One Bear's Opinion -- Book Review

Roll: Start
Monopoly Property: Go
Book: Superfluous Women
Author: Carola Dunn

This was not only my first read of 2017, but it marked the start of my 2017 Monopoly Reading Challenge. I was reading on the site where I found the original Monopoly Reading Challenge that most people planned out their reading ahead of time, but having done reading challenges before where the reading had to be carefully planned out, I knew that strategy was not for me. So although I read the tasks for each property, I didn’t investigate further or plan out reading for each task. I think that is the best strategy for me, and am looking forward to figuring out which books on my shelves or Kindle fit each property’s task when I land on it.

Everyone starts at Go, naturally. Go is a free read, meaning I could read any book I wanted. After scanning my shelves, I decided to read the latest (though hopefully not the last) Daisy Dalrymple mystery. It had been a while since I caught up with Daisy, but time did not seem to matter a bit. Daisy is still as fun as ever, and as good a friend as she always was. And Alec and the gang at the Yard are just as exasperated with her adventures as ever.

This was a fun adventure and introduced group of people, that while I had known, never really considered needing a group name. The title refers to the women who outnumbered men in England following the ravages of the first World War and the 1918 Influenza epidemic. There were truly not enough men for every woman to marry, and the unmarried women were collectively referred to as “Superfluous Women” or “Surplus Women” as though they were factory over-runs. It was a an issue, because despite these women’s best efforts, they did not fit in the societal norms at the time.

The Superfluous Women (though I hate calling the group that, as it seems belittling and derogatory) of the title were a group of three women who moved into a house together after circumstances made it necessary for them to begin again in a new town. The small town they moved to, like many towns, did not know quite what to make of them, or what to do with them, but by the end of the book, things were definitely looking a bit better for the women.

Because it was a murder mystery, there had to be a murder, and as usual, Daisy was mixed up in it from finding the body to the end of the investigation. The body had been found in the women’s newly purchased house, and while the police didn’t actually suspect them, both they and their personal stories are important parts of the investigation.

The mystery itself was interesting, and I had suspicions about the murderer, but it was fun to read the book and see how all the pieces and red herrings fit together in the investigations — both official and Daisy’s. Most of the regular characters were present, and even though Tom Tring had retired from the force, he was present and involved in the investigation. It would not have been the same without Tom involved. I hope he will be involved in future Daisy adventures as well.

I hope there will be more Daisy adventures. I enjoy Daisy and her friends and the mysteries are light fun reads, just the way to kick off a year’s reading well.

One Bear’s Opinion: Four Cups of Fortifying Tea and some very nice biscuits

Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver