Heirs of the Body
In this latest entry in the popular Daisy Dalrymple mystery series set in 1920s England, Daisy’s cousin Edgar, Lord Dalrymple, invites all his potential heirs to the family estate to celebrate his 50th birthday. Edgar and his wife are childless, and the estate is entailed away from Daisy’s immediate family, the female line – a situation familiar to fans of Downton Abbey. The family lawyer finds four plausible claimants, who live in different parts of the world, and Daisy decides to represent the family in his interviews with them. But one of the claimants, a sailor from Jamaica, disappears on a voyage, and his pregnant wife, desperate to find him, arrives in England. Daisy quickly takes her under her wing. Soon after the heirs are gathered at the estate, a series of accidents happen, and one man turns up dead. Daisy and her husband, Scotland Yard detective Alec Fletcher, must locate the missing man and find out which of the heirs is a murderer.
The intrepid Daisy is as delightful a heroine as ever, and the descriptions of life on an English country estate should appeal to Downton fans. This is an entertaining read for longtime Daisy fans and newcomers alike.