They were raised by a beautiful, but failed actress mother, Nancy and their symphony orchestra father, Frank.

Daisy Darker - Jen Ryland Reviews Review of Daisy Darker - Jen Ryland Reviews

It really surprised me how sucked into these characters lives I was, and it only spans one night, but there are lots of flashbacks into the past that slowly reveal what happened and why and how, it was so good. It was where my sisters and I spent every Christmas and Easter, as well as the long summer holidays after my parents got divorced.

Conor’s father had committed suicide after Daisy’s body was found because when he found blood on his car (he car Conor borrowed) he thought he had been the one who had killed somebody. With a nod (and a wink) this story pays homage to Agatha Christie’s famous closed room mystery, “And, then there was none” which used the the nursery rhyme “Ten Little Indians” to count down the deaths of the guests in her Classic story. Shortly afterward, the bodies of Nana and Frank mysteriously disappear, and Trixie also goes missing. Although her heart stopped, Daisy could hear Conor admit he had not passed his driving test and took the car without his father’s permission.

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney | Book of the Month Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney | Book of the Month

So it is a really good setting, both a happy and very sad place but I thought it was a great sort of character in itself as it felt living at times. I really can’t say much about each character, but I never expected where the story went in terms of this character, but it was intriguing to go back into the Darker past through the home movies they saw throughout this book, it definitely gives insight into what happened later in the book. Let’s not forget charming BBC correspondent Connor: living under the protective wings of Nana since he was a small child who has been abused by his own father. I feel like Feeney's novels are getting better and better with each one and can't wait to see what she comes up with next. Originally designed by Rice University for its incoming college students, the test features 100 yes/no questions.Nana Darker expects this clock to be her last after a palm reader in Lands End predicted her death after she reached the age of 80. There’s a point at the end where Nana says that she was able to play dead by using chicken blood and that “it’s not the first time Rose thought someone in the family was dead when they weren’t. Alice Feeney FILLS her books with tiny details and I’m sure I won’t get them all, so PLEASE add your thoughts in comments.

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney | Goodreads Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney | Goodreads

Talk to me in comments and be sure to come over to my Spoiler Discussion Post for Daisy Darker so we can discuss our suspects, theories and thoughts!

I preferred reading Daisy's childhood memories than the chapters in the present, which I found to be full of repetitions and following the same pattern. We get to read about Daisy going to the beach, getting into tiffs with her sisters while filming home videos of each other, being "broken" constantly, and various other what-does-this-have-anything-to-do-with-the-story moments. The novel utilizes many tropes from the Golden Age of murder mysteries while also incorporating elements of the Gothic genre.