Your Cosy Reading Spot and a Cosy Mystery

First of all, I have to tell you that I really dislike the description ‘cosy mystery’. It makes the books sound second-rate somehow, (I will confess that for some in this genre second-rate is an accurate description…) and that’s just not fair to the book I have chosen.

Murder on the Flying Scotsman by Carola Dunn is set in the 1920s. It is the fourth in the series about Daisy Dalrymple, scion of the nobility trying to earn her own living as a writer in London.  Daisy has an unbelievable tendency to become involved in murders – merely as a witness I should point out!  In the course of the first book she meets Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of the Met, and their relationship is a feature of the series. As you have no doubt realised, the crime takes place on a train, the London to Edinburgh train to be precise. Fortunately for Daisy, the murder happens before the train crosses the border. Much further on and everyone’s favourite DCI would not be called in to investigate, and his relationship with Daisy would not progress.

I love this cover!

This is my favourite book in the series. Partly because there’s a train involved, but mostly because of the interesting mix of characters. On the same train as Daisy is Belinda, Alec’s daughter, who has run away from home and her grandmother, and the extended family of a schoolfriend of Daisy. The latter group is on its way to Scotland and the bedside of a dying relative who has much money to leave. And then one of the party is murdered and everyone is a suspect. There are many credible suspects and back-story vignettes to support their potential involvement. Naturally Daisy can’t leave the investigation to the professionals…

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