The Burry Man’s Day (Dandy Gilver 2)

Author/Guide: Catriona McPherson

Why a Booktrail?

1923: All Aboard for the annual Queensferry Fair!

ISBN: 978-1845295929
Genre: Cosy crime, Folklore

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What you need to know before your trail

The village of Queensferry is preparing for the annual Ferry Fair and the walk of the Burry Man. The Burry Man is a tradition which has gone on for years in which someone dressed in green and burrs. He pays people a visit and gets lucky pennies and, in particular, whisky as a treat. But there are some religious souls who don’t agree with the Burry man. In fact there might be someone in this community or outside of it who really doesn’t like him at all. but enough to want him dead?
When the Burry man dies in full view of those at the fair, could anyone with a bottle of whisky in their hand be the culprit?

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Ah the little Scottish folklore traditions – like them or not for some they can quite literally be murder!

In South Queensferry:

The Burry Man is a figure of folklore who walks about the town of South Queensferry once a year, dressed in burrs in order to receive offerings of money and whiskey. It’s a pagan tradition and so many are against it, particularly since it involves drinking whiskey wherever he goes. But then according to Catriona herself, it’s this controversy which inspired her to write the story in the first place.

Added to this folklore setting is the fact that it takes place in 1923 and so the subject of war and the recovery of many communities following it, is still very much a difficult time for many.

Two sights not to miss here involve pretending you;re on the Bonnie Dundee boat by taking the real life one – Maidoftheforth.co.uk

And for a grand view of how Queensferry would have been like at the time, when the Dalveny family lived in the castle – Dalmeny House is a good place to visit for the day.

Brown’s Bar and Cassilis Castle are fictional