Review of Heirs of the Body, Carola Dunn

Cosy detective series set in the 1920s, with journalist and amateur detective the Hon Daisy Fletcher (daughter of the late Duke of ) assisting her police-detective husband in his cases. In this novel, Daisy and her husband must identify the next heir to the Dukedom before all the rival claimants are murdered.

Chosen because: I'm a sucker for detective stories set in the 1920s, and the village library has a large collection  

Sometimes you just want to curl up with a cosy read and enjoy yourself with a nice murder, and that's just what the Daisy Dalrymple series does. Which is no doubt why the Cambridgeshire library system seems to keep them on permanent circulation around all the village libraries.

The Hon Daisy Fletcher (nee Dalrymple) and her husband, Scotland Yard detective Alec Fletcher, are at a more than usually tense house party at Daisy's cousin Lord Dalrymple's country pile. With the current Duke childless, the heir to the Dukedom is in doubt. So, in the way of detective stories, the Duke decides to invite all the possible rival heirs to stay while the mystery is unravelled. They're a mixed lot, including a French hotel-keeper, a South-African diamond merchant, a Jamaican sailor and a schoolboy from Trinidad. Who is the rightful heir? And who is trying to bump off his rivals, via a series of failed attempts on their lives?

I'm not entirely sure there was much of a mystery to be solved in this particular novel, and certainly very little chance for the astute reader to spot the clues and uncover the solution before our heroine. In fact, the best way to identify the murderer was by eliminating everyone who seemed like a nice chap, and seeing who was left. But then when you want a cosy read, that's a perfectly satisfactory conclusion.

To be honest, in the hotly contested 'detective novels set in the 1920s and featuring at least one aristocratic amateur detective' stakes, I don't think they're anywhere near as well-written or have as good a sense of time and place as the Dandy Gilver series (to be reviewed shortly). But on the other hand, there are a heck of a lot more of them and they don't have the overwhelming irritation factor of David Roberts' 'Lord Edward Brown' series (which I find so irritating that I might not review them at all).

So if you're in the mood for something cosy, then settle down into Daisy Dalrymple and have fun.