THE CORPSE AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE

An inveterate sleuth investigates a case of too many nannies.

Now that her husband, Scotland Yard detective Alec Fletcher, is out of town on a case and his daughter, Belinda, is home from school, Daisy Fletcher is playing host to Ben and Charlie, her cousin’s West Indian adoptees, whom she plans to show the sights of 1928 London. Their visit to the Crystal Palace includes Daisy’s twins, who are cared for by Nanny Gilpin and nursery maid Bertha; Daisy’s friend Sakari; and retired DS Tom Tring and his wife. Belinda and the boys are exploring on their own when they notice Nanny Gilpin following another nanny and decide to trail them. They catch up just in time to rescue Nanny Gilpin, whom they find floating in an ornamental lake. When Daisy goes searching for her missing nanny, she finds instead a dead nanny in a stall in the ladies’ room. Luckily, Tom Tring is on hand to help with the police. Daisy’s still wondering why the body looks familiar when the soaking wet children arrive to announce that Mrs. Gilpin needs help. Indeed she does: She has a head wound and no memory of what happened to her or why she was following the unknown nanny. The dead nanny turns out to be Teddy Devenish, a cousin of Daisy’s friend Lucy, Lady Gerald Bincombe. Unfortunately for the police, the young man about town had a bad reputation, and plenty of people would be glad to see him dead. Although she knows that neither Alec nor the police will be pleased, Daisy, who’s perfectly placed to mine information from her aristocratic friends, dives into the investigation and comes up with the clues that solve the case.

Not the best in Dunn’s long-running series (Superfluous Women, 2015, etc.), this one relies on period detail to charm fans of classic British mysteries.