| Tweet |

Reviews of Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for a Murder

Publishers Weekly,

“McPherson's sixth cozy set in 1920s Scotland markedly improves on its predecessor, 2011’s Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains.”

“When Mirren Aitken, a department store heiress, goes missing, Mirren's mother asks well-to-do sleuth Dandy to track her down. Aitkens’ Emporium (“Tailors, Mantle Makers, Silk Merchants, Domestic Bazaar”) is in bitter competition with another store in the town of Dunfermline, House of Hepburn (“Hosiers, Glovers, Clothiers and Milliners”).”

“The Aitkens fear that Mirren has eloped with Dugald Hepburn, a scion of the rival family. Before long, Dandy must tackle a related homicide, only to become a suspect herself. Dorothy Sayers's fans will find many aspects of Harriet Vane in Dandy, who really comes into her own in this installment. The strong plot offers a truly baffling traditional murder mystery, which bodes well for future books in the series.”

Taken from Publishers Weekly, 19 March 2012. Click here for a link to the whole review.

Scotland on Sunday

“The period features are done with aplomb, the dialogue shines with Golden Age wit, and McPherson’s heroine is warm and sharp as well as ingenious at solving the mysteries she is presented with.”

Taken from Scotland on Sunday, 7 December 2010. Click here for a link to the whole review.

The Hartlepool Mail

“In Catriona McPherson's Dandy Gilver series it is always, in George Orwell's phrase, Sunday afternoon, preferably before the war. In a loosely connected series of novels which walks this side - just - of the parodic, her lady detective, released from an unrewarding life as wife and mother, takes on a series of cases and solves them with panache.

Dandy is an independently minded woman of the upper middle classes who makes her own rebellions against the expectations of the world, and especially, her mother-in-law. There is enough of the modern about Dandy for 21st-century readers to identify with her, and enough of the language, fashions and conventions of the past to wallow in.

Pleasingly, the settings are small-town Scotland rather than English country house, and McPherson shines an enjoyable light at the pretensions of the genteel Scottish middle classes. In the new novel, Dandy Gilver And An Unsuitable Day For A Murder, the setting is Dunfermline, where two warring families run rival department stores.”

Taken from The Hartlepool Mail, 7 December 2010. Click here for a link to the whole review.

The Book Depository

“The delightful new Dandy Gilver mystery.”

Taken from The Book Depository, December 2010.

Nottingham Library Service

“More adventures of the popular lady detective in a sharp and witty take on the traditional "cosy crime" story. An heiress has disappeared and affairs of the heart are suspected until a suicide which may be murder is discovered. Dandy had been reluctant to get involved, but once her suspicions are aroused she is less than happy to be sacked from the case.”

Taken from Nottingham Library Service: Your next good read, December 2010.