Today is my turn on the Blog Tour for DEATH AT THE DOLPHIN by Gretta Mulrooney. This is a stand alone historical crime book set in the 1940’s. I am thrilled to be hosting a guest review by Elaine Tomasso.
DEATH AT THE DOLPHIN
Format – Kindle
Publisher – Joffe Books
Publication Date –
Genre – Joffe Books historical murder mysteries
Author – Gretta Mulrooney
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Even in peacetime, death is just around the corner.
London, VE Day, 1945. As Britain takes its tentative first steps into peace, Daisy Moore’s secret wartime work at Whitehall comes to an end.
Convinced that she caused her mother’s death, homeless and with no other job in sight, Daisy should be happy to find herself in Fernfield working at the Dolphin hotel. Instead, she finds the quiet corner of Oxfordshire oppressive and small, and she misses London.
Then a body is found in one of the rooms with the head bashed in by a stone dolphin from the window ledge. The victim is Lucinda Laidlaw, a local charity worker and a pacifist. The villagers thought she was a busybody, and they don’t like foreigners.
Daisy is sure she can use her skills to identify the killer. She spent the war decoding ciphers, and murder is surely just another puzzle. But Inspector Thaxted isn’t convinced he needs the help.
The list of people who wanted Lucinda dead keeps growing and Thaxted’s investigation is going nowhere. Then Thaxted’s prime suspect, a young Jewish refugee, is attacked and left for dead. Can Daisy and the inspector work together to find the killer before anyone else dies?
Discover a brilliant 1940s-set murder mystery. Fans of Hilary Green, N.R. Daws, Mike Hollow, Anthony Horowitz, Elly Griffiths and T.P. Fielden will devour it.
READERS LOVE GRETTA MULROONEY:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I love British mysteries and this one was fabulous.” Libby R.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “This is Gretta Mulrooney at her best . . . I loved the compassionate style of writing with lots of surprises and an ending which made me gasp out loud!” Carol S.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Well written and plotted — as are all of Ms. Mulrooney’s books — this was a treat.” Joyce F.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “As always with this author, it was a clever and brilliantly-written plot, with a totally unexpected twist at the end.” Mandy B.
ALSO BY GRETTA MULROONEY
STANDALONE NOVELS
DEATH AT THE DOLPHIN
OUT OF THE BLUE
LOST CHILD
COING OF AGE
TYRONE SWIFT DETECTIVE SERIES
Book 1: THE LADY VANISHED
Book 2: BLOOD SECRETS
Book 3: TWO LOVERS, SIX DEATHS
Book 4: WATCHING YOU
Book 5: LOW LAKE
Book 6: YOUR LAST LIE
Book 7: HER LOST SISTER
Book 8: MURDER IN PEMBROKESHIRE
Book 9: DEATH BY THE THAMES
DETECTIVE INSPECTOR SIV DRUMMOND SERIES
Book 1: THESE LITTLE LIES
Book 2: NEVER CAME HOME
Book 3: MURDER IN MALLOW COTTAGE
Book 4: MURDER BY THE SHORE
Guest Review by Elaine Tomasso
I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy of Death at the Dolphin, a stand-alone cosy novel set in the fictional Oxfordshire town of Fernfield in 1945.
At a loose end after her top secret war work comes to an end and orphaned after a house fire she blames herself for kills her mother Daisy Moore accepts a job as general factotum to actor and hotelier Jeffrey “JB” Berrow in Fernfield. The job isn’t very exciting, looking after JB’s fan Mail and house and standing in at his hotel, The Dolphin, when required, but that changes when Lucinda Laidlaw is killed in Room 1.
I enjoyed Death at the Dolphin, which has an endearing protagonist in Daisy Moore and an absorbing plot. It is told in the first person from Daisy’s point of view so the reader can enjoy her sleuthing and rather caustic take on events.
The plot is interesting with several possible suspects, the staff and guests at The Dolphin, a local landowner and Inspector Thaxted’s prime suspect, Felix Koller, a refugee who was staying with Lucinda. It therefore revolves around Daisy asking questions, making deductions and verbally tangling with Inspector Thaxted over her interference. Personally, I was pretty sure that I had it all worked out by the 50% mark, only to be proved badly wrong in the end, so kudos to the author for misdirection. Who knew there could be so many crimes in a small town?
Daisy is a fun protagonist. Her life has obviously slowed down considerably with the loss of her job and the move from home sometimes makes her homesick, but she deals with it with resolution and an optimistic attitude. Her comments on events and some of the characters make the reader laugh.
Death at the Dolphin is a good read that I can recommend.
GRETTA MULROONEY
Gretta Mulrooney was born in London of Irish parents and did an English degree in Derry. She has been published for over twenty-five years; children’s books, short stories, literary fiction which won critical acclaim and crime fiction. She has also written for the BBC and Radio Four.
Gretta has always been an avid reader of crime fiction and decided, in retirement, to turn to crime. She has written nine novels featuring a London based private detective, Tyrone Swift. She has also started a new police-based series featuring DI Siv Drummond, set in the fictional Sussex town of Berminster.
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