Damsel in Distress
Daisy Dalrymple Mystery

By Carola Dunn

   It looks as though Daisy might get rid of her unwanted suitor Philip Petrie at last - he has fallen in love. Pretty blonde Gloria Arbuckle is American, and the only child of a millionaire car tycoon. But hardly has be begun to seriously date her than she is kidnapped from under his nose while he attempts to fix her father's car. It is up to Daisy to help out, but how can she involve her own lover Alec when any involvement with the police might get Gloria killed?

    Anybody expecting another murder mystery is going to be surprised, because this fifth adventure is anything but. Instead sit back and enjoy a real old-fashioned caper, where Daisy invites her chums down for a house party where the guests have to help track down the missing girl. It is all great fun too; racketing around in classic cars, shocking the elder generation and even managing to picnic in the woods for sandwiches and ginger beer - lashings of it, I imagine. Anybody who remembers reading "Nancy Drew" or the "Famous Five" will enjoy this one, and I applaud the author who is determined to make every book in this series refreshingly different than each other. Any chance of a Scooby Doo style ghost hunt in the future? Daisy would carry that off beautifully too - an enjoyable and delightful book that doesn't need piles of bodies to entertain.