Mystery Book Review: Sheer Folly by Carola Dunn

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Sheer Folly by Carola Dunn. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Sheer Folly by Carola Dunn
A Daisy Dalrymple Mystery

St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-38775-X (031238775X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-38775-4 (9780312387754)
Publication Date: September 2009
List Price: $24.99

Review: Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher investigates an accident (or is it murder?) in an architectural folly in Sheer Folly, the 18th mystery in this series by Carola Dunn.

An eclectic group of men and women have assembled at Appsworth Hall, the estate of Mr. Brin Pritchard, the wealthy owner of Pritchard Plumbing Products. Mr. Pritchard has modernized a local cave into a fantastic grotto, reportedly the most beautiful in all the area. Daisy, a writer, and her friend, Lucy, a photographer, are working together on a book of architectural follies and this grotto seems to be an ideal example. Pritchard invites them to come out for a long weekend to learn about and photograph it.

Living at the mansion are Winifred Howell, Pritchard's sister-in-law and acting lady of the house since Pritchard's wife's death, and her son Owen. The weekend visitors include Charles Armitage, a Professor of History from Canada who is it researching the estate, Lady Beaufort and her daughter Lucy, Lady Ottaline and her husband Sir Desmond Wandersley, a civil servant with the Ministry of Health, and his private secretary Carlin, and Lord Rydal, better known as "Rhino", a suitor of Lucy and rumored paramour of another of the ladies in attendance.

But the weather isn't cooperating, and it isn't the only thing that ultimately ruins the weekend. Lord Rydal is killed in the grotto when it blows up, burying him under the rubble. Daisy is eager to get involved, but the local police want her to stay out. But she's not married to a Scotland Yard Detective Chief Inspector for nothing, and calls him in knowing he will allow her to snoop around and seek clues to mystery surround Rhino's death.

Sheer Folly is a delight to read. The author has a good eye and ear for the ways and manner of the aristocracy of 1926 England, and incorporates both into the murder mystery plot. The characters are eccentric without being clichés and the setting perfect for a manor house mystery (even if the murder takes place in a cave). Fans of both cozies and historical mysteries will be taken with the latest entry in this long-running series.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Sheer Folly and to St. Martin's Minotaur for providing a copy of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

If you are interested in purchasing Sheer Folly from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): In March of 1926, Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher and her friend and collaborator Lucy (a.k.a. Lady Gerald) head off for several days at stately home reputed to have the best grotto in the country. Working on a book of follies (architectural), they plan to research and photograph it. Leaving her husband and young twins behind, Daisy is expecting a productive weekend at Appsworth Hall, with the only potential difficulty being keeping Lucy from offending the current owner, a manufacturer of plumbing products.

Alas, it’s not to be quite so simple. At the home, they find themselves faced with a curious assortment of people including the abominable, tactless Lord Rydal, who is rumored to be having an affair with one of the guests while at the same time in ardent and artless pursuit of the hand in marriage of another. When the grotto explodes with Lord Rydal in it, it’s not a question of who would do it—as most who’ve met him would be sorely tempted—but who actually did do it.

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Primetime Crime: Law & Order, 20th Season Opener

The 2009/2010 Season for Primetime Crime returns this week with new series and episodes!

Law & Order (Fridays at 8 PM ET/PT on NBC) is now the longest-running crime series on television and the second-longest drama series. In the 20th season opener ("Memo from the Dark Side"), the body of a young war veteran is found in a parking garage and the murder is connected to a law professor who used to work for the Department of Justice.

Catch a sneak peek of this season's premiere episode below:

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Primetime Crime: Numb3rs, 6th Season Opener

The 2009/2010 Season for Primetime Crime returns this week with new series and episodes!

In the 6th season opener of Numb3rs (Fridays at 10 PM ET/PT on CBS) in an episode titled "Hangman", Don and the team must protect high-profile activist Benjamin Polk at a political rally, but it soon becomes a manhunt when they search for a sniper trying to kill Polk. Also, Charlie awaits an answer from Amita about his marriage proposal.

Watch a clip from the 5th season finale below that sets up this season's premiere episode:

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Games of Mystery: New Trailer for Nancy Drew in Warnings at Waverly Academy

Her Interactive has released a new trailer for its next Nancy Drew adventure game, Warnings at Waverly Academy, the 21st game in this popular series.

You, as Nancy Drew, are undercover at a prestigious girls' boarding school to discover the culprit behind threatening notes and dangerous accidents aimed at its valedictorian candidates! Is there a secret someone wants to protect or are the malicious pranks intended to scare away the competition - permanently? Solve the mystery before the threats turn deadly and you're expelled from the case!

Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy is scheduled to be in stores October 13th, but is available for pre-order.

Dare to play!

Watch the trailer below:

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Seventh Jesse Stone Movie, Innocents Lost, Currently Filming in Nova Scotia

Cynthia Littleton in her "On the Air" blog on Variety reports on the status of the latest Jesse Stone movie. Tom Selleck, who plays Jesse Stone, is currently in Nova Scotia filming Innocents Lost, the seventh made-for-television movie based on the character created by Robert B. Parker. Selleck, who is a longtime devotee of Parker's work, has an active role in shaping the scripts and producing the films in the secluded environs of Halifax. And if Selleck had his way, he'd be making two Jesse Stone movies a year.

"We don't do cliffhangers. The movies stand on their own. But with regular viewing the audience gets the bonus of a continuing backstory," Selleck said in an interview just before he headed north earlier this month. "People want to know what's going to happen with this guy. He's basically a decent guy with a lot of flaws. He's his own worst enemy ... but he's a guy you want to root for."

Though ratings for the previous movies have been solid, CBS (the network on which they've originally aired) has a mixed record of scheduling them in a timely manner. The first film, Stone Cold, which was based on the 4th book in the series, aired in February 2005. Two more movies based on existing novels followed in 2006 and a fourth in 2007. But it was over a year from the time the fifth movie, Thin Ice, the first not based on a Parker book, finished production and its air date in March 2009. A sixth film, No Remorse, wrapped up production last November, but has yet to be scheduled by the network.

We're thrilled that CBS has enough confidence in the series to continue ordering more. But we agree with Selleck, who said, "There's a market for us. We're proving that the network TV audience does want to see movies -- they just want to see good movies." We just want to see them soon after they're completed, and more of them!

(MBN note: All five Jesse Stone movies that have been televised are available on DVD from Mysteries on TV: Jesse Stone.)

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Surrogates, a Futuristic Thriller based on the Graphic Novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, Opens This Friday

Surrogates, a futuristic thriller based on the graphic novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, opens this Friday. The film stars Bruce Willis as FBI Agent Harvey Greer.

The year is 2054, and life is reduced to a data feed. The fusing of virtual reality and cybernetics has ushered in the era of the personal surrogate, android substitutes that let users interact with the world without ever leaving their homes. It's a perfect world, and it's up to Greer to keep it that way.

But then the genius college student who invented the surrogates is murdered. As the case grows more complicated, however, the withdrawn detective discovers that in order to actually catch the killer he will have to venture outside the safety of his own home for the first time in many years, and enlists the aid of his own surrogate and that of another agent in tracking his target down.

Watch the Surrogates online trailer below:

Related resources: The Surrogates Operator's Manual: Volume One and Volume Two by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele; Surrogates (official website).

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Primetime Crime: FlashForward, New Series Premiere

The 2009/2010 Season for Primetime Crime returns this week with new series and episodes!

On the premiere episode of FlashForward titled "No More Good Days," a new series on ABC, it's just another normal day in Los Angeles. FBI agent Mark Benford and his partner, Demetri Noh, are in the middle of a car chase monitored by their boss, Stanford Wedeck, and colleague Janis Hawk; Mark's wife, Dr. Olivia Benford, is in the middle of surgery; Dr. Bryce Varley is weighing a potentially life-ending decision; Mark's friend, Aaron Stark, is working high above the ground on power lines; and Nicole Kirby -- baby-sitter to Mark and Olivia's daughter, Charlie -- is in the throes of passion with her boyfriend when suddenly, and without warning, every person on Earth blacks out for two minutes and seventeen seconds and sees a series of events from their own future, taking place on April 29, 2010 at 10:00 p.m., Pacific Time. For some the future will be joyous and hopeful; for others, shockingly unexpected; and for a few, it simply doesn't seem to exist.

Everyone in the world will eventually begin chronicling what they saw in their flashforwards on a worldwide website -- the Mosaic Collective -- that will further draw people together. And some of the flashforwards just might help Mark and his colleagues piece together the cause of the blackout.

Knowing their fate will alter each person's life in one way or another, and poses the questions: Can destiny be changed? And by changing just one destiny, what effect would that have on those of others?

Flashforward is based on the novel of the same name by Robert J. Sawyer. It airs on ABC on Thursdays at 8 PM (ET/PT).

Take a first look at FlashForward below:

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Primetime Crime: The Mentalist, 2nd Season Opener

The 2009/2010 Season for Primetime Crime returns this week with new series and episodes!

The 2nd season premiere of The Mentalist airs tomorrow at 10 PM (ET/PT) on CBS. Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) and Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) learn that the Red John case has been reassigned to a new CBI team led by the straight-shooting officer Sam Bosco in an episode titled "Redemption".

Catch a sneak peek of The Mentalist 2nd season opener below:

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Primetime Crime: CSI, 10th Season Opener

The 2009/2010 Season for Primetime Crime returns this week with new series and episodes!

The 10th season premiere of CSI airs Thursday at 9 PM (ET/PT) on CBS. In an episode titled "Family Affair", the CSI team, with the unexpected but welcome return of Sara, comes together to investigate the death of a famous young actress killed in a dubious traffic collision. Jorja Fox reprises her role as Sara Sidle.

Watch a sneak peek of the CSI 10th season opener below:

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Primetime Crime: Bones, 5th Season Opener

The 2009/2010 Season for Primetime Crime returns this week with new series and episodes!

We confess, we missed the 5th season premiere of Bones, which aired last Thursday. In an episode titled "Harbingers in the Fountain", Booth has been recovering from brain surgery and Brennan has been on a dig in Guatemala. Angela’s psychic, Avalon Harmonia, reveals while reading Angela’s tarot cards that there are multiple bodies buried under a Washington DC fountain. Angela shares the information with Brennan and Booth, but they're both a little skeptical considering the source. The lead pans out, and the duo find the remains of 11 bodies exactly where the psychic said they would be.

Bones, which is based on characters created by forensic anthropologist and mystery author Kathy Reichs, airs Thursdays at 8 PM (ET/PT) on Fox. Watch last week's episode below:

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