Carola Dunn: Fall of a Philanderer (USA 2006)

From the Publisher:
In the summer of 1924, the Honourable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher is off on a summer holiday by the sea with her step-daughter Belinda and Belinda's chum Deva, and her husband, Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard. Daisy is anticipating a relaxing, non-dramatic holiday. But Daisy doesn't have that kind of luck. It seems that a local low-rent Don Juan has been busily seducing the local womanfolk and, in a town this small, no secret is kept for long. A fact that is amply illustrated when the Fletcher's simple picnic is interrupted by the discovery of a broken body at the foot of the cliff--that of the philandering local innkeeper of bad memory. Like Jacqueline Winspear's much praised novels about Maisy Dobbs, Carola Dunn vividly evokes the life and times of 1920's England wrapped in a classic mystery to delight her many fans.

Carola Dunn: Fall of a Philanderer. A Daisy Dalrymple Mystery. Kensington Books, ISBN: 9780758215987 (December, 2006), 352 p., $6.99.

Carola Dunn: Fall of a Philanderer (USA 2005)

From the Publisher:
In the summer of 1924, The Honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher has planned a quiet, relaxing holiday in the small coastal town of Westcombe. With her husband, Detective Chief Inspector Alex Fletcher of Scotland Yard, planning to join them later, Daisy goes ahead with her stepdaughter, Belinda, and Belinda's chum Deva. Currently three months pregnant, Daisy is looking forward to a nondramatic vacation of quiet strolls along the cliffs and days down at the beach. She doesn't have that kind of luck, however, as the seemingly quiet seaside town turns out to be a hotbed of rumor and scandal. It seems much of the turmoil centers around local lothario George Enderby - the married owner of the town pub - who keeps himself busy attempting seduction of whatever women cross his path. In a town this small, no indiscretion remains secret for very long - a consequence clearly illustrated when the husband of one of his rumored conquests assaults the innkeeper in full view.

The last vestige of the idyllic vacation dissipates shortly thereafter when the Fletchers, out for a simple picnic, discover Enderby's broken body at the foot of a sea cliff. With murder the most obvious conclusion, Alec's vacation is cut short by the official investigation. It is up to Daisy, however, to uncover the truth lurking behind the rumors, gossip, and closely held secrets of this small town if the killer is ever to be found.

Carola Dunn: Fall of a Philanderer. St. Martin's Press, ISBN: 031233589X (September, 2005), 258 p., $23.95.