From Publishers Weekly
In her 10th cozy featuring English writer Daisy Dalrymple (To Davy Jones Below, etc.), Dunn captures the melting pot of Prohibition-era New York with humorous characterizations and a vivid sense of place, and with careful plotting lays out an enjoyable tale of adventure. While her husband, Alec Fletcher, DCI at Scotland Yard, is consulting with J. Edgar Hoover in Washington, Daisy is on her own in New York. At the Chelsea Hotel, Daisy meets a number of eccentrics, including a formidable retired crime writer, a hustling elevator boy with the connections to get good whiskey and the reporter Otis Carmody. Carmody's path crosses Daisy's once again at the offices of her American editor in the Flatiron building where Daisy witnesses the reporter's murder. He'd riled the mob and many Tammany politicos, any of whom might have reason to kill Carmody as well as any witnesses. With little confidence in the politically aware DA and his bumbling detective, Daisy and her new friends recreate a scenario that points to perpetrator and motive. Daisy knows this is just speculation, but by the time Alec arrives, she is chasing a thread across the country on a hitched ride on a plane. As an amateur sleuth, Daisy never overreaches the limits of what she can plausibly uncover; the cross-country trek is earned by a sure and gradual build-up of suspicion. Throughout her travels in the States, Daisy is keenly attuned to people and place: race relations, regional accents, even foods all add to the texture of the story. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Now married to a Scotland Yard detective, series sleuth Daisy Dalrymple takes on another murder case when the pair honeymoons in New York. While there, Daisy sees a journalist fall down an elevator shaft after being shot. With lively city surrounds circa 1923, including the Chelsea Hotel. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
The latest installment of Dunn's quaint series starring Daisy Dalrymple--now Fletcher after her recent marriage to Scotland Yard Inspector Alec Fletcher--lets readers see Daisy in action without Alec, who's in Washington, D.C., advising the U.S. government and doesn't appear until late in the story. Daisy is staying alone at the famous Chelsea Hotel in New York, continuing her travel writing duties for Abroad magazine. Dunn once again peppers the story with historical tidbits from the late 1920s: Prohibition, the Algonquin Round Table, J. Edgar Hoover, and more. Most of the historical name-dropping is somewhat choppily incorporated into the action, but the odd bit--such as the "tea" drinkers in the hotel lobby with whiskey in their teapots--captures the atmosphere perfectly. When Daisy witnesses the murder of a journalist, her neighbor at the Chelsea, he joins with a bumbling federal agent to track down the killer. Despite its rather implausible plot and heavy-handed history lesson, this is a charming-enough mix of cozy and historical subgenres, and it features an endearing protagonist. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"In late 1923 the newly married Daisy Dalrymple and her husband, Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, come to America for a honeymoon visit. In the midst of a pleasure trip, however, both work in a bit of business - Alec travels to Washington, D.C., to consult with the U.S. government, Daisy to New York to meet with her American magazine editor. While in New York, Daisy stays at the famed Chelsea Hotel, which is not only close to the Flatiron Building offices of Abroad magazine, where she'll be meeting with her editor, but home to many of New York's artists and writers." After her late-morning meeting Daisy agrees to accompany her editor, Mr. Thorwald, to lunch, but as they are leaving they hear a gunsot and see a man plummeting down an elevator shaft. The man killed was one of her fellow residents at the Chelsea Hotel, Otis Carmody, who was a journalist with no end of enemies - personal and professional - who would delight in his death. Again caught up in a murder investigation, Daisy is led by her search for the killer to all levels of society, and a mad dash across the country itself, as she attempts to solve a puzzle that would baffle even Philo Vance himself.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In her 10th cozy featuring English writer Daisy Dalrymple (To Davy Jones Below, etc.), Dunn captures the melting pot of Prohibition-era New York with humorous characterizations and a vivid sense of place, and with careful plotting lays out an enjoyable tale of adventure. While her husband, Alec Fletcher, DCI at Scotland Yard, is consulting with J. Edgar Hoover in Washington, Daisy is on her own in New York. At the Chelsea Hotel, Daisy meets a number of eccentrics, including a formidable retired crime writer, a hustling elevator boy with the connections to get good whiskey and the reporter Otis Carmody. Carmody's path crosses Daisy's once again at the offices of her American editor in the Flatiron building where Daisy witnesses the reporter's murder. He'd riled the mob and many Tammany politicos, any of whom might have reason to kill Carmody as well as any witnesses. With little confidence in the politically aware DA and his bumbling detective, Daisy and her new friends recreate a scenario that points to perpetrator and motive. Daisy knows this is just speculation, but by the time Alec arrives, she is chasing a thread across the country on a hitched ride on a plane. As an amateur sleuth, Daisy never overreaches the limits of what she can plausibly uncover; the cross-country trek is earned by a sure and gradual build-up of suspicion. Throughout her travels in the States, Daisy is keenly attuned to people and place: race relations, regional accents, even foods all add to the texture of the story. (Feb. 25) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Now married to a Scotland Yard detective, series sleuth Daisy Dalrymple takes on another murder case when the pair honeymoons in New York. While there, Daisy sees a journalist fall down an elevator shaft after being shot. With lively city surrounds circa 1923, including the Chelsea Hotel. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews