Daisy Darker

Nana is the owner of Seaglass and the matriarch of the Darker family. Her success as a children’s author and the prophecy that she will not live beyond 80 prompts the other characters to anticipate a sizable inheritance from her. A petite woman with a “halo of wild white curls” (11), she expresses her eccentricity through her taste for pink and purple clothes and eclectic furnishings.

Nana’s compassion is demonstrated by the way she takes Conor under her wing when she discovers that his father is assaulting him. She is also the only character who truly loves and values Daisy while she is alive. Nana’s preference for Daisy over her son and other grandchildren is illustrated when she names her first book Daisy Darker’s Little Secret. Her discovery of the role the rest of her family played in Daisy’s death provides her motivation for committing the murders with Trixie.

Despite her outwardly ditzy manner, Nana is an insightful assessor of human nature—highlighted in the flawed fictional characters she created as an author. The bequests she chooses to leave her family members are savage indictments of their worst traits. Her critique of their flaws is also reflected in the way her victims are killed and how their bodies are staged. Nevertheless, she evades being considered a suspect by faking her own death. Closely linked with the theme of justice and revenge, Nana acts as both judge and executioner before dying by suicide.

Frank Darker is the son of Nana and father to Daisy, Rose, and Lily. He is also Nana’s first murder victim. Frank is a well-intentioned father capable of occasional thoughtfulness. For example, his gift to Daisy of a View-Master demonstrates an understanding that his younger daughter misses out on life’s adventures. However, he is neglectful of his family through long absences. Frank prioritizes his conducting career over his wife and children and, once divorced from Nancy, dates a succession of younger women. Nana’s bequest of her clocks to her son is a critique of how he has chosen to spend his time. She judges him as complicit in Daisy’s fate as he helps to conceal the circumstances of her death.

Fifty-four-year-old Nancy Darker is Frank’s former wife and mother to Daisy, Rose, and Lily. As a younger woman, she resembled Audrey Hepburn. Consequently, she talks and carries herself like a film star. However, her early desire to be an actor was not accompanied by the requisite talent. Nancy’s sharp manner and faded beauty are reflected in her “tall and thin” chair, which “looks good, but makes people feel uncomfortable” (33). Her cold personality is metaphorically summarized in the description of her as “winter all year round” (20).

Nancy is a self-absorbed woman whose talent for nurturing plants does not extend to raising children. She is critical of Daisy and Rose while overindulging Lily—the daughter who most takes after her. While making Daisy feel as if she is a disappointment, Nancy is also overprotective of her youngest daughter, treating her like “a porcelain doll” (261). Her decision not to reveal Daisy’s amended prognosis and refusal of groundbreaking surgery supports the narrator’s theory that her mother wants her to be ill. Nana kills Nancy for this crime, as well as her concealment of the circumstances of Daisy’s death.

Lily Darker is the middle Darker sister and mother to Trixie. The least nuanced of Feeney’s characters with few redeeming qualities, she is the novel’s main antagonist. Even her father describes her as “[a]n entitled, spoilt, selfish, lazy, brain-dead bore of a woman” (41). After becoming pregnant at 17, Lily never seeks gainful employment. Nevertheless, she is only “a part-time mum” (21). Like Nancy, she alternates between being a critical and neglectful mother and behaving in an overprotective manner.

Lily’s vanity is highlighted by the bequest Nana leaves her and the mirror she is found holding after her death. However, she is also guilty of envy and spite. The “unpleasant” shade of green Lily’s chair is painted in reflects her jealousy of her older, more successful sister Rose. Her determination to sleep with Conor reflects a desire to triumph over Rose rather than genuine feelings for her sister’s boyfriend. Meanwhile, Lily’s capacity for cruelty is illustrated by her bullying of Daisy as a child. When Conor runs Daisy over, she is, significantly, the most amenable to throwing her little sister over the cliff. Her murder, via her trademark scent, is deeply ironic. The name of her favorite perfume, Poison, sums up both her method of death and her character.

Rose Darker is the eldest of the Darker sisters and is born with many traditional advantages. Beautiful and academically gifted, she also attracts Conor. As a whole, Rose does not share Lily’s vindictive traits. Capable and sensible, she is the sister who takes charge in a crisis, illustrated when she rescues five-year-old Daisy from the sea and resuscitates her.

Nevertheless, a darker side to Rose’s character is highlighted in the sinister rhymes she invents as a child and in the home video showing her dropping a mouse into Daisy’s crib. Although she rarely participates in Lily’s persecution of Daisy, Rose also fails to intervene. This character flaw is again demonstrated when she eventually agrees to throw Daisy off the cliff, despite her earlier protestations. Daisy’s death haunts Rose, highlighting the lasting effects of guilt. Later in life, Rose’s single-minded commitment to often unpaid veterinary work suggests a deliberate retreat from society.

Lily’s 15-year-old daughter Trixie Darker is portrayed sympathetically by Daisy. Unbeknownst to the protagonist, Trixie is the only member of the family who can see and hear her due to sharing the same rare heart condition. Both are “bookish,” and they often play Scrabble together. Daisy perceives Trixie as the polar opposite of Lily: “very polite and exceptionally kind” (22). Consequently, she thinks of her niece as the child she never had.

Trixie’s depiction in the novel is deliberately misleading. Feeney ensures the teenage murderer is the least likely suspect by emphasizing her youth and apparent vulnerability. The pink pajamas she wears throughout the murders suggest childlike innocence. Trixie plays up to this role, appearing to be traumatized by events while organizing them behind the scenes. Her claim that she found killing her family distressing is belied by her calm manner after shooting Rose. Nana hails Trixie—the last surviving Darker—as “the future of the family” (44-45). However, her capacity for deceit and violence suggests that she is a product of her “dysfunctional” upbringing, while the prognosis of an early death suggests that the family has no future at all.

Conor Kennedy is the only non-family member present at Seaglass during the murders. Handsome and confident, he was admired by all three Darker sisters during their childhood. Readers are encouraged to empathize with Conor for much of the novel, as flashbacks reveal the death of his mother and the physical abuse he suffered from his father. It therefore comes as a shock to learn that, after being saved by Nana, he is ultimately responsible for destroying the Darker family.

Conor’s lack of moral integrity is displayed as the events of Halloween 1988 are revealed. His selfishness is demonstrated as he takes his father’s car without consent, has sex with Lily, drives while drunk, and evades punishment for Daisy’s death. Conor’s determination to escape justice also leads to his father dying by suicide. His later career as a crime correspondent is ironic in light of the offenses he gets away with.

Conor’s father appears in the novel’s flashbacks. Like most of Feeney’s characters, Mr. Kennedy is flawed—neither all good nor all bad. Developing an alcohol addiction after the death of his wife, he becomes a neglectful and abusive parent. However, during periods of sobriety, he is a changed man.

As the body count mounts in the narrative, Mr. Kennedy comes increasingly into focus as a suspect. The author draws readers’ attention to the mysterious circumstances of his alleged suicide on Halloween 1988 and the fact that his body was never found. Daisy’s memories also suggest clear motivation—the acrimonious ending of his relationship with Nancy and his resentment toward the Darker family for monopolizing his son. Meanwhile, Trixie and Nana recreate his trademark muddy boot prints in the hall.

Although Mr. Kennedy’s implied involvement in the murders is a red herring, his death by suicide is relevant to the novel’s theme of justice. Mr. Kennedy’s erroneous belief that he killed Daisy while drunk driving means that his death is another crime for which the murder victims must pay.

Nana’s unnamed literary agent begins the novel with his description of receiving Daisy’s manuscript. Like Mr. Kennedy, he appears only in flashbacks and becomes a possible suspect when the characters believe the killer may be an outsider hiding at Seaglass. Daisy’s instinct that Nana’s agent is a decent man is proven correct when he publishes her memoir after the events of the novel. His assertion that Daisy’s story “deserved to be told” acknowledges the importance of her voice finally being heard (1).