Delve Into Death At The Dolphin Composed By Gretta Mulrooney Released Through Bound Copy

Mulrooney is a. British author, a prolific writer of character driven mysteries, some standalone, some in several beloved series, I particularly enjoy the Detective Siv Drummond novels, Mulrooney writes in an easy to read, descriptive tone, almost in a breezy cozy style, Dont get me wrong, these are not vicars looking for missing dog mysteries, There are usually brutal murders, flashbacks and intricate motives, This is a standalone story, Fascinating history combined with a strong thriller, Excellent, as expected. Even in peacetime, death is just around the corner,

London, VE Day,, As Britain takes its tentative first steps into peace, Daisy Moores secret wartime work at Whitehall comes to an end,

Convinced that she caused her mothers 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 dont 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 isnt convinced he needs the help,

The list of people who wanted Lucinda dead keeps growing and Thaxteds investigation is going nowhere, Then Thaxteds 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 Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.


Londoner Daisy Moore, jobless and homeless

at the end of the war takes a job in Oxfordshire as a general factotum for actor and hotel owner Jeffrey Berrow.
Not long after she arrives a woman is found murdered in one of the hotel rooms, Daisy , unable to leave it to the local constabulary, decides to launch her own investigation into the murder,

I very much enjoyed this latest novel from Great Mulroney and would most definitely recommend it to others, With the the end of World War II in sight, Daisy Moore losses her mother and home to a fire, that just may have been her fault.
Soon after, she finds that she is no longer needed in her job at Whitehall as a codebreaker, Relegated to living in a hostel, Daisys interest is piqued when given the opportunity to be general factotum to Jeffrey Berrow, actor and owner of the Dolphin Hotel Shes soon off to the village of Fernfield to keep “JB” organized.
But then a woman is found dead in one of the rooms at the Dolphin, and a young man stands accused of her murder, Not convinced of his guilt, Daisy must use her skills as a cryptanalyst to work out the puzzle of who is the real murderer,

I love a good British mystery set around the time of World War II, While it fit the setting and the time period, unfortunately, this book did not fit into the good category, The plot involving the murder should have been a good one, but often got lost in the subplots of which there were several, The author also chose to write in first person, resulting in stilted dialogue and an awkward narrative,

Several of the characters were OTT over the top in every way, Much more caricature than character, There were also far too many of them, making it difficult to keep track, But most disheartening was that the character of Daisy was never fully fleshed out, She was barely drawn and had no real depth, I just could not find myself engaging with her, or any of the characters for that matter, in any way,

So, this was definitely not an enjoyable read for me, and not a book which I would recommend,

My thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Books for the advanced reader copy of this book made available for my review, After reading a couple of Gretta Mulrooney's books in the Siv Drummond series I thought this would be another instalment but it turned out to be a standalone or maybe the first episode in a new series.
Well, who can tell, I wouldn't mind because I liked the book,

This historical mystery is set in England right after the end of the Second World War and features Daisy Moore, a former Whitehall codebreaker.
Daisy gets the boot as soon as the war ends and men are coming back to take jobs over once again from the women that served loyally during their absence.


After her mother dies in a house fire, being unemployed and out of a place to live, her priest, or actually her mothers priest, finds her employment at a country estate hotel in Oxfordshire as the assistant to rich owner's estranged husband.


Pretty soon after her arrival one of the villagers, Lucinda Laidlaw, a local charity worker and a pacifist, is killed in an unoccupied room in the hotel.
Feeling rather underemployed and smarting to use her analytical skills, Daisy sets out to find the killer, with a little help from her employer, This brings her in some dangerous situations and in a kind of lovehate relationship with the detective on the case, Well in the end they manage to solve the case between the three of them,

I wouldn't mind a follow up, because I kind of liked the interaction between Daisy and some of the other characters,

Maybe not quite on a par with the last Siv Drummond book, buy at leaststars,

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my unbiased review, Death at the dolphin by Gretta Mulrooney,
London, VE Day,.
Daisy Moore is at a crossroads, she needs a job and somewhere to live, She gets one at the dolphin hotel, But when a body turns up she must use her skills to find the murderer,
Really good read. I did like Daisy This was just the right mystery for my reading pleasure after having read a string of thrillers, Spending time in the village of Fernfield in Oxfordshire with Daisy after VE Day was a nice change, Daisy had spent the war working at Whitehall but, now that the war is over, she has been made redundant, Her life is at a crossroads, Her family home has been lost in a fire that took her mother's life and Daisy blames herself, How will she find a home, a job and a future It comes in the form of JB Berrow, an actor and owner of the Dolphin Hotel.
It's not in any way the kind of job that taxes her mental powers like the code breaking she did at Whitehall but it's a place to call home and it pays her bills.
She misses London and Fernfield is just plain boring, But not for long. Besides her job as a personal assistant to JB and filling in s needed at the Dolphin, she finds herself with a new challenge solving the murder of one of their guests.
She is found dead in her room, killed by an architectural gargoyle, The police, of course, wish she would keep her nose out of their investigation but Daisy isn't having it,
I really liked Daisy with her can do attitude and her sharp mind, Following her thought process to unmask the killer kept me guessing and I guessed wrong to the very end, I wouldn't mind spending more time with Daisy if she finds herself solving another case,
My thanks to the publisher Joffe and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review, This well done cozy appears to be a series debut, set in post WWII Britain, features young Daisy Moore whose services as a codebreaker are no longer needed and who is in need of a job and a home after a catastrophic fire.
Her family priest finds her a position as a general factorum at a hotel in the village of Fernfield, Daisy has hardly unpaced before a village dogooder is murdered at the Dolphin Hotel, and a young Jewish refugee from Austria is blamed, Putting her deductive skills to work, Daisy sets out to find the murderer, much to the chagrin of Inspector Thaxted, who has been officially tasked with the case.


The welldrawn characters, especially Daisy and her boss JB, make the book a pleasure to read and the mystery offers plenty of suspects and red herrings.
The plot suffers a bit from the many coincidences that occur that help Daisy solve the mystery and the seemingly outofleftfield denouement, Despite this, I am looking forward to reading the next series entry and spending more time with Daisy and the denizens of Fernfield again,

Full DisclosureNetGalley and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book, This is my honest review, Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for the eARC,
Daisy Moore's secret job at Whitehall has ended and when her house burns down, killing both her Mum and cat, she's left homeless and alone.
But as luck would have it, she's offered a job at the Dolphin Hotel in Oxfordshire, She does miss London though,
When a woman is murdered in the hotel, she finds herself trying to figure out who did the killing, much to the irritation of the lead Detective.

The atmosphere and characters, plus the two cats make for a great read reminding me of Agatha Christie, I loved it, Highly recommended!
I hope there will be a followup book,VE Day and Daisy Moore in Hailsham House Hostel her parents are dead and now find herself with no job at Whitehall working for the government in central London her boss tells her to find herself a husband.

Father Hickey comes to her rescue and she moves to Fernfield in Oxfordshire working for Mr Jeffrey Berrow who also owns the Dolphin hotel along with two identical cats and living at Brize Lodge she ready to give it a try.

This hotel has eight bedrooms and only five guests at the moment then Daisy encounted her first murder Lucinda Laidlow a retired teacher and Daisy without a doubt is a very observant character in this book, as we read the pre war years that I love.

I find this one of my favourites that I have read by this author,
Sharp witty and fun to read loved it, .