Daisy Darker

If there’s one thing I know for sure when I read an Alice Feeney novel, it's that it will be smartly written. I know all my (remaining) gray cells are going to be kept busy sleuthing my way through the twists and turns every time she puts words to paper, and I know I’m going to have a lot of fun doing it! Her latest, Daisy Darker, is no exception.

In an homage to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, the dysfunctional Darker family has come together, at Beatrice (Nana) Darker’s invitation, to celebrate her 80th birthday - on Halloween, no less!  Her son, Frank, his ex-wife, Nancy, their three girls, Rose, Lily and Daisy, Lily’s 15-year-old daughter, Trixie, and an old family friend, Conor, have all arrived to this small tidal island and Nana’s home, Seaglass, for that purpose, but as you can guess … it’s never that simple.

Nana decides this is the ideal time to use her celebrated author skills to poetically express her last will and testament to her gathered family, since she’s been assured by a palm reader that this birthday will be her last.  These verses, and the ominous ones that appear written in chalk on the kitchen wall later, cleverly reflect the character deficits of each of the gathered members and portent certain fates for each. 

As the tides come in trapping the Darker family at Seaglass for the night and each of Nana’s 80 eclectic wall clocks chime on the hour, those fates will visit upon the gathered.  Who survives, who is behind these events, and what’s the story between the lines of Nana’s verses?  That’s the clever story Feeney has woven, and as always, it kept me reading - or in this case - listening with rapt attention!

The story goes back and forth in time, showing how each character came to be who they are today.  It reveals some secrets and keeps some close to the vest until later, only hinting at them along the way, enticing the reader along the twisty path until the big reveals you know are going to come with a Feeney novel!

Stephanie Racine, once again, brilliantly narrated this.  She’s stellar with Feeney’s books! Two things dropped this from a 5-star read to a 4-star read: 1) I had a feeling about the ‘whodunnit’ that ended up being correct, which took a bit of the surprise out of the final reveal, and 2) I just don’t love locked-room style mysteries as much.  All-in-all, I still enjoyed it a lot, and can highly recommend it - especially the audio!

★★★★