Exclusive interview with author Carola Dunn and a review of her new novel, the nineteenth installment in the Daisy Dalrymple mysteries
Rating: 3 Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 5/26/2011 – “Wilfred Owen’s poem Anthem for Doomed Youth always brought tears to my eyes,” says Anthem for Doomed Youth author Carola Dunn. Wilfred Owen was killed in action a week before the Armistice. Dunn was listening to the poem as part of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem on the radio when it struck her what a good title it would be for a mystery.
“Obviously, as my Daisy Dalrymple series is set in the 1920s, the mystery had to be connected with events that took place during the First World War.”
In Anthem for Doomed Youth, Dunn paints an illuminating picture of England during the 1920s, as she always does. However, this novel is darker because of the subject matter. That this one is after what was then known as the Great War sets it apart. Dunn shows how the horrors of war affected the veterans.
Det. Chief Insp. Alec Fletcher is investigating the deaths of three men found in Epping Forest. The detective is glad that his wife Daisy can’t become embroiled in this investigation. She’s out of town. He rushes to solve the mystery before she comes back. However, when there’s a murder of a teacher at the school, a friend goes to Daisy get her involved.
Dunn did a lot of research about the history of Friends School in Saffron Walden, Essex. It’s her alma mater. While visiting, Dunn went to Bridge End Garden. “I wanted Daisy to find a body in the maze there,” say Dunn. “I needed to see what was in the center. My friend and I went in, wandered about, and never did find the center, though we did, happily, find the way out. Seeing a gardener at work, I asked him what was in the middle. He took us to see for ourselves, leading us without hesitation to the open space at the heart of the maze. Not only that, he was kind enough to give me one of only two copies of the plan of the maze.”
Despite having more than 40 books published by major publishers, Dunn says she found it difficult to find a new agent when her previous agent retired. “At a mystery conference in Seattle, I happened to be on a panel with a best-selling author, and afterwards she told me she’d heard I was agent-hunting,” says Dunn. “Would I like to meet hers? Of course I said yes. She took the microphone from the table and called, ‘Would Alice Volpe please come up to the podium.’ So I met Alice, and she’s been my agent ever since.”
At this time Anthem for a Doomed Youth is not being adapted for TV or film. Dunn says there’s interest in the first of the Daisy series, Death at Wentwater Court. Dunn recently finished another Daisy Dalrymple mystery, Gone West. She’s started work on the third Cornish mystery, The Valley of the Shadow.
Dunn says she’s happy that the Daisy books are being reprinted in England, that titles that have been almost impossible to obtain are available again or will be later this year.
Dunn was born in London. She’s currently based in Oregon. Dunn’s website is http://CarolaDunn.weebly.com
Anthem for a Doomed Youth by Carola Dunn. Hardcover, 304 pages, Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition (March 29, 2011). Language: English ISBN: 9780312387761 $24.99
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