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ashleylm's review against another edition
5.0
Best book of the year so far! (It's January 3rd, though ...)
She's rapidly becoming one of my all-time favourite authors though. She strikes that perfect balance for me: not too seriousâbut not too lightânot too twisty (or twisted)âbut not too straightforward, etc. etc. She just nails it (unironical use of "nails it") each time.
My favourite aspect of this particular case is that she has a second mystery, more subtle than the obvious "someone got killed, who did it?" It pervades the book, and it's intentional, and it's the key to the main mystery, and I didn't guess at all until she explained it to me, and it was perfect.
Truth be told, I keep a different set of books in various locations around my house (one for brushing my teeth, one for reading before bed, one for waiting for the kettle to boil, one for waiting for the coffee machine in the office, etc.) and this is the one that I ended up just carrying around with me so I could find out what happened sooner. That's my equivalent of binge-watching: unputdownable.
I hope she's very young and keeps writing and outlives me, so I can keep reading Dandy Gilver novels to the end.
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
She's rapidly becoming one of my all-time favourite authors though. She strikes that perfect balance for me: not too seriousâbut not too lightânot too twisty (or twisted)âbut not too straightforward, etc. etc. She just nails it (unironical use of "nails it") each time.
My favourite aspect of this particular case is that she has a second mystery, more subtle than the obvious "someone got killed, who did it?" It pervades the book, and it's intentional, and it's the key to the main mystery, and I didn't guess at all until she explained it to me, and it was perfect.
Truth be told, I keep a different set of books in various locations around my house (one for brushing my teeth, one for reading before bed, one for waiting for the kettle to boil, one for waiting for the coffee machine in the office, etc.) and this is the one that I ended up just carrying around with me so I could find out what happened sooner. That's my equivalent of binge-watching: unputdownable.
I hope she's very young and keeps writing and outlives me, so I can keep reading Dandy Gilver novels to the end.
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
bibliobabe94's review against another edition
3.0
Dandy masquerades as a ladies maid at the request of the lady to protect her from her husband, but then the husband is killed and Dandy is enlisted to find out who did it and why. OK overall, would probably have enjoyed it more if had read earlier books - seems like there was info missing about Dandy.
vdoprincess's review against another edition
3.0
Rather loved. Definitely going to check out some more.
bookstuff's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this a lot. Want to read the earlier books.
Feels like there ought to be some kind of subtext between Alec & Dandy.
Feels like there ought to be some kind of subtext between Alec & Dandy.
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
3.0
Our story takes place in the 1920s. Dandy Gilver is a sharp-witted aristocrat with nursing experience from the Great War. She has found herself in mysterious circumstances and played the amateur sleuth in four other outings. This particular adventure opens with a letter from Lollie Balfour. Lollie is convinced that her once loving husband is plotting to kill her and she begs Dandy to come to her as a lady's maid and see if she can get to the bottom of Pip Balfour's strange behavior. Once Dandy is installed, she soon finds that every member of the household from the butler to the chauffeur, from the cook to the scullery maid has reason to fear and loathe the head of the house. And that's just during Dandy's first day on the job. The next morning, Pip Balfour is found murdered in his bed with a nice, big carving knife sticking out of his neck. Everyone has a motive, but it seems that few had an opportunity. How did the killer get in? Why did no one hear him (or her)? Why did Pip leave such a strange will? And will Dandy be able to maintain her cover long enough to answer all the questions?
I decided to read Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains for two reasons--first, I needed to read a 2012 Award-Winning Book for the Monthly Motif Challenge (Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award--2012 Macavity Awards) and Catriona McPherson is originally from Scotland (and the book is set in Edinburgh) so it totally counts for the Read Scotland Challenge. And...it sounded like a good read, the blurb on the front announced "Agatha Christie lives!" and the blub on the back told me "Readers who canât get enough of Dorothy L. Sayers, Barbara Pym, and Dorothy Parker will definitely find a new favorite in Catriona McPhersonâs smart and original mystery." I'm afraid I have mixed feelings on this one.
Be forewarned...there will are spoilers ahead. There is no way to explain some of my misgivings without them. Here on the blog, I will disguise them with faint text color as best I can....
Let's begin with the problem areas. First off--Dorothy L. Sayers, McPherson is not. She does not display the literary knowledge, fluent writing, and intelligent banter among the characters necessary to wear that mantle. I wish critics and reviewers would stop comparing new authors to Sayers and Christie (and other Golden Age writers). It is extraordinarily rare to have one measure up--and when they don't, it usually detracts from what the author does well.
Second, Dandy's impersonation of a lady's maid shouldn't fool anybody. It's bad enough that she admits that her "vowels keep slipping"--but even with that, she says she could explain it away by telling the other servants that she's gently born, but come down in the world. Except she doesn't. She says she will tell them, but there is never an indication in the text that she did. We don't need the conversation. A simple sentence referring to the revelation when they're all sitting round the table for dinner would do it. But, no, we just have the servants snickering at her lofty ways. Then, whenever she's questioning anybody, it seems one minute they're suspicious of her questions or just wondering why this person who has only been in the house one day is so forward in her opinions and then the next minute they're all confiding in her.
Third (
Now...for the good points. This is a fun story. Zany has been used by other reviewers--and it fits, in a good way. The characters are fun and likeable and I enjoyed watching the story unfold and wondering what Dandy was going to do next. McPherson represents the 1920s well. If the award given had been for historical fiction alone and not for historical mystery, I would be 100 percent in favor. She also manages to provide lots of red herrings and false trails...it is unfortunate that the method employed by the villain of the piece to produce those red herrings wasn't believable. It would have been more effective if those red herrings would have had plausible explanations. Overall--good historical setting, interesting initial premise, likeable characters all add up to a decent three-star read.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
I decided to read Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains for two reasons--first, I needed to read a 2012 Award-Winning Book for the Monthly Motif Challenge (Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award--2012 Macavity Awards) and Catriona McPherson is originally from Scotland (and the book is set in Edinburgh) so it totally counts for the Read Scotland Challenge. And...it sounded like a good read, the blurb on the front announced "Agatha Christie lives!" and the blub on the back told me "Readers who canât get enough of Dorothy L. Sayers, Barbara Pym, and Dorothy Parker will definitely find a new favorite in Catriona McPhersonâs smart and original mystery." I'm afraid I have mixed feelings on this one.
Be forewarned...there will are spoilers ahead. There is no way to explain some of my misgivings without them. Here on the blog, I will disguise them with faint text color as best I can....
Let's begin with the problem areas. First off--Dorothy L. Sayers, McPherson is not. She does not display the literary knowledge, fluent writing, and intelligent banter among the characters necessary to wear that mantle. I wish critics and reviewers would stop comparing new authors to Sayers and Christie (and other Golden Age writers). It is extraordinarily rare to have one measure up--and when they don't, it usually detracts from what the author does well.
Second, Dandy's impersonation of a lady's maid shouldn't fool anybody. It's bad enough that she admits that her "vowels keep slipping"--but even with that, she says she could explain it away by telling the other servants that she's gently born, but come down in the world. Except she doesn't. She says she will tell them, but there is never an indication in the text that she did. We don't need the conversation. A simple sentence referring to the revelation when they're all sitting round the table for dinner would do it. But, no, we just have the servants snickering at her lofty ways. Then, whenever she's questioning anybody, it seems one minute they're suspicious of her questions or just wondering why this person who has only been in the house one day is so forward in her opinions and then the next minute they're all confiding in her.
Third (
Spoiler
-McPherson uses two of the oldest tropes in the mystery business. The butler did it and....not only did the butler do it, he is really a long-lost black sheep cousin come to do evil to everyone he meets. Seriously? AND he accomplishes his evil plots by hypnotizing every single member of the household. Every. Single. One. Suspension of disbelief is one thing--but the reader is really, truly supposed to believe that not one of the servants was impervious to the power of suggestion?! What are the odds that all of them...including our intrepid amateur detective....is susceptible?Now...for the good points. This is a fun story. Zany has been used by other reviewers--and it fits, in a good way. The characters are fun and likeable and I enjoyed watching the story unfold and wondering what Dandy was going to do next. McPherson represents the 1920s well. If the award given had been for historical fiction alone and not for historical mystery, I would be 100 percent in favor. She also manages to provide lots of red herrings and false trails...it is unfortunate that the method employed by the villain of the piece to produce those red herrings wasn't believable. It would have been more effective if those red herrings would have had plausible explanations. Overall--good historical setting, interesting initial premise, likeable characters all add up to a decent three-star read.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
verityw's review against another edition
4.0
Another entertaining and well plotted murder mystery in the Dandy Gilver series. I had forgotten that I had bought this - until I trawled the depths of the kindle the other day. Clearly I bought this at discount at a point where I was still intending on reading these in order!
Dandy is under cover as a lady's maid investigating the riddle of a husband who is acting out of character towards his wife - when the troublesome husband is murdered. Who did it, and why is it that something just feels wrong about something?
As always, Dandy is a delight and there are some interesting issues in this around above stairs, below stairs, workers, privilege, strikes etc. I really enjoyed it - and will keep on looking for more in the series.
Dandy is under cover as a lady's maid investigating the riddle of a husband who is acting out of character towards his wife - when the troublesome husband is murdered. Who did it, and why is it that something just feels wrong about something?
As always, Dandy is a delight and there are some interesting issues in this around above stairs, below stairs, workers, privilege, strikes etc. I really enjoyed it - and will keep on looking for more in the series.
jeo224's review against another edition
5.0
Fun and well-written - once near the end I could not put the book down (and stayed up a bit too late last night).
bananatricky's review against another edition
4.0
Ha, so much for my prediction - 100% wrong! And yet irritatingly I did have a slight feeling about the real culprit.
Our amateur sleuth Dandy Gilver receives a letter from an Edinburgh lady, accusing her husband of trying to kill her, she begs Dandy to come and work undercover as her maid in order to help her escape. In disguise as Miss Rossiter, ladies maid, Dandy finds her employer Lollie Balfour (real first name Walburga!) to be a sacred waif of a woman, but surprisingly her husband Phillip doesn't appear to be the sort of monster who threatens to kill his wife. Yet talking to the other servants Dandy finds that each of them has a tale of the spiteful, cruel things that Mr Balfour has done to them. Unsurprising then that he is found dead, stabbed in the neck with one of the kitchen knives.
This is a classic golden age locked door mystery. Because the butler meticulously locks all the door every night the murder must be an 'inside job', certainly nearly everyone has a motive, but it seems that everyone also has an alibi!
As always this was a cracking read, I was totally convinced the murderer was someone completely different and yet the clues were all there ready to be unpicked, just little nuggets dropped carelessly into conversations.
Overall, very satisfactory mystery with a plausible ending that I did not see coming.
Our amateur sleuth Dandy Gilver receives a letter from an Edinburgh lady, accusing her husband of trying to kill her, she begs Dandy to come and work undercover as her maid in order to help her escape. In disguise as Miss Rossiter, ladies maid, Dandy finds her employer Lollie Balfour (real first name Walburga!) to be a sacred waif of a woman, but surprisingly her husband Phillip doesn't appear to be the sort of monster who threatens to kill his wife. Yet talking to the other servants Dandy finds that each of them has a tale of the spiteful, cruel things that Mr Balfour has done to them. Unsurprising then that he is found dead, stabbed in the neck with one of the kitchen knives.
This is a classic golden age locked door mystery. Because the butler meticulously locks all the door every night the murder must be an 'inside job', certainly nearly everyone has a motive, but it seems that everyone also has an alibi!
As always this was a cracking read, I was totally convinced the murderer was someone completely different and yet the clues were all there ready to be unpicked, just little nuggets dropped carelessly into conversations.
Overall, very satisfactory mystery with a plausible ending that I did not see coming.
jcbmathcat's review against another edition
3.0
From Goodreads: âGuaranteed to appeal to those who have never got over the death of Dorothy L. Sayers.â âFinancial Times (UK)
Welcome to Edinburgh, 1926. Dandy Gilver, a wealthy and witty aristocrat (and sometimes amateur sleuth) receives a letter from Lollie Balfour, who insists that her husband of five years is having her followed and her mail is being steamed open.
The only way for Dandy to help is by pretending to applying for a job as a ladyâs maid in Lollieâs house. Dandy gets a crash course from her own maid and arrives at 31 Heriot Row, ready to put all of her detection skills to good use. Why does Mr. Balfour want to get rid of his wife? And can Dandy stay in disguise long enough to evade the villains?
I enjoyed this book and McPherson's writing style. Some reviewers felt that the explanation was implausible, but I felt that it was quite clever. I won't give it away, but I can think of a few TV shows where this type of method has cropped up. I didn't guess what was actually going on, and that made the book more interesting to me.
Dandy reminds me of Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple, who is also an independent young woman of means engaging in amateur sleuthing. If you enjoy Dunn's books, then you might also enjoy McPherson's Dandy Gilver series.
Welcome to Edinburgh, 1926. Dandy Gilver, a wealthy and witty aristocrat (and sometimes amateur sleuth) receives a letter from Lollie Balfour, who insists that her husband of five years is having her followed and her mail is being steamed open.
The only way for Dandy to help is by pretending to applying for a job as a ladyâs maid in Lollieâs house. Dandy gets a crash course from her own maid and arrives at 31 Heriot Row, ready to put all of her detection skills to good use. Why does Mr. Balfour want to get rid of his wife? And can Dandy stay in disguise long enough to evade the villains?
I enjoyed this book and McPherson's writing style. Some reviewers felt that the explanation was implausible, but I felt that it was quite clever. I won't give it away, but I can think of a few TV shows where this type of method has cropped up. I didn't guess what was actually going on, and that made the book more interesting to me.
Dandy reminds me of Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple, who is also an independent young woman of means engaging in amateur sleuthing. If you enjoy Dunn's books, then you might also enjoy McPherson's Dandy Gilver series.
mrs_merdle's review against another edition
3.0
Well, I liked it. There was something kind of happy-go-lucky about the whole book. I didn't realize that it was number five in a series - and nowhere on the book cover or inside flap was that mentioned - until I got about 2 chapters in and started wondering why there wasn't a little more filling in of back-story, but it wasn't that big an issue. The plot was pretty fluffy, and the wrap-up made me kind of roll my eyes, but the main character is appealing in a Tuppence-y sort of way - she also turns a phrase rather well. The thing that did irritate me was this final phrase on the inside front flap: "Readers who can't get enough of Dorothy L. Sayers, Barbara Pym, and Dorothy Parker will definitely find a new favorite in Catriona McPherson's smart and original mystery." - this is the phrase that made me want to read the book in the first place. Now, I have never read any Barbara Pym, so I can't offer any opinions on whether or not that choice makes sense, but I HAVE read a good deal of the writing of both of the Dorothys (Dorothies?) and this book really has nothing in common with either of them (except that, like most of Sayers' work, this is a mystery set in the early part of the twentieth century). It lacks the depth and intellect of Dorothy #1, and it lacks the bite and acid humor of Dorothy #2. It DOES bear some resemblance to the writing of Agatha Christie, especially the Tommy and Tuppence books (although I would not have said, "Agatha Christie lives!" like John Lescroart is quoted as saying), and also to Ngaio Marsh's books. This fits squarely in the "cozy" category.