I have been reading a remarkably good mystery that is really somewhat out of the normal run you'll find reviewed here - but one that could easily fit into our classic pattern. It's "The Bloody Tower," by Carola Dunn, a book written just a couple of years ago, but set in England in 1925 - right in the middle of our Golden Age. It combines something old - the Tower of London - and something new - a 21st century sensibility looking at a 20th century detective.
The detective in this case, is Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher, a young woman from a noble family who is married to Alec Fletcher, a Chief Detective Inspector at Scotland Yard. Daisy is a writer, and she is working on some articles about the Tower, one of London's ancient historic landmarks, home to the colorful Yeoman Warders and nearly a thousand years of history. While so occupied, she literally almost stumbles on the body of one of the warders - and so is drawn into the murder investigation. Her husband, assigned to solve the crime, finds that, like it or not, Daisy is going to help him.
It is not her first such episode. This was the sixth book in Carola Dunn's series about Daisy. It's the first I have read, and it won't be the last. Curiously enough, it appears to be out of print at the moment, except for a fairly expensive large-print edition, but Amazon has links
." Set in the midst of an English civil war, in 1141, it is a beautifully written story. There are a couple of mysterious monks, a disappearing maiden, a young would-be suitor, and Cadfael and his fellow monks. Things are seldom what they seem, and Cadfael finds himself involved, not only in the investigation of a disappearance and possible murder, but in a deeper mystery that could bring down his order around his ears. While it's currently out of print in the U.S., there are many dealers with inexpensive copies available - check out the Amazon link above. And for a fuller review of "An Excellent Mystery," 
