Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains
By (Author) Catriona McPherson
Hodder & Stoughton
Hodder Paperback
1st May 2010
1st April 2010
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
823.92
Winner of Sue Feder Memorial Macavity Award 2012 (UK)
Paperback
304
Width 130mm, Height 195mm, Spine 20mm
214g
1st May 1926
Dear Alec, Just when those who should be working are all downing tools for this wretched strike (and I still can t believe it I mean to say: riots, Alec in Edinburgh of all places) guess who is setting her virgin shoulder to its very first wheel I am dressed in serge and sensible footwear, sleeping in an iron bed and dining off pickled tongue at six o clock each day. I am, in short, that nice young Mrs Balfour's new maid. But don t worry, Alec dear: things haven t got as bad as all that. It s just that that nice young Mr Balfour is going to kill his wife. At least, she thinks so, and the more I hear about him from butler, cook and bootboy the more I m inclined to agree. So I m undercover, in disguise, bent upon foiling. And jolly hard work it is too tomorrow is my half-day free if you d care take me out for a restorative bun. (Every maid needs a beau to buy buns for her.) Yours, Dandy xx p.s. Ask for Miss Rossiter: below stairs I am she.McPherson's books are always strong on period detail, with nifty sleight-of-hand plotting and plenty of interesting secondary characters, but it's Dandy herself who makes them shine: witty, briskly humane and quietly subversive, she is a continuing delight. - Guardian
A subtle detonation of the cosy genre... an acute sense of period, sharp observation of the mores of the day (both above and below stairs), a nicely-judged infusion of humour and a winning heroine. - IndependentGuaranteed to appeal to those who have never got over the death of Dorothy L Sayers . . . McPherson has an ear for mellifluous language ... The story bristles with clues, and the resolution.. is unguessable. - Financial Times on DANDY GILVER AND THE PROPER TREATMENT OF BLOODSTAINSDan Brown meets Barbara Pym . . . Dandy is brisk, baffled, heroic, kindly, scandalised and -above all - very funny. - Guardian on the Dandy Gilver seriesMcPherson is on to a winner... The period detail is accomplished and convincing, the crime is neatly convoluted and McPherson's prose bristles with clever asides under a lucid surface... I can't wait for her next adventure. - Scotland on Sunday on AFTER THE ARMISTICE BALLDelightful - Herald on THE WINTER GROUNDDandy Gilver is an enthralling heroine; part Dorothy Parker, part Miss Marple, utterly engaging. [Catriona] can send chills up your spine and provoke a fit of the giggles in the space of a few short pages. Absolutely wonderful - Kirsty ScottCatriona McPherson was educated at Edinburgh University, and spent a few years as a university lecturer before writing her first Dandy Gilver novel. Catriona now writes full-time and lives on a farm in Galloway.