Dandy Gilver and a Bothersome Number of Corpses (Dandy Gilver Series #7)

by Catriona McPherson

Overview

In this historical cozy mystery set in 1920s Scotland, an upper-class sleuth goes undercover to find a killer at an all-girls school.

Bored with her wealthy life after the Great War, aristocratic wife and mother Dandy Gilver decides to become a private investigator. Her current case has her traveling to an all-girls school in the Scottish seaside town of Portpatrick where a childhood friend has disappeared. Soon, Dandy discovers that her missing chum, now a teacher, is not the only thing that’s off in Portpatrick. Other teachers have been vanishing as well . . . at an alarming rate. To find some answers, Dandy must go undercover as a new member of the staff, but one misstep could have her dismissed permanently . . .

“Fans of historical mysteries and old-fashioned whodunits will enjoy Dandy Gilver and a Bothersome Number of Corpses. . . . A very satisfying whodunit that was both intriguing and creepy.” —Gumshoe Review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250030009
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/26/2024
Series:	Dandy Gilver Series , #7
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	328
Sales rank:	90,580
File size:	610 KB

About the Author

CATRIONA MCPHERSON was born near Edinburgh, where she received her Ph.D. Her previous Dandy Gilver mystery, Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains, won the Sue Feder Memorial Award in 2012. Catriona lives in Davis, California, with her husband and two cats.

Editorial Reviews

11/01/2013
No one might have noticed that schoolteachers were going missing, if one of them hadn't been Dandy's old chum Fleur. The seventh case for the witty amateur detective (after the Agatha Award-winning Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for a Murder) who beguiles as she sleuths across 1920s Scotland.

Library Journal

08/12/2013
The professional becomes personal in Agatha-winner McPherson’s slow-moving seventh 1920s mystery featuring Edinburgh PI Dandy Gilver (after 2012’s Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for a Murder). Now one half of the detective agency Gilver and Osborne, Dandy is horrified to learn that girlhood friend Fleur Lipscott, the youngest of three sisters of a family Dandy has always admired, might be in deep trouble. Older sisters Pearl and Aurora fear that Fleur is about to bolt from St. Columba’s, the Wigtownshire school where she teaches. Dandy travels to St. Columba’s, where her being mistaken for a new teacher allows her to infiltrate the school. Dandy soon realizes that instructors are quitting, being fired, or disappearing at an alarming rate. The discovery of an unidentified woman’s body raises the stakes. Dandy’s droll conversations with her charmingly stuffy husband provide some needed levity in this overly convoluted cozy. Lisa Moylett, Coombs Moylett Literary Agency. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

A real contender for the Agathas . . . A great choice for Jacqueline Winspear, Carola Dunn, and Amy Patricia Meade fans.” —Library Journal (starred)

“While reading this latest Dandy Gilver book, we kept thinking what a jolly film could be made of this, with loads of plum-juicy parts.” —Yahoo! Shine

“A dandy series from a Scottish-born author; wit, humor, clues, and red herrings abound.” —The Boston Globe, Favorite Mysteries 2011

“Agatha Christie lives! . . . You'll love this book.” —John Lescroart

“Witty, humorous, and a thoroughly good read.” —M. C. Beaton

From the Publisher

2013-10-19
Dead bodies and mysterious disappearances provide a difficult case for a pair of well-born sleuths. Aristocratic Dandy Gilver and her partner Alec Osborne's abilities to range outside their elite circle in 1920s Britain are acilitated by Dandy's skill in masquerade. When her childhood friends Pearl and Aurora Lipscott ask her to find out how their sister Fleur is doing teaching at a girls school in coastal Scotland, Dandy, mistaken for a schoolmistress, goes undercover at St. Columba's while Alec stays at the local inn. Dandy can't imagine that wealthy, flighty, imaginative Fleur could possibly be teaching at a remote school. When a body washes up on the shore, Dandy goes with Fleur to see if it's Miss Beauclerc, the missing French mistress. It isn't, but before Fleur vanishes from St. Columba's, she seems to admit that she murdered five people. Dandy and Alec are forced to dig into Fleur's past even after they're fired by Fleur's family, who know more than they're willing to share. Dandy, certain that there's something fishy about the school, is asked to leave soon after finding both Fleur's and the missing Miss Beauclerc's luggage. A trail that leads to Fleur's house in Scotland lands the sleuthing duo in extreme danger. The latest of McPherson's delightful pastiches of golden-age British mysteries (Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for a Murder, 2012, etc.) offers loads of red herrings to keep readers guessing.

Kirkus Reviews