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Product Description
Review
"This one is full of clever twists." (The Globe and Mail 2011)
Book Description
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Now that I've read one - - - I need to get them all., July 3 2010
By J. Lesley "(Judy)" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains (Hardcover)
When Dandelion Dahlia Leston Gilver (Dandy to her friends and family) gets a letter from a woman stating that she knows her husband is going to kill her the only way Dandy can talk to her is by pretending to apply for the job of lady's maid. Lollie Balfour says that her husband of five years is having her followed, someone is listening in on her phone conversations and her mail is being steamed open. Naturally Dandy gets a crash course from her own lady's maid on how to be a lady's maid and arrives at 31 Heriot Row, Edinburgh ready to put all her detection skills to work to find why Mr. Balfour has decided to get rid of his wife.This was a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience for me. This is my first Dandy Gilver mystery and there is some information from the previous books which would have been nice to know (for instance the fact that Dandy is approximately 40 years old), but since each case seems to be completely self contained within it's own book I soon caught up with Dandy, her extremely understanding husband Hugh, and her partner in investigations Alec Osborne. There is a deep friendship between Dandy and Alec, but not any whisper of a romance. The almost invisible Hugh stays home and his wife goes off to be Miss Rossiter, the new lady's maid, and investigate the household from the vantage point of below stairs. The cast includes all twelve of the servants, plus a real poppet of a policeman. Against the background of the general strike of May 1926, we get to watch Miss Rossiter untangle the very twisted threads of a murder which takes place.
I was exceedingly pleased when this author began to place twists and turns within the plot which kept me very much on my toes. All of the changes were perfectly reasonable and logical so I actually had to read all the way to the end to find out who the culprit was. I love it when an author accomplishes that feat. The atmosphere of life within the home of the very wealthy is very well presented, the characters are given full, rounded personalities so that each seemed to be a true individual, and the revelation for who had committed the murder and why was totally satisfying. Very highly recommended if you enjoy a well written book with a heroine who is mature but not stodgy or practically senile. And on top of all that, you actually get to laugh at times and learn about the conditions in the coal mines which led to the nine day strike that brought England and Scotland to a virtual halt. I will positively be searching for the other four Dandy Gilver mysteries.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just Dandy!, Aug 13 2010
By Jill - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Dandy Gilver And The Proper Treatment Of Bloodstains (Paperback)
I'm hooked on the Dandy Gilver books and hope there will be many more. I find that the author captures the feeling and "voice" of the period spot-on. A lot of new mysteries set in the 1920s or 1930s are ruined for me in giving the characters modern (21st century) values. Dandy seems true to life for the `20s, with strict adherence to class differences and the prejudices of the time as well. McPherson also makes her very likable and funny.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great Dandy Gilver adventure, May 16 2010
By tme - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains (Hardcover)
I adore this mystery series and am completely attached to Dandy Gilver. I usually find this genre tiresome, but Catriona McPherson's writing seems to get better and better. Dandy is plucky, but not annoyingly so, and clever, but not unrealistically so as in so many other mystery novels of this sort. The pace is just right, the characters funny and warm. I do wish she'd write a little faster, it always seems ages until the next installment, but I guess that's why the quality is still so high. Bravo!
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