Catriona McPherson

Such a delight to be back in the world of discreet sleuth, Dandy Gilver, and her trusted colleague, Alec Osborne. It is the spring of 1939 at the Gilvers' Scottish estate. Europe remains unsteady as hints of impending war run beneath the surface. Both of Dandy's sons are of that age to serve and it unsettles her tremendously. What better way to bury that feeling than by throwing oneself into a murder investigation. Sadly, the unfortunate soul was the philandering husband of Dandy's dear show more friend Daisy. Somehow, the constabulary can't seem to let go the theory that Daisy is the perpetrator. So it's off to the sleepy little village of Dirleton for Dandy and Alec to get to the bottom of the shenanigans and clear Daisy's name.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series since day one and the latest installment is as witty and entertaining as all the rest. This story is based on solid historical research which is worked into a spectacularly spun tale. If creatively conceived, well written historical mysteries are your cup of tea, then settle in and pour yourself a cuppa.

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date: May 2, 2024
Number of Pages: 320
ISBN: 978-1399720397 show less

I really like this author. She clearly respects her readers. I love that she drops a subtle word here and there and then lets you draw your own conclusions. An example would be the way Dandy's husband Hugh is clearly starting to suspect Dandy of having an affair. She has no idea that he's thinking this way. But the reader is allowed to pick up the very subtle and infrequent little hints that she drops and doesn't hit us over the head with them!

The mysteries are good. The language is rich and show more the characters feel authentic to the time. show less

Such a delight to be back in the world of discreet sleuth, Dandy Gilver, and her trusted colleague, Alec Osborne. It is the summer of 1937 when Dandy receives an urgent call from a Dundee publisher pressing upon Dandy to get an itinerant puppeteer to cease and desist the use of proprietary characters in his Punch and Judy presentation. So Dandy treats her female staff to an outing in the park to see the show while she assesses the situation. Oddly, the characters in question never make an show more appearance in the performance. And sadly, the curtain came down and there was no second act. Something nefarious is certainly afoot and Dandy with her partner Alec, are on the case.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series since day one and the latest installment is as witty and entertaining as all the rest. This story is based on solid historical research which is worked into a spectacularly spun tale. If creatively conceived, well written historical mysteries are your cup of tea, then settle in and pour yourself a cuppa. show less

For anyone who enjoys historical fiction or mysteries, Catriona McPherson's In Place of Fear is a delight of a read. (The introduction below is a bit lengthier than I sometimes provide, so I want explain that it focuses on the context of the novel. It doesn't contain spoilers. It doesn't sketch out the full plot of the novel.)

The novel is set in 1940s Edinburgh the day before Britain's new National Health Service (NHS) begins. Helen Crowther, the central character, is starting a job as a show more Medical Welfare Almoner, a position that's been created as part of the new NHS. Her job involves everything from running post-natal nutrition classes to seeing that items like wheelchairs and accessible housing are provided for those who need them to making home visits. Setting a novel during this particular historical moment strikes me as absolute genius: the author can explore post-war life during which rationing still exists and the shift from private to "socialized" medicine.

Helen's grown up in a working-class family that's just managing to hang on. The most obvious position for her is in the bottling factory where most of the women in her neighborhood work alongside her mother. But Helen was spotted young by Mrs. Simpson, one of those wealthy, do-gooding women committed to telling the lower classes how they should improve their lives—though "improvement" mean cleanliness or thrift, not help with significant upward economic movement.

No one, expect for Helen herself, is happy she's taken the NHS job. Her mother thinks that she's getting "beyond herself" and that the fact that she's working at a small clinic run by two male doctors will ruin not just her reputation, but the family's as well. Mrs. Simpson thinks she's ungrateful because she'll no longer be devoting her life to helping Mrs. Simpson continue to improve the poor and to share their plight with her wealthy peers.

Unexpectedly, Helen is offered use of an an apartment in a small home near her clinic that is owned by one of the doctors she works with. She and her husband move in gladly, having spent their marriage up to this point sharing a box bed in the main room of the apartment Helen's family lives in—not a great setting for a pair of newlyweds who could use some privacy. The home has an Anderson shelter (an improvised bomb shelter) in the back yard, and when Helen opens it, thinking she'll use it as a gardening shed, she finds a dead body inside—one that looks like a daughter of Mrs. Simpson.

That's the set up. From that point, the novel offers intertwining threads: Helen's determination to find out who the dead girl is and what's happened to her; her experiences taking on the demands of her new job; the continuing class conflicts that apparently drive Edinburgh at this time; and getting to know her husband again, a childhood sweetheart who's just spent six years in a German prison camp.

All this could easily become soppy or stentorian, but it doesn't. McPherson knows exactly how much information to give—and how to give it—so that readers can share Helen's journey. If you're looking for a good novel for yourself or to give as a gift, In Place of Fear should prove an excellent choice.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from NetGalley; the opinions are my own. show less