Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains (Dandy Gilver Murder Mystery 5)

Author/Guide: Catriona McPherson

Why a Booktrail?

1926: Set against the back drop of the general strike in the 1920’s, this is the dark and intriguing life of those below stairs

ISBN: 978-0340992968
Genre: Cosy crime, Mystery

Comment

What you need to know before your trail

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.

Locations

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Travel Guide

Aah the sound of your feet on the cobbled stones of 1920s Edinburgh.

The great thing about booktrailing these books is the fact that much of the architecture and of course the roads will be the same even today. Not as many horses granted but the streets of Heriot Row and Moray Place will give you an idea of the world in which Danny Gilver lived.

The author points out that the Balfour family is completely fictional as is their account of the banks and mines etc around the world. Talking of mines, the one where Mattie’s family lives is said to be somewhere near Smeaton in Midlothian but isn’t based on any mine which really exists or existed.

The strike as a background shows a great deal about the general strikes of the time and people’s opinions to it. They are based on accounts from the author’s reseach of an Edinburgh paper. The story gives an insight into the conditions and how life was during these difficult times.