Reviews of After The Armistice Ball

Scotland on Sunday

“Detective stories are only as good as their investigators and they often supplant the author: we speak of reading the new Rebus or an old Nero Wolfe book. McPherson is onto a winner with her 1920s society sleuth Dandy gilver, who is the most engaging and ingenious crime-cracker I've met in ages...”

Taken from Scotland on Sunday, July 31, 2005. Click here for a clipping of the whole review.

Book & Magazine Collector

“Chance enounters, a mysterious death and countless twists and turns all ensue as Dandy bumbles her way through her first case. The book not only captures the atmosphere of the period but also the character of detective novels of the era. In short, a thoroughly entertaining debut...”

Quoted from a feature on After the Armistice Ball from the August 2005 issue. Click here for a clipping of the whole review.

Publishers Weekly, August 2005

“…With her husband at home and her children away at school, Dandy is bored until a friend asks her to help recover the Duffy family diamonds stolen from a country house after an elaborate armistice ball, artfully depicted in the prologue.

…Memorable supporting characters, both upstairs and downstairs, plus vivid descriptions of the Scottish landscape enhance a compelling mystery, but it is Dandy who shines as she smoothly and sometimes unscrupulously deals with people at all social levels in her quest for the truth. ”

A starred review from Publishers Weekly, the US publishers' trade paper. Click here

The Scotsman

“McPherson is an exemplary crime writer, effortlessly balancing the driest wit with melodramatic suspense. Her range of reference is seriously literary, her research impeccable, and her exuberance with period detail utterly beguiling. ”

Review from The Scotsman, 6th August 2005. Click here for a clipping of the whole review.

Crimesquad.com

“For many years we have been subjected to the intimate details of the autopsy room in most crime novels... It appears, in the last year, that a yearning for the Golden Age of crime writing has become quite prominent amongst many readers. There has been the success of David Roberts, and now we have Catriona McPherson who has given us a novel that even Dorothy L. Sayers would have been pleased with.”

Review from the “Fresh Blood“ section of crimesquad.com. Click here to read the full review.

Mystery Women

“The aftermath of the First World War sees the upper class of Perthshire coming to terms with changes in their lifestyle. Among these is Dandy Gilver, struggling financially and unoccupied since her husband's return from the Front. When asked by a more solvent friend to investigate a diamond theft she is at first excited by the prospective adventure, especially when it is coupled with the offer of payment. However, soon a suspicious death apparently linked to the theft paints a more sinister picture.”

“Dandy is an engaging, likeable sleuth. Her approach is direct and her initial naiveté does put her at risk of being manipulated by others. She forms a lively partnership with the dead girl's fiancé, Alec Osborne, and they proceed with their investigation through intelligent discussion and banter.”

Taken from Mystery Women, April 2007. Click here for a link to the whole review.