Requiem for a Mezzo

Followed by Damsel in Distress

Reread in May 2022