Daisy Darker (2022) by Alice Feeney
It's time for Nana (Beatrice) Darker's 80th birthday and she decides to invite her dysfunctional family to her tiny tidal island for the celebration. They all come--Daisy Darker, Nana's favorite granddaughter and our narrator. Nancy and Frank Darker, Daisy's parents (now divorced); Rose and Lily, Daisy's sisters (who seem more like the evil stepsisters from Cinderella); and Trixie, Daisy's beloved niece. Also on hand, though late to the party, is Conor Kennedy--a young man who grew up with the Darker girls and was treated like family when his father was "unwell" (read drunk). It's not surprising that the family has gathered, even if they haven't gotten along well for quite some time. Because Nana believes what a fortune teller once told her...that she will die in her 80th year...and plans to reveal what's in her will. They all could use an inheritance and don't mind spending eight hours in each others' company if that means they're in the will. Eight hours? Well, for eight hours after the tide comes in, the Darkers will be cut off from the mainland. And, of course, a nasty storm is thrown in for good measure--just in case someone wants to leave by boat (or swimming) before the tide goes out again.
And why would they want to leave you might ask. Well...just after midnight, Nana is found dead in the kitchen. She appears to have fallen from a chair while chalking a particularly nasty poem on the wall and has a gash on her head where she may have hit the table. But then when other Darkers start dying every hour on the hour, it looks like someone in the house has it in for the family. Which of them is doing it? Or is there someone else on the island that they don't know about? But if so--who could have a grudge against an entire family.
SPOILERS AHEAD! The only way to give my full reaction is to spoil the ending. If you haven't read this and think you might want to, you might want to stop reading the review now.
So....I have mixed feelings about this one. I loved the set-up. Feeney plays nicely on Christie's And Then There Were None theme--with the group trapped on the island, the poems to match the murders, and the murders themselves. She also uses Christie's red herring--again with a twist. The accomplice in this case actually does some killing and isn't knocked off by the herring. The atmosphere is great and the family relationships (or lack thereof) add to the tension. Feeney does a pretty good job of using Christie-like sleight of hand to mislead the reader about the true nature of our narrator. I had to really think about previous scenes to realize that she hadn't played unfairly. BUT....a ghost? Really? And how on earth is Trixie not going to be arrested and convicted of murdering everyone? We're told that names have been changed--but surely in the "real" world someone will notice that these people who have lives outside of Seaglass island are suddenly not showing up where they're supposed to be and an investigation will be made. Maybe Trixie plans on doing a disappearing act. But we're not told that.
I had two ideas about the killer (neither correct, of course). One: that Daisy wasn't a ghost and actually did it (after all, she tells us straight up that she lies sometimes and we get to see how she could take revenge). Two: that Conor's dad was really still alive and was hidden on the island and doing it all. I'm still trying to figure out where the men's boots came from....So, yeah, there are a few loose ends here and there.
But overall--I think this was a pretty good effort to walk in Dame Agatha's footprints and I did enjoy it. So.... ★★★ and 1/2.
First line: I was born with a broken heart.
Doesn't everyone wonder who they would have been if they weren't who they were? (p. 22)
My mother used to button up her resentment, but it has grown over the years, and no matter how much she tries to hide it, a little is always left on show. (p. 25)
Sometimes, if the thoughts inside her own head are not forthcoming, she'll scribble an inspirational quote from a dead author on there. The dead often seem to know more about living than those still alive. (about Nana; p. 33)
"There are much cleverer ways of ending a person than killing them." (Nana; p. 36)
We make moments with our families. Sometimes we stitch them together over time, to make more of them than they were. We share them and hold on to them together as if they were treasure, even when they start to rust. (p. 139)
The trouble with little white lies is that they sometimes grow up to become big dark ones. (p. 172)
Life is a performance, and we don't all like the scripts we're given; sometimes it's best to write your own. (p. 181)
When you love someone, you can't just turn it off, there isn't a switch. Even if you hate someone that you once loved, there is still a little bit of love there. Love is like the soil that hate needs in order to grow. (Rose; p. 234)
Where does the love go when someone dies? Their last breath disappears into the atmosphere, their body gets buried in the ground, but where does the love go? If love is real, it must go somewhere. (Trixie; p.328)
Last line: There are some stories only time will tell.
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Deaths = 9 (five poisoned; three fell from height; one shot)
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