The intriguing new mystery featuring Dandy Gilver, 'the most engaging and ingenious crime-cracker I've met in ages' (Scotland on Sunday)

A cosy Dandy Gilver mystery set in 1920s Scotland. For fans of PG Wodehouse, Dorothy L Sayers and Agatha Christie.

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.

Catriona McPherson's latest novel in the series, Dandy Gilver and a Spot of Toil and Trouble is now available for pre-order.

"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." - Independent

"Guaranteed 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 BLOODSTAINS

"Dan Brown meets Barbara Pym . . . Dandy is brisk, baffled, heroic, kindly, scandalised and -above all - very funny." - Guardian on the Dandy Gilver series

"McPherson 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 BALL

"Delightful" - Herald on THE WINTER GROUND

"'Dandy 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 Scott