The Burry Man's Day

The quirky from book 1 doesn't hold so much in book 2, but boy howdy is the dark still there. I'm not going to lie, while I was intrigued by the Burryman Festival, the description of the Burryman's ... costume? creeped me right out. McPherson's detailed description made me feel claustrophobic and I could totally understand why children would cry upon seeing him.

Dandy continues her unorthodox (for the times) partnership and I'm curious how the author is going to shape this investigative duo in future books. I nailed the whodunnit part, but the ending... ugh, I did not see the ending coming and I was more than a little surprised and impressed that McPherson went there in what is ostensibly a cozy historical.

Will definitely read more of show more the series - and not just because I have the books. ;) show less

I grew up in the small town where this was set, that being my primary reason for reading it. It was better than expected and deserves slightly more serious consideration than its cover might suggest.

Whilst being a pretty run of the mill detective story (which is all it purports to be really), it has several nice touches of characterisation and wit. (Though the author is overfond of 'owlish' as an adjective.) A likably snobbish central character and a reasonably amusing plot contribute to a decent read. However, I feel like there is more in the author to give: some of the texture of dialect and location seems to be 'drawn away' from, as if to keep the book light and readable: here this is a mistake, as the texture of Gilver's character show more and those round about her is the real reason for reading. McPherson's plots and pacing, though serviceable, aren't as interesting as her voice and characters, and subtracting from the latter in favour of the former is, here, a mistake. McPherson is not a Wodehousian 'performing flea': the gymnastics of this book aren't quite up to that. But she has other things to offer. Perhaps McPherson should dare to write something a little more serious: though without abandoning the wit which renders this current piece charming and inoffensive. There's more in here than meets the eye though. show less

A second outing for Dandy Gilver in this series of 1920s mysteries. Dandy is on the opposite bank of the Forth Bridge – an edifice she blames, in part, for her marriage – this time, visiting a friend who, with her American husband, has just become chatelaine of a small but functional castle and has been shanghaied into patronage of the local fete, an event which focuses on the progress around the town of the Burry Man - http://193.62.154.38/celtica/Burryb.htm. Dandy, much to her horror, is deputed to judge the Bouncing Baby contest, but worse is to come when the Burry Man himself drops down dead at the end of the day. Was it the day-long consumption of whisky that killed him, or is there something more sinister afoot? This series is show more quite delightful: Dandy is an engaging heroine, the supporting cast is eccentric without devolving into caricature the period detail, though extensive and convincing, is not intrusive, and, although the mystery itself is quite low-key and undramatic, it still has enough twists and turns to entertain. show less

I had to look it up, the Burry Man is a real thing, a real thing that still happens. I had a vague memory of seeing something about it on TV once but a quick google told me everything. Coincidentally when I picked this one randomly from the shelf I had no idea where or what it was about, but just before going to bed a documentary was on TV about the Forth road bridge, which I had seen earlier that week and I thought nothing of it, until I started to read and realised that this was about the place that was changed utterly by that bridge, Queensferry. Life can be a bit strange sometimes.

Anyway, this is a tale about one of the Burry Men, who dies after the event, of an apparent heart attack. Dandy Gilver's host, an old friend not long show more moved to the place, asks her to look into it, it all sounds strange and unusual and as she digs she finds a lot of stress and pressure in the village and a lot of things going on under the surface that are a bit of a mess.

Interesting but I didn't feel like it flowed quite right. Still curious about what happens next with Dandy. show less

Quite good, and getting stronger as it went on--more touching than expected, given the author's light touch.

(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)

I settled down to the second Dandy Gilver mystery full of eager anticipation, and I wasn't disappointed - I love the setting, Scotland in the 1920s, and Dandy's mix of aristocratic arrogance, sound common sense and a sense of humour, much as if Nancy Mitford had taken to detective stories. This series is great fun and the research is excellent.

'Sounds like the author has read their Wodehouse,' said my spouse after I read him the narrator's dilemma of being chosen to judge the Bonny Baby competition at the fair. Yes! I am not as fond of the darker melodramatic themes in this story. But there we are.