Mistletoe and Murder: A Daisy Dalrymple Mystery

Carola Dunn

Dec 2015 · Blackstone Audio Inc. · Narrated by Lucy Rayner

About this audiobook

Seething resentments, well-kept family secrets, and a savage murder set the stage for Christmas in Cornwall in this cozy holiday installment of the Daisy Dalrymple mysteries.

In December 1923, the formidable Dowager Viscountess Dalrymple has decided that for Christmas the family will all gather at Brockdene in Cornwall at the invitation of Lord Westmoor. Her daughter—Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher—is somewhat less than pleased but yields to the demands of her mother, especially as she’ll be there just before the holidays working on another article for Town and Country about the estate itself.

But the family gathering quickly goes awry. Brockdene, it seems, is only occupied by the Norvilles—poor relations of Lord Westmoor—and Westmoor himself won’t be joining them. So Daisy, her husband Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, and their family must spend their Christmas holiday trapped in an ancestral estate with a rich history of lore, ghost stories, and rumors of hidden treasure and secret passageways with a family seething with resentments, grudges, and a faintly scandalous history.

The veneer of civility that pervades the halls of Brockdene, however, begins to wear thin when long-held family secrets threaten to bubble over and one of the Christmas guests is found savagely murdered.

With few clues as to who committed the murder, and with too many motives as to why, it is once again up to Daisy to sort out the truth that lies beneath a generation of poisonous secrets.

Ratings and reviews

1920s, historical-research, historical-novel, law-enforcement, murder, murder-investigation, situational-humor, verbal-humor, England, family, family-dynamics, friendship***** Daisy (and Alec and his daughter) get coerced by Daisy's mother into spending Christmas at a relative's country home. But he doesn't even reside there anymore and the poor relations who do are befuddled by the influx of people. Said residents are also certifiably weird (some are classic spoof material). But then there's the murder and all the sleuthing. Laugh reality away with this fun addition to a spiffing series! Lucy Rayner is a wonderful narrator with a full range of character interpretations that really make the story even better!

About the author

Carola Dunn is the author of several series of novels, including Regency romances, the Daisy Dalrymple mysteries, the Cornish mysteries, and more than two dozen stand-alone novels.

Lucy Rayner is an award-winning British actress. Bitten hard by the acting bug whilst performing at the Edinburgh Festival as a teenager, she has gone on to work on both sides of the Atlantic in a number of theater productions and films, many of which have screened at festivals around the world. She loves to tell stories and voice characters in a number of British regional accents and has narrated many wonderful audiobooks. She has a master's degree in history from the University of Edinburgh and is a graduate of the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York City.