Case of the Murdered Muckraker FROM THE PUBLISHER
"In late 1923 the newly married Daisy Dalrymple and her husband, Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, come to America for a honeymoon visit. In the midst of a pleasure trip, however, both work in a bit of business - Alec travels to Washington, D.C., to consult with the U.S. government, Daisy to New York to meet with her American magazine editor. While in New York, Daisy stays at the famed Chelsea Hotel, which is not only close to the Flatiron Building offices of Abroad magazine, where she'll be meeting with her editor, but home to many of New York's artists and writers." After her late-morning meeting Daisy agrees to accompany her editor, Mr. Thorwald, to lunch, but as they are leaving they hear a gunsot and see a man plummeting down an elevator shaft. The man killed was one of her fellow residents at the Chelsea Hotel, Otis Carmody, who was a journalist with no end of enemies - personal and professional - who would delight in his death. Again caught up in a murder investigation, Daisy is led by her search for the killer to all levels of society, and a mad dash across the country itself, as she attempts to solve a puzzle that would baffle even Philo Vance himself.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
In her 10th cozy featuring English writer Daisy Dalrymple (To Davy Jones Below, etc.), Dunn captures the melting pot of Prohibition-era New York with humorous characterizations and a vivid sense of place, and with careful plotting lays out an enjoyable tale of adventure. While her husband, Alec Fletcher, DCI at Scotland Yard, is consulting with J. Edgar Hoover in Washington, Daisy is on her own in New York. At the Chelsea Hotel, Daisy meets a number of eccentrics, including a formidable retired crime writer, a hustling elevator boy with the connections to get good whiskey and the reporter Otis Carmody. Carmody's path crosses Daisy's once again at the offices of her American editor in the Flatiron building where Daisy witnesses the reporter's murder. He'd riled the mob and many Tammany politicos, any of whom might have reason to kill Carmody as well as any witnesses. With little confidence in the politically aware DA and his bumbling detective, Daisy and her new friends recreate a scenario that points to perpetrator and motive. Daisy knows this is just speculation, but by the time Alec arrives, she is chasing a thread across the country on a hitched ride on a plane. As an amateur sleuth, Daisy never overreaches the limits of what she can plausibly uncover; the cross-country trek is earned by a sure and gradual build-up of suspicion. Throughout her travels in the States, Daisy is keenly attuned to people and place: race relations, regional accents, even foods all add to the texture of the story. (Feb. 25) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Now married to a Scotland Yard detective, series sleuth Daisy Dalrymple takes on another murder case when the pair honeymoons in New York. While there, Daisy sees a journalist fall down an elevator shaft after being shot. With lively city surrounds circa 1923, including the Chelsea Hotel. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Her wild Atlantic crossing (To Davy Jones Below, 2001) behind her, Daisy Fletcher-the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple that was-now settled comfortably in the genteelly bohemian Hotel Chelsea, faces two challenges: making her ancient Remington typewriter fit to produce the series of travel articles for Abroad magazine that brought her across the pond, and making sense of the gabble the natives talk. Fortunately, a brief ride on a tram-er, streetcar-takes her to the Flatiron building, where, outside the offices of Sigurd Thorwald, her editor, she witnesses the shooting of Chelsea neighbor Otis Carmody, an investigative reporter whose body lands on top of the Flatiron's main lift-um, elevator. With a juicy murder to solve, it won't take long for Daisy to fit right into the beat of 1920s New York, even though Tammany Hall stooges Sgt. Gillian and D.A. Rosenblatt are clearly hopeless bumblers. Daisy soon learns from Kevin, the Chelsea's observant elevator boy, and his chambermaid sister Bridget that Carmody was in the middle of a messy separation from his wife, Elva, who prefers the company of shady industrialist Barton Bender. The elderly Misses Cabot are almost as much help as hapless FBI agent Lambert is a hindrance. But the real hero is Daisy's husband Alec, who cuts short his consultation with J. Edgar Hoover to help his wife corner a murderer. Dunn's tenth-short on detection, long on atmosphere, adventure, and Daisy-will appeal mainly to Dalrymple diehards.
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