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Dandy Gilver #4
The Winter Ground
Times are hard for a struggling family circus in the long, cold winter of 1925. Pa and Ma Cooke are more than happy to accept the offer of free winter standing on the remote Blackcraig estate in Perthshire in return for a few shows to the Wilson family around Christmastime.
Wealthy but brash Albert Wilson is excited to find himself the center of a circle of bright young women who are agog for the circus and ready to endure his company to view a free show.
With the threat of revolution blowing in from the east on the icy gales, Hugh Gilver is less pleased to see the troupe Prebrezhensky ensconced in the valley, but the Gilver boys cannot get enough of Tiny Truman the midget and Andrew Merryman the giant, not to mention the mysterious and beautiful barebacked rider Anastasia.
When Ma Cooke asks for Dandy’s help to get to the bottom of a string of spiteful tricks at the winter ground, Hugh gives his approval. But the fun runs out when the silly tricks take a darker turn, leaving one of the performers dead and the Cooke, Wilson, and Gilver families fractured amid whispers of murder.
Wealthy but brash Albert Wilson is excited to find himself the center of a circle of bright young women who are agog for the circus and ready to endure his company to view a free show.
With the threat of revolution blowing in from the east on the icy gales, Hugh Gilver is less pleased to see the troupe Prebrezhensky ensconced in the valley, but the Gilver boys cannot get enough of Tiny Truman the midget and Andrew Merryman the giant, not to mention the mysterious and beautiful barebacked rider Anastasia.
When Ma Cooke asks for Dandy’s help to get to the bottom of a string of spiteful tricks at the winter ground, Hugh gives his approval. But the fun runs out when the silly tricks take a darker turn, leaving one of the performers dead and the Cooke, Wilson, and Gilver families fractured amid whispers of murder.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 4, 2008
342 people want to read
About the author
Catriona McPherson
52 books526 followersCatriona McPherson (she/her) was born in Scotland and immigrated to the US in 2010. She writes: preposterous 1930s private-detective stories about a toff; realistic 1940s amateur-sleuth stories about an oik; and contemporary psychothriller standalones. These are all set in Scotland with a lot of Scottish weather. She also writes modern comedies about a Scot-out-of-water in a “fictional” college town in Northern California.
She has won multiple Anthonys, Agathas, Leftys and Macavitys for her work and been shortlisted for an Edgar, three Mary Higgins Clark awards and a UK dagger
Catriona is a proud lifetime member and former national president of Sisters in Crime.
She has won multiple Anthonys, Agathas, Leftys and Macavitys for her work and been shortlisted for an Edgar, three Mary Higgins Clark awards and a UK dagger
Catriona is a proud lifetime member and former national president of Sisters in Crime.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
March 29, 2016
"Tell the truth," I answered. "I am a detective, Hugh, quite a successful one."
"You," said Hugh in a voice I had never heard before, "are a wife and mother."
I took time considering my reply to this.
"I am." I agreed at last. "I am Mrs. Hugh Gilver and I never forget it. But I am Dandy Gilver, Detective, too.
Hugh took even longer than I had to answer.
"It could be worse, I suppose," he said at the end.
"But it's not worse," I told him. "Wife, mother, and detective, nothing more. NOTHING MORE." I meant it as I spoke, Andrew Merryman's words still clear in my mind. In the end, we all have to decide who we are.
Well, this book is excellent. EXCELLENT.
Scotland, 1925. Dandy Gilver, rich, married, 39-year-old mother of two, has (in this fourth book in the series) found herself rather settled in to her newfound, unbidden role as 'detective' - and quite a lucrative role it is, too.
This book starts with the circus coming into town for the winter. It is being brought in solely to entertain Dandy's rich and sickly friend, Ina Wilson. But when dark things start happening the circus - pranks that could have deadly results - Dandy is called in to investigate.
...
It is very surprising that I like this book for two reasons.
ONE: I don't like stories about the circus. I don't like the circus and I don't enjoy reading about it.
TWO: I started off not being too enthused about this series. In fact, I was rather down on Dandy's first novel, After the Armistice Ball. But Catriona McPherson is an amazing writer and I am happy to say that this series gets better and better with each installment.
...
McPherson is an AMAZING writer, amazing. Every page had a little gem (or two) to delight in.
I was distracted once more by trying to thread the long bonnet of Alec's motor car along the twists of the black, winding lane but something in what they said tugged at me, or not even as much as that, but something touched me the way a cobweb will fall against one's face, or the way a stray lash will lie on one's cheek, almost imperceptible, just tickling.
Or
With the kind of prickling sensation one sometimes gets from large gulps of overly fizzy champagne, I felt illumination spread through me.
When discussing her sons:
I was sure that what the inspector described so diplomatically as Donald and Teddy's 'brightness' was the same facet of their personalities which made me want, sometimes, to roll them up in a thick carpet and lie on top of it.
LOL
When describing an intimidating policeman:
He opened a notebook and snapped the band smartly into place, then held up a slim silver propelling pencil and twisted it vigorously until a good half-inch of lead protruded. I wondered if he knew he looked exactly like a doctor rather too enthusiastically preparing his smallpox vaccine while a toddler trembled before him. I rather thought he did.
When describing Laurie:
He is one of the sort who, despite advancing years, remained determinedly young in the fashion of the current day, which is to say determinedly BRIGHT and young; in short, a "bad boy" and I do so prefer even boys to be good boys and vastly prefer men to be men.
Amen, sister!
Anyway, you get the idea.
The plot is smart, gripping and excellent. We have the mystery, we have an entertaining and thorough view of circus life, we have character studies (that of Ina Wilson is particularly fabulous), and we have the running plots that are a part of all Dandy Gilver mysteries.
For instance, Dandy being in a rather bloodless marriage to a man she finds boring and a stick-in-the-mud. This comes out very quietly and her unhappiness is just granted small, fleeting looks through the series, most often when she observes the marriages of others.
"Ina, so sorry, must dash, till tomorrow, lots of love, bye," I said in one breath and put the receiver down on her gushing with a shudder and, if I am to be honest, a small wriggling thing in my breast which felt suspiciously like envy.
You also have her 'detective's assistant,' the freckly, attractive 34-year-old Alec Osborne. Dandy is harboring a bit of romantic feelings for Alec - although she'd never admit it and you'd never know it - McPherson couldn't possibly be more subtle in this endeavor. Nothing romantic or sexual happens, EVER, it's just a feeling you get of perhaps a bit of wistfulness on Dandy's part - looking at Alec and thinking what her life might have been like if she'd married someone she loved.
"You're joking!" said Alec. "She's married. She's sixty. You think Pa's jealous of his own brother and his own wife?"
I was married and almost forty and Hugh was not a man to stride about with a whip and I should have rather died than point any of that out, but I still thought I had hit on something.
See what I mean? That's so subtle you might not even catch it.
Alec can be a bit condescending and sneering at times, I had to tell him to 'go fuck himself' four times in this book. But he's leaps and bounds ahead of the other men presented here, so I guess I can understand why Dandy likes him.
He gave a firm nod and sat back in his chair. I scowled at him. Alec is at his least attractive when he is magisterial and he never admits how much easier it is to make these pronouncements after my orderly reports than to come to the same conclusion when one is grubbing around in the thick of it all, as I do.
The mystery was so good I was literally shivering when a major plot point was revealed near the end of the book - I got chills. :)
Dandy has a very dry sense of humor and she is very funny. I found her talk about animals and about her own children to be especially humorous in this book - I was laughing.
"Now don't be silly," I said. "If there is one thing I cannot abide it's sentimentality about animals. It's one thing that Daddy and... that is, Daddy and I are in complete agreement there." Donald and Teddy were not bold enough to glance at Bunty, asleep again now, with her head on my knees, but I could tell they wanted to.
The time period is the 1920s and you are completely and totally immersed in this world. McPherson could not possibly do a better job of transporting you to a different time and place, it's magical.
Tl;dr - McPherson shines in this excellent novel which made me love it, despite it's subject matter. Funny, gripping, touching, and transcendent - this book is everything you never knew you wanted. Highly recommended - but start the series at the beginning.
Book One: After the Armistice Ball
Book Two: The Burry Man's Day
Book Three: Bury Her Deep
Book Four: The Winter Ground
I read this book twice, just read through it and then turned the last page, opened it up again and started reading it a second time. Delightful. I can only hope McPherson keeps up this level of writing and the following books will be as good as this one.
"You," said Hugh in a voice I had never heard before, "are a wife and mother."
I took time considering my reply to this.
"I am." I agreed at last. "I am Mrs. Hugh Gilver and I never forget it. But I am Dandy Gilver, Detective, too.
Hugh took even longer than I had to answer.
"It could be worse, I suppose," he said at the end.
"But it's not worse," I told him. "Wife, mother, and detective, nothing more. NOTHING MORE." I meant it as I spoke, Andrew Merryman's words still clear in my mind. In the end, we all have to decide who we are.
Well, this book is excellent. EXCELLENT.
Scotland, 1925. Dandy Gilver, rich, married, 39-year-old mother of two, has (in this fourth book in the series) found herself rather settled in to her newfound, unbidden role as 'detective' - and quite a lucrative role it is, too.
This book starts with the circus coming into town for the winter. It is being brought in solely to entertain Dandy's rich and sickly friend, Ina Wilson. But when dark things start happening the circus - pranks that could have deadly results - Dandy is called in to investigate.
...
It is very surprising that I like this book for two reasons.
ONE: I don't like stories about the circus. I don't like the circus and I don't enjoy reading about it.
TWO: I started off not being too enthused about this series. In fact, I was rather down on Dandy's first novel, After the Armistice Ball. But Catriona McPherson is an amazing writer and I am happy to say that this series gets better and better with each installment.
...
McPherson is an AMAZING writer, amazing. Every page had a little gem (or two) to delight in.
I was distracted once more by trying to thread the long bonnet of Alec's motor car along the twists of the black, winding lane but something in what they said tugged at me, or not even as much as that, but something touched me the way a cobweb will fall against one's face, or the way a stray lash will lie on one's cheek, almost imperceptible, just tickling.
Or
With the kind of prickling sensation one sometimes gets from large gulps of overly fizzy champagne, I felt illumination spread through me.
When discussing her sons:
I was sure that what the inspector described so diplomatically as Donald and Teddy's 'brightness' was the same facet of their personalities which made me want, sometimes, to roll them up in a thick carpet and lie on top of it.
LOL
When describing an intimidating policeman:
He opened a notebook and snapped the band smartly into place, then held up a slim silver propelling pencil and twisted it vigorously until a good half-inch of lead protruded. I wondered if he knew he looked exactly like a doctor rather too enthusiastically preparing his smallpox vaccine while a toddler trembled before him. I rather thought he did.
When describing Laurie:
He is one of the sort who, despite advancing years, remained determinedly young in the fashion of the current day, which is to say determinedly BRIGHT and young; in short, a "bad boy" and I do so prefer even boys to be good boys and vastly prefer men to be men.
Amen, sister!
Anyway, you get the idea.
The plot is smart, gripping and excellent. We have the mystery, we have an entertaining and thorough view of circus life, we have character studies (that of Ina Wilson is particularly fabulous), and we have the running plots that are a part of all Dandy Gilver mysteries.
For instance, Dandy being in a rather bloodless marriage to a man she finds boring and a stick-in-the-mud. This comes out very quietly and her unhappiness is just granted small, fleeting looks through the series, most often when she observes the marriages of others.
"Ina, so sorry, must dash, till tomorrow, lots of love, bye," I said in one breath and put the receiver down on her gushing with a shudder and, if I am to be honest, a small wriggling thing in my breast which felt suspiciously like envy.
You also have her 'detective's assistant,' the freckly, attractive 34-year-old Alec Osborne. Dandy is harboring a bit of romantic feelings for Alec - although she'd never admit it and you'd never know it - McPherson couldn't possibly be more subtle in this endeavor. Nothing romantic or sexual happens, EVER, it's just a feeling you get of perhaps a bit of wistfulness on Dandy's part - looking at Alec and thinking what her life might have been like if she'd married someone she loved.
"You're joking!" said Alec. "She's married. She's sixty. You think Pa's jealous of his own brother and his own wife?"
I was married and almost forty and Hugh was not a man to stride about with a whip and I should have rather died than point any of that out, but I still thought I had hit on something.
See what I mean? That's so subtle you might not even catch it.
Alec can be a bit condescending and sneering at times, I had to tell him to 'go fuck himself' four times in this book. But he's leaps and bounds ahead of the other men presented here, so I guess I can understand why Dandy likes him.
He gave a firm nod and sat back in his chair. I scowled at him. Alec is at his least attractive when he is magisterial and he never admits how much easier it is to make these pronouncements after my orderly reports than to come to the same conclusion when one is grubbing around in the thick of it all, as I do.
The mystery was so good I was literally shivering when a major plot point was revealed near the end of the book - I got chills. :)
Dandy has a very dry sense of humor and she is very funny. I found her talk about animals and about her own children to be especially humorous in this book - I was laughing.
"Now don't be silly," I said. "If there is one thing I cannot abide it's sentimentality about animals. It's one thing that Daddy and... that is, Daddy and I are in complete agreement there." Donald and Teddy were not bold enough to glance at Bunty, asleep again now, with her head on my knees, but I could tell they wanted to.
The time period is the 1920s and you are completely and totally immersed in this world. McPherson could not possibly do a better job of transporting you to a different time and place, it's magical.
Tl;dr - McPherson shines in this excellent novel which made me love it, despite it's subject matter. Funny, gripping, touching, and transcendent - this book is everything you never knew you wanted. Highly recommended - but start the series at the beginning.
Book One: After the Armistice Ball
Book Two: The Burry Man's Day
Book Three: Bury Her Deep
Book Four: The Winter Ground
I read this book twice, just read through it and then turned the last page, opened it up again and started reading it a second time. Delightful. I can only hope McPherson keeps up this level of writing and the following books will be as good as this one.
May 7, 2015
The thought of a period thriller based around a circus excited me so I began with enthusiasm. However, that enthusiasm very quickly dissipated as I found the plot slow-moving, the characters wooden and the whole thing lugubrious. I wanted to give it up but felt that I ought to continue in the hope that it would improve. Sadly, it didn't.
Dandelion Gilver is a lovely, lively name but her character is as dull as ditch water and she goes about her investigating in a plodding, long-winded way. The storyline was not one of the best but it revolves around the circus being based for the winter in the grounds of Benachally Castle, the domicile of the Wilsons.
An accident occurs but the circumstances are suspicious so long-winded and convoluted investigations take place so that in the end the mystery of the death is resolved ... but I had lost complete interest by then so I feel it is goodbye to Dandy Gilver for me.
Dandelion Gilver is a lovely, lively name but her character is as dull as ditch water and she goes about her investigating in a plodding, long-winded way. The storyline was not one of the best but it revolves around the circus being based for the winter in the grounds of Benachally Castle, the domicile of the Wilsons.
An accident occurs but the circumstances are suspicious so long-winded and convoluted investigations take place so that in the end the mystery of the death is resolved ... but I had lost complete interest by then so I feel it is goodbye to Dandy Gilver for me.
May 4, 2012
I'm really enjoying the discovery of the Dandy Gilver mystery series. It's been fun to read and gives me that British thrill while being a little different because its set in Scotland. I'm also very much enjoying the time period of 1920's. A rousing time in history yet not one I've read about much. The mystery was well-written and played. The circus folks made the story that much more intriguing and fun and Dandy is a great character. A fun historical mystery series that never gets too nasty or graphic. I'm looking forward to the two newest installments to the series coming out this year.
September 19, 2013
I really did not like this book, I had to stop reading it as every page was an endurance. I know this is just my opinion as obviously other people enjoy this authors book. I thought the author used 10 words where one would have been sufficient. Also obscure words were used as if author was trying to make a point that she knew words others did not.
August 29, 2011
This is my least favorite in the series so far, there just wasn't enough character development to get invested in anyone this time around. Will still read the next in the series and hope she recovers a little of the edge of the first 2 books :-)
May 21, 2013
I was afraid the circus setting would be a bit twee outside Enid Blyton, and the Munchausen's-by-proxy chatacter would be played for laughs, but once again I ended up fully immersed. Sidenote: Dandy is such an awful mother, in a perfectly believable way.
August 16, 2021
A rare five stars for a genre mystery, because I was actually moved to tears, twice. At first I didn't think I liked it so much (there was quite a lot of circus slang in the beginning, intentionally, to mark how different they are, but it subsided), but wowser, did it ever come on increasingly strong as it went along. Gripping, twisty, touching, infuriating (in the best way) ... just a terrific read.
It's unaccountable to me that she's not more well-known (or well-liked). I think she might be the best curent mystery author out there.
5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful.
It's unaccountable to me that she's not more well-known (or well-liked). I think she might be the best curent mystery author out there.
5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful.
September 29, 2024
Yay! My book finally arrived from the UK. And now I can confirm that you can read these books out of order. Nothing is given away in future books re: plots or mysteries solved by Dandy and Alec in the past. Since I was waiting on this book but really wanted to keep reading, I skipped over #4 and figured I would just come back to it once it arrived. Honestly it was kind of interesting to go back in time and piece together part of the evolution of Dandy and Hugh’s marriage and interactions. And also the story of how the neighboring property was acquired for Teddy…the circus theme in this book was very entertaining and interesting.
April 22, 2021
I think this is my favourite so far of these books.
July 15, 2016
An okay read, particularly for summer. I'm glad I'm pretty much out of my reading slump (I think) though because I might have lost patience otherwise, having just bailed on a month-long futile attempt to finish the previous installment of the Dandy Gilvers. This one got a bit confusing in the middle too, but not nearly as bad. There's a murder, right enough, but that's not the only mystery. Is anyone in this book who they purport to be?
Dandy does manage to go through a slight evolution as a character in the course of the book, which is what gave it that third star. I really do wish that the novels weren't written in first-person though. Dandy isn't a terribly loveable character; she barely tolerates her husband and "waved her two sons gladly off to prep (boarding) school at age eight." At times, she doesn't even seem to like her dog very much. Granted, I know plenty of wealty wife/mothers in my own city with the same attitudes. They get married for money and social position, have children because that's what you do, and then complain about their "hard lives" while they lunch and go to the gym and pamper themselves. But why make her a mother? Why not just another single-girl sleuth? This way, her relationship with Alec is just...weird.
My problem with this series is that there isn't nearly enough of a 1920s feel to it; this book did better in that regard, but not until halfway through. I read a lot of books that were actually written in the 1920s, and that's what I love about Kerry Greenwood's Miss Fisher books--she wove the time period skillfully into the story and vice versa. McPherson's other "period problem" is the use of linguistic anachronisms: ie, putting modern language into vintage mouths. We are told that one of the prime suspects went outside "to regroup"; at another point Dandy says she wants to "pick someone's brain", and Dandy asks Ina about Robin: "You really aren't a fan, are you?" Oh dear. All phrases that didn't come into vogue until the 1980s, a mere 60 years after the setting of the book. Not content with that, there's a detailed description of a photo of a "pretty bay horse with a golden tail"--and yet color photography didn't become common until 1935, and even then was horrendously expensive. It wasn't accessible to most until the 1960s.
But hey, at this time of year with temperatures of 30ºC at 10 AM, rising throughout the day, it doesn't do to be too demanding.
Dandy does manage to go through a slight evolution as a character in the course of the book, which is what gave it that third star. I really do wish that the novels weren't written in first-person though. Dandy isn't a terribly loveable character; she barely tolerates her husband and "waved her two sons gladly off to prep (boarding) school at age eight." At times, she doesn't even seem to like her dog very much. Granted, I know plenty of wealty wife/mothers in my own city with the same attitudes. They get married for money and social position, have children because that's what you do, and then complain about their "hard lives" while they lunch and go to the gym and pamper themselves. But why make her a mother? Why not just another single-girl sleuth? This way, her relationship with Alec is just...weird.
My problem with this series is that there isn't nearly enough of a 1920s feel to it; this book did better in that regard, but not until halfway through. I read a lot of books that were actually written in the 1920s, and that's what I love about Kerry Greenwood's Miss Fisher books--she wove the time period skillfully into the story and vice versa. McPherson's other "period problem" is the use of linguistic anachronisms: ie, putting modern language into vintage mouths. We are told that one of the prime suspects went outside "to regroup"; at another point Dandy says she wants to "pick someone's brain", and Dandy asks Ina about Robin: "You really aren't a fan, are you?" Oh dear. All phrases that didn't come into vogue until the 1980s, a mere 60 years after the setting of the book. Not content with that, there's a detailed description of a photo of a "pretty bay horse with a golden tail"--and yet color photography didn't become common until 1935, and even then was horrendously expensive. It wasn't accessible to most until the 1960s.
But hey, at this time of year with temperatures of 30ºC at 10 AM, rising throughout the day, it doesn't do to be too demanding.
September 24, 2012
Not overwhelmed by this story - the characters were not very endearing, and I wasn't a big fan of the heroine. The murder seemed rather incidental, and it's resolution even more so - quite an anti-climax, though the story itself improved towards the end. What could have been a colorful and really interesting display of circus life was, sadly, rather flat and boring! I'll probably read the other books in the series but only because I've already added them to my 'to read' list - I was hoping for another Daisy Dalrymple type heroine and was quite disappointed by Dandy Gilver!!!
August 14, 2010
3.5/5 I found this hard to get going with at first, but that may be more of a reflection on me, and what I had been reading previously, rather than anything lacking in the book. It was a slow, gentle read - more of a meander than a roller-coaster ride! I did find it easier to read, the longer I read it, and I did enjoy the book. It was set in the 1920's but is written by a current author. I am looking forward to trying more in this series.
July 17, 2011
This is the fourth 1920s-set Dandy Gilver mystery (not the third, as Amazon would have it), and the series is unfortunately falling prey to the law of diminishing returns. The first was excellent, the second okay; the third was pretty meh, and this one isn't much better. The story's dull and muddled and so, to be brutally honest, is Dandy's detective work. There's one more in the series and I'll probably read that but, if there's no improvement, after that I shan't bother.
September 5, 2011
I have to admit to skim readin the vast majority of the book as it was rather dull and extremely slow going! Having chosen it as it as set in Perthshire (where I grew up) I soon regretted that as it is set in no Perthshire I could recognise! Anyway the crime eventually took place and after nothing very exciting the crime was eventually solved. Slow and don't htink I'll be rushing to read another one by the same author.
June 25, 2014
This was a slow moving murder mystery featuring Dandy Gilver, the want-a-be investigator and her partner in detective work, Alec. I still have a gard time understanding the language and nuances offered by the characters. Actually I thought the ending was great with all (I didn't understand) finally coming together. Just can't put my finger on why I have such a hard time following the plots of the Dandy books.
August 9, 2011
Bored now! Had to give up on this as taking far too long to go nowhere at all. And Dandy Gilver is *such* a snob; it's embarrassing to think the Britsh social system was once such that her views were commonly shared.
November 28, 2010
i started off quite enjoying this, but came to skim it towards the end, where it didn't hold me.
February 3, 2012
I enjoy getting to know Dandy Gilver at least as much as I enjoy the mysteries.
April 20, 2012
Another charming story. Rather unbelievable and it felt like the end was a bit rushed but still good fun. I kept thinking I'd guessed it only to find I hadn't. Amusing.
April 25, 2013
I'm obsessed with these books and fear for the moment when I'm caught up with the series. I need to pace myself.
February 6, 2014
This is another good one in the series.
May 22, 2014
Best so far, I think. Dandy is appealingly snarky, but toward the members of her own set rather than those less fortunately situated.
Read
June 22, 2014good
September 19, 2014
Bit hard going when there's not a likeable character in sight.
December 17, 2014
Ditched this at page 22 - just couldn't get to grips with it - shame as I thought the subject matter was interesting!
March 23, 2019
I liked this book, possibly more than it deserved, in spite of some anachronism and my heartsick feeling at what passes for a marriage between Dandy and Hugh. (I have the feeling that their marriage, which makes me shudder, may be the most true-to-life part of the book.)
I enjoyed the fact that I figured out some of the twists in the book before our hero did (such as who Ina was in love with) and some, not to the very end. I forgave the conventional way all the clues were explained in s group confrontation at the end of the book. They were all there for the noticing, so the author played fair with us.
I suppose what I really like is the way Dandy Gilver, almost imperceptibly to herself, is discovering her potential. At first, she thought of herself as a shallow woman of a certain station in society. She is gradually growing beyond those bounds.
I enjoyed the fact that I figured out some of the twists in the book before our hero did (such as who Ina was in love with) and some, not to the very end. I forgave the conventional way all the clues were explained in s group confrontation at the end of the book. They were all there for the noticing, so the author played fair with us.
I suppose what I really like is the way Dandy Gilver, almost imperceptibly to herself, is discovering her potential. At first, she thought of herself as a shallow woman of a certain station in society. She is gradually growing beyond those bounds.
January 5, 2022
I've enjoyed other Dandy Gilver books but I found this one very slow-going. There were far too many charcters with similar names, and the plot took forever to unravel. Part of the conclusion was interesting, but part was ridiculous.
I also found Dandy far more snobbish and unpleasant than in her previous outings.
It was interesting, at first, to read about a circus, but after a while the constant insertion of 'circus' words and phrases became tedious.
The redeeming feature for me was Tom Buckie, the only decent person in the entire cast.
I also found Dandy far more snobbish and unpleasant than in her previous outings.
It was interesting, at first, to read about a circus, but after a while the constant insertion of 'circus' words and phrases became tedious.
The redeeming feature for me was Tom Buckie, the only decent person in the entire cast.
September 7, 2022
I have so enjoyed this series - Dandy is such a down to earth aristocrat and the author has a wonderful turn of phrase that I really enjoy. In this story the circus comes to stay over winter at a nearby estate, and Dandy is drawn into their life as she learns the unfortunate existence of the lady of the house, wrapped away from all germs by her worried husband, and then is asked to find out what is amiss in the circus itself.
The circus people seem to accept Dandy very readily, which I am not convinced they would really do, even before a death occurs. However it gives the reader an insight into the circus world post-WW1, a time long departed now.
The only note I didn't like was what seemed to be the beginnings of a rift between Hugh and Dandy. She is not particularly maternal, by her own admission, but we feel a sense of coolness between the two, as if they are just putting on a show for the boys. The boys themselves are delightful, and it was great to see them involving themselves in the circus life.
A great read!
The circus people seem to accept Dandy very readily, which I am not convinced they would really do, even before a death occurs. However it gives the reader an insight into the circus world post-WW1, a time long departed now.
The only note I didn't like was what seemed to be the beginnings of a rift between Hugh and Dandy. She is not particularly maternal, by her own admission, but we feel a sense of coolness between the two, as if they are just putting on a show for the boys. The boys themselves are delightful, and it was great to see them involving themselves in the circus life.
A great read!
February 27, 2020
I read this Dandy Gilver book after books 5-8. So glad I read it out of sequence. I'd been wondering why I'd enjoyed the first few books; did Dandy's character undergo a rapid change (for the worse)? Yes! This book reminded me why I so enjoyed Dandy's earlier character; she's charming and flighty. The story takes place at home, so her family plays a (small) part in the adventure.
January 30, 2022
Fun murder mysteries. Not at all gritty and usually funny. I especially appreciated the moment an inspector comments on Dandy's sons being "bright boys" and she says something to the effect of: "I suspected what he called brightness was the quality that made me want to roll them up in carpets and sit on them some days." I feel that so hard. 😆
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