The Bloody Tower: A Daisy Dalrymple Mystery

In Dunn's cunning 16th Daisy Dalrymple mystery (after 2007's Gunpowder Plot ), the charming Daisy stumbles over the corpse of the Chief Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London. Daisy and her husband, Scotland Yard's DCI Alec Fletcher, team up to unmask the killer. Daisy does all the really clever sleuthing, but she kindly allows her hubby to think he's putting things together himself. Things get tricky when one of the chief suspects, who may also be a blackmailer, disappears. And then there's the curious matter of the manner of death: the autopsy concludes that the Yeoman Warder died of a broken neck, so why was there also a partizan, or Yeoman Warder's halberd, sticking out of his back? Appropriate historical detail and witty dialogue are the finishing touches on this engaging 1920s period piece. (Sept.)