Reviews
'Dandy Gilver is an enthralling heroine; part Dorothy Parker, part Miss Marple, utterly engaging. Catriona seems to have managed to transform the stiff prose of the era into something wonderfully fluid and beguiling. Absolutely wonderful. A real treat.'-- Kirsty Scott, 'I curled up on the sofa last week when the kids finally returned to school and devoured it. Dandy Gilver is an enthralling heroine; part Dorothy Parker, part Miss Marple, utterly engaging. I loved the scenes at the SWRI and her dealings with the hapless Hugh. Catriona seems to have managed to transform the stiff prose of the era into something wonderfully fluid and beguiling. She can send chills up your spine and provoke a fit of the giggles in the space of a few short pages. Absolutely wonderful. A real treat. It is already on loan to a friend with instructions to pass it on!' -- Kirsty Scott, 'Barbara Pym meets Dan Brown . . . The strengths of BURY HER DEEP all derive from the voice of the narrator. Respectably married to the deeply conventional Hugh Gilver, Dandy is brisk, baffled, heroic, kindly, scandalised and above all very funny as she sleuths her way through the Scottish countryside.'-- Guardian, 'Barbara Pym meets Dan Brown . . . The strengths of BURY HER DEEP all derive from the voice of the narrator. Respectably married to the deeply conventional Hugh Gilver, Dandy is brisk, baffled, heroic, kindly, scandalised and above all very funny as she sleuths her way through the Scottish countryside.', 'Captivating and beautifully written Reminiscent of a wittier and less savage reworking of THE WICKER MAN, this book is alternately funny and chilling and works on a number of levels. A most original mystery novel.' , 'What a tonic it turned out to be! I giggled endlessly, loving Dandy's occasionlly caustic, often cowardly and eternally optimistic sleuthing. The gothically dour Luckenlaw locals are wonderfully crafted, along with the colourful smattering of eccentric incumbents and well-meaning innovators. The post-war era of house-keeping budgets, domestic staff, rebellious suffragettes and tetchy, above-stairs formality provides a perfect back-drop to Dandy's daring secret life, escaping from the starchily entrenched Gilver marriage to scour grave-yards, hedge-rows and wind-blown hillsides for clues - all whilst wearing the very best tailoring her maid can source . . . I can't wai, 'I curled up on the sofa last week when the kids finally returned to school and devoured it. Dandy Gilver is an enthralling heroine; part Dorothy Parker, part Miss Marple, utterly engaging. I loved the scenes at the SWRI and her dealings with the hapless Hugh. Catriona seems to have managed to transform the stiff prose of the era into something wonderfully fluid and beguiling. She can send chills up your spine and provoke a fit of the giggles in the space of a few short pages. Absolutely wonderful. A real treat. It is already on loan to a friend with instructions to pass it on!', 'McPherson is an exemplary crime writer, effortlessly balancing the driest wit with melodramatic suspense. Her range of reference is seriously literary, her research impeccable, and her exuberance with period detail utterly beguiling. And Dandy herself is wonderful: blundering bravely through this mad and murky tale with perfect aplomb and a drop-dead vocabulary, she is a lesson to us all.', 'Catriona McPherson's Dandy Gilver is a refreshing change from the noir of Rebus . . . McPherson has obviously researched the background to her tale thoroughly and her knowledge of ancient folklore is cunningly used in a well-constructed plot that has many twists and turns.'-- Herald, McPherson is an exemplary crime writer, effortlessly balancing the driest wit with melodramatic suspense. Her range of reference is seriously literary, her research impeccable, and her exuberance with period detail utterly beguiling. And Dandy herself is wonderful: blundering bravely through this mad and murky tale with perfect aplomb and a drop-dead vocabulary, she is a lesson to us all.-- Scotsman, McPherson is an exemplary crime writer, effortlessly balancing the driest wit with melodramatic suspense. Her range of reference is seriously literary, her research impeccable, and her exuberance with period detail utterly beguiling. And Dandy herself is wonderful: blundering bravely through this mad and murky tale with perfect aplomb and a drop-dead vocabulary, she is a lesson to us all., 'What a tonic it turned out to be! I giggled endlessly, loving Dandy's occasionlly caustic, often cowardly and eternally optimistic sleuthing. The gothically dour Luckenlaw locals are wonderfully crafted, along with the colourful smattering of eccentric incumbents and well-meaning innovators. The post-war era of house-keeping budgets, domestic staff, rebellious suffragettes and tetchy, above-stairs formality provides a perfect back-drop to Dandy's daring secret life, escaping from the starchily entrenched Gilver marriage to scour grave-yards, hedge-rows and wind-blown hillsides for clues - all whilst wearing the very best tailoring her maid can source . . . I can't wai-- Fiona Walker, 'Dandy Gilver is an enthralling heroi≠part Dorothy Parker, part Miss Marple, utterly engaging. Catriona seems to have managed to transform the stiff prose of the era into something wonderfully fluid and beguiling. Absolutely wonderful. A real treat.', 'Dandy Gilver is an enthralling heroine; part Dorothy Parker, part Miss Marple, utterly engaging. Catriona seems to have managed to transform the stiff prose of the era into something wonderfully fluid and beguiling. Absolutely wonderful. A real treat.', McPherson is on to a winner with her 1920s society sleuth Dandy Gilver, who is the most engaging and ingenious crime-cracker I've met in ages. She is gauche but perceptive, married but unromantic (although there's a lovely frisson to her co-solver), sly but endearingly innocent. 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 wouldn't be surprised if she is translated on to the small screen soon, and I can't wait for her next adventure.-- Scotland on Sunday on AFTER THE ARMISTICE BALL, 'Captivating and beautifully written Reminiscent of a wittier and less savage reworking of THE WICKER MAN, this book is alternately funny and chilling and works on a number of levels. A most original mystery novel.'-- Historical Novels Review, 'McPherson is on to a winner with her 1920s society sleuth Dandy Gilver, who is the most engaging and ingenious crime-cracker I've met in ages. She is gauche but perceptive, married but unromantic (although there's a lovely frisson to her co-solver), sly but endearingly innocent. 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 wouldn't be surprised if she is translated on to the small screen soon, and I can't wait for her next adventure.', McPherson is on to a winner with her 1920s society sleuth Dandy Gilver, who is the most engaging and ingenious crime-cracker I've met in ages. She is gauche but perceptive, married but unromantic (although there's a lovely frisson to her co-solver), sly but endearingly innocent. 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 wouldn't be surprised if she is translated on to the small screen soon, and I can't wait for her next adventure., 'Captivating and beautifully written Reminiscent of a wittier and less savage reworking of THE WICKER MAN, this book is alternately funny and chilling and works on a number of levels. A most original mystery novel.', 'Catriona McPherson's Dandy Gilver is a refreshing change from the noir of Rebus . . . McPherson has obviously researched the background to her tale thoroughly and her knowledge of ancient folklore is cunningly used in a well-constructed plot that has many twists and turns.'
