Olga Godim

I’ll miss Daisy, the protagonist of my favorite cozy mystery series. I didn’t read it in chronological order, and I intentionally didn’t read the novels of this series back to back, to prolong the pleasure, but every good thing comes to an end. This book is the last of the series I hadn’t read before, except for the new one, just released. Now, to get a new Daisy, I’ll have to wait for eternity (well, maybe another year, but still…)

As always, Daisy stumbles upon a dead body in the beginning of the book. And not just a body – it’s her dentist. The investigation, conducted mostly by Alec, the DCI of Scotland Yard and Daisy’s husband, proceeds in a normal way, but now and again, Daisy comes up with a new little factoid or a new insight, and they frequently turn Alec and his crew in a new direction.

I can’t comment on the characterization in this book alone. I absorb Daisy as a whole, like a living person. With every encounter – every book in the series – she grows more complex and more human, progressing from a literary mystery heroine to a woman who lives nearby. I love her. For me, she is a friend, insatiably curious, wise, and deeply compassionate, always ready to take those less fortunate under her wing. Her resentment-laced relationship with her mother-in-law makes her even more alive.

The secondary characters are well defined as well, some of them recurring, others entirely new. Together, they form a solid framework for the story – the only story in the entire series where the culprit has got away from justice. But the search for the murderer is a fun ride, fast and baffling. Every chapter, one more red herring is disposed of, and a new suspect appears.  

I didn’t guess the real villain until close to the end of the novel, and to tell the truth, I’m still not certain. As Alec couldn’t make an arrest, there was no confession and no real evidence, just the conjectures and the possible motivation for the crime. But the process of elimination works here as well as it worked for Sherlock Holmes: “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”

The author’s subtle humor, present in the whole series, comes to the fore in this book. After all, how many dentists get murdered in mystery fiction? This is the only one I know.

My favorite quote from the book:

As Daisy gave her address, she was trying to decide what to do next. The sergeant obviously wasn’t going to listen to her. Should she phone the Yard again, or just give up and let some maniac run loose hither and yon murdering dentists?

The notion was undeniably attractive.

She resists the attraction manfully and goes on helping the investigative team in any way she can, even using her “adhesive loquacity” (what a phrase!) when needed.

Note: Look at the gorgeous cover of this paperback. I read the hardcover edition with a different cover art, also good, but this one with a skeleton is just fantastic!