After the Armistice Ball

Starred review from July 18, 2005
Set in the early 1920s, British author McPherson's refreshing debut introduces the captivating Dandy Gilver, a well-to-do woman caught between Victorian mores and the exhilarating sense of freedom that followed WWI. 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. Dandy's inquiry into the missing jewels takes a tragic turn after the Duffys' younger daughter, Cara, dies in a fire in a Galloway seaside cottage. Dandy joins forces with Cara's fiancé, Alec Osborne, and the two are soon on the trail of long-hidden family secrets and a brutal murder. 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. The unusual conclusion leaves some provocative loose ends that point the way to a sequel.