Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Dandy Gilver is back for her fifteenth outting and we are off the exotic Dundee. Dandy is sent to warn off a Punch and Judy man who is using puppets that look like characters in a Dundee comic strip. Taking her ladies (her maid, the cook and her dresser) for a day out Dandy thinks she can get this simple job done without her boy Friday Alec who is busy a wooing an English rose but when it turns into a murder investigation things get serious and the pair set out to solve the case.
This is classic Dandy fare we get a tour of 1930’s Dundee and St Andrews and a potted history of D C Thomson as well as a look at Punch and Judy shows and the demise of variety theatre. It’s McPherson’s writing that brings me back. Dandy is very likeable but she’s not insipid she can be sharp and biting and some of my favourite moments are Dandy in the domestic setting especially Dandy and Hugh getting a bit torrid and then avoiding each other for the next week. Totally relatable.
As for the mystery itself, well it was a bit convoluted and quite obvious in parts but the characters are strong enough to carry it. It also lead to a nice moral dilemma at the end. I do love a moral dilemma.

Being offered a copy of The Mirror Dance prompted me to try for the third time to read After the Armistice Ball, the first in the Dandy Gilver series. And it really was third time lucky for me. I enjoyed it so much that I raced through the other thirteen books coming before The Mirror Dance and soon arrived, breathless, at it.

The Mirror Dance is set in the late 1930s and, as with the other books in the series, captures the historical setting perfectly. Catriona McPherson's research is applied lightly however and never distracts from the story. Dandy and Alec are appealing characters and the mystery is puzzling without being opaque.

I’ve read some of the Dandy Gilver mysteries by Catriona McPherson, set in the 1920s and 1930s Scotland. The Mirror Dance is the 15th book. The last one I read was the 6th, a few years ago now, so when I saw it on NetGalley I requested it. I was pleased to find, that although I’d missed so many of the books in the series, it’s easy to read as a standalone.

It begins on an August Bank Holiday weekend in 1937, when Dandy (short for Dandelion Dahlia!), a private detective, receives a phone call from Miss Sandy Bissett, a magazine publisher in Dundee. She asks Dandy to go to Dudhope Park to warn the Punch and Judy man there that he is infringing copyrighted property as he is using two of the magazine’s cartoon characters, Rosie Cheeke and Freckles in his show. So, the next day, Bank Holiday Monday, together with her female staff, Grant, her lady’s maid, Becky her housemaid and Mrs Tilling, her cook, Dandy goes to Dundee to see the puppet show, looking out for the appearance of the magazine characters.

But during the show, the puppet Scaramouche extended his neck upwards, unfolding from pleats like an accordion and then stayed still like a tableau. The children lost interest and the adults were grumbling. When Dandy and Grant went to the back of the Punch and Judy tent they found the puppeteer slumped dead behind the scene, with his throat cut. The police are called but Dandy and her partner, Alec take it upon themselves to investigate the murder, an apparently impossible murder, with no signs of the murderer, and no one knew the puppeteer’s name.

I liked the setting. There is a good sense of location in Dundee in the 1930s, when the effects of the First World War were still lingering and the threat of another war was on the horizon. This is a convoluted murder mystery, where there is more than meets the eye. There is a lot of detail about the publishing industry and the theatrical world of the time which was interesting, but overall the amount of detail of everyday life, with all its sights and smells, slowed the book down too much for me.

There are several complications, red herrings and apparent impossibilities and I was puzzled about the relevance of a murder 50 years earlier in the same park, of an earlier Punch and Judy man. I became a bit lost in the detail about the number of women suspects Dandy and Alec consider – there were two, and then perhaps there were three. Who were they and what was the motive for the murder? Gradually that became clear, but I got exasperated at the number of times Dandy and the others went over and over what was happening, working out how it could have happened and why. Although some of it is confusing and I hadn’t worked out the identity of the murderer some of it seemed so obvious to me that I couldn’t see why it took them so long to work it out. So, although I enjoyed the actual murder mystery and the mirror dance aspect, where everything is turned on its head, I did not enjoy how it was told.

My thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for my review copy.

Set in Scotland this is my first instalment in Catriona McPherson's series featuring Dandy Gilver. In this novel, it's early August in the holiday season and kites are being flown, children are playing hopscotch and a group of Dundee townsfolk is gathering for the Punch and Judy show. Dandy Gilver has been alerted to a possible case of plagiarism and is watching the proceedings and drinking tea. In the intermission, Dandy goes to speak to the puppeteer but finds a body seeping blood, his neck slashed.

Catriona McPherson's writing is wonderfully evocative of a bygone era and totally drew me in. Grandmother and sleuth Dandy Gilver lives on a country estate in Scotland. She and her male, loyal friend and neighbour, Alec Osborne have had success in solving mysteries with some assistance from her busy husband Hugh and her maid, Grant. I took great enjoyment from spending a few hours in the pockets of Dandy, trying to look for and decipher clues, amongst the red herrings and misdirections. Full of dry wit, although The Mirror Dance is book fifteen in the series, I found it a great read as a stand-alone. I loved Bunty, Dandy's dalmatian, too!

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

I was at something of a disadvantage as I read this book not realising it was part of a series, and I felt I would have benefited from knowing more of the back story, but I loved the tone, humour and pace and will definitely seek out others in the series

This book was my introduction to this series, but I was able to get stuck in straight away. There is no doubt an added richness from following the series from its start, but the degree of enjoyment is not affected in the slightest. This is a charming and clever book.
I like how it’s a mix of factual setting in the publishing industry in Dundee, and fiction. And there’s another element too. Stories set in this era always have an added poignancy. People are so optimistic after pulling their lives and society back together after the first world war. The reader knows that everything is about to come tumbling down again. The genteel ways of the upper middle class and above, with their households of servants and gardeners, are about to end forever. This is the atmosphere that emerges in this beautiful book.
Dandy is a likeable, energetic heroine, ably assisted by Alex with whom she has a slightly nuanced rapport, and her indomitable maid Grant. Together they wade into this particular mystery with enthusiasm and persistence.
The plot is original and clever, and the story is absorbing and immensely enjoyable.

This is the second book I read in this series and thoroughly enjoyed it.
It's a complex, humorous, engrossing and highly entertaining mystery that kept me hooked.
The plot is tightly knitted, fast paced and very complex with plenty of red herring, twists and turns.
I was happy to catch up with the characters and I found them fleshed out and likable.
The historical background is vivid and the solid mystery kept me guessing and I was surprised the the solution.
I can't wait to read the next book in this series, recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I have read quite a few books in this series, with Dandy Gilver leading and whilst I enjoyed the latest book, I do not like how Dandy is acting! More of that later......

Dandy is asked, with her sidekick Alec, to investigate a case of copyright infringement in Dundee ( I never thought I would say those words in a sentence!)

Dandy sets off with her trusty female house staff to investigate a Punch and Judy 'Professor'. Obviously it being Scotland in the 1930s (or anytime, I can say that as I live in Scotland!) and a bank holiday, it is raining, but being stalwarts they set off to the local park to investigate what the Punch and Judy show may bring.

A little while into the show, the perfomance stops, nothing moves, Dandy goes round the back to investigate and finds the body of Bert Mackie, the puppeteer 'Professor'

As always this is a rip roaring escapade, very easy to read and as always you have to suspend some disbelief but that's what makes these so enjoyable. I did guess the ending but not the why!

As to Dandy, very disappointed that she seems to have become very waspish towards Alec's lady friends, especially if he seems to be getting serious about them. Dandy needs to remember that she is a grandmother with a devoted husband! I hope this gets nipped in the bud, as didn't seem to fit in with the normal Dandy I have previously read. Good to see Grant getting a bigger character. Look forward to seeing her grow even more.

On the whole an enjoyable read.

I’ve read a few books in this series before and really enjoyed them. Catriona McPherson’s writing is so wonderfully evocative of a bygone era and never fails to draw me in. ‘The Mirror Dance’ is another excellent story, this time set amongst the publishing houses of Dundee. Dandy Gilver is once again on the case, and with her sidekick Alex Osbourne and razor-sharp maid, Grant, she becomes embroiled in a puzzling mystery.

I loved that the story was set in the publishing industry and that we got to imagine what it may have been like in the heyday of Dundee’s famous newspapers and magazines. Dandy’s dogged investigation threw up some red herrings and twists and turns that I did not see coming. The ambience was perfectly done, the descriptions exquisite. The story was inventive and fascinating and the perfect cosy mystery. Thoroughly enjoyable.

I was given this ARC to review.

It was the August Bank Holiday weekend and, as so often happened, it was cold enough to have the fire lit and Bunty the Dalmation wasn't inclined to leave it to keep Dandy Gilver warm on the sofa. The thought of work was almost cheering when Dandy took the call from Sandy Bissett in Dundee. She was the publisher of a magazine and had been told that the man running the Punch and Judy show in the local park had used copies of two of her cartoon characters - Rosie Cheek and her sister Freckle - to drum up some local interest in his show. Sandy Bissett's request was simple: she wanted Gilver and Osborne to warn the man about infringement of copyright - and Dandy and Alex would be cheaper than employing a solicitor to do the same job.

Dandy's solution was simple: she would take the female staff from Gilverton on a Bank Holiday Monday trip to Dundee to see the show and she'd have a quiet word with the Punchinello. There was no need to involve Alex Osborne who, Dandy suspected, would be entertaining his new lady friend, Poppy Lanville. So the next day, Dandy, Delia Grant, Becky the head housemaid and Mrs Tilling set of for Dundee. It was still bitterly cold but the afternoon could have been pleasant except Dandy and Grant discovered the Punchinello in his tent with his throat cut. Gilver and Osborne were still employed by Sandy Bissett over the matter of the infringement of copyright but now it seemed that they were also investigating a murder - although that was not quite how the local police saw it.

It's cosy crime but at the top end of the genre. The characterisation is excellent - and you don't even need to have read earlier books in the series to get a feel for the players. The dynamic between Dandy and Alex is excellent: there's some real chemistry there, kept carefully under wraps, but they have complementary strengths which make the partnership more than the sum of the parts. I liked Grant too. She's almost too much to cope with but she contributes a great deal to the investigation.

There's a great sense of location for Dundee - and that part of Scotland - in the 1930s. It's not prosperous and there seems to be a lot of belt-tightening going on. Even Gilverton is not exempt although most of the economies seem to have fallen on Dandy rather than Hugh Gilver. It's the plot you want to know about, though, isn't it? What starts as a mystery as to how someone could have got into the tent to commit the murder and then got away again without being seen turns into a very meaty and complex plot: you're going to need to be in the wide-awake club to keep up with it. I read it a lot more quickly than I expected and I'd like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag have a review copy.

For more cosy crime from the nineteen-thirties, we can recommend Murder in the Belltower (A Miss Underhay Mystery) by Helena Dixon although Dandy and Alec make for a rather better and more memorable read.

Though this is one of a series of books, you get into it and the characters right away . With humour and a tad contrived these cosy crime genre books have built up quite a following. Not intellectually challenging the story pleasingly passes an idle moment .

The Mirror Dance is my first encounter with Dandy Gilver, even though this is book 15 of a 1930s mystery series.

The story is told from Dandy Gilver's point of view, and while she does sometimes share thoughts and speech which are a little wordy, it doesn't detract from the storyline, which is satisfying and quite deliciously complex.

Even though the voice of the narrator, Dandy, gives a few hints that all is not as it seems, I genuinely didn't work out what had happened until it was revealed at the end.

A really enjoyable and entertaining read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my review copy.

2020 has been the year that resurrected my love of the historical mystery aka the cosy mystery. In my teens and 20s I devoured some of the greats: Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer, Dorothy L Sayers etc. If there was a member of the British aristocracy solving a crime then I loved it. Time passed, my tastes changed, and TBH they all started to feel a bit same-same. Then 2020 happened and suddenly all I wanted to read (apparently) were historical detective stories. Ashley Weaver, Allison Montclair and Anna Lee Huber appeared on my radar. I think the stylistic covers drew me in to start with. Anyhoo, a long-winded way of explaining why I requested an ARC of this book, despite it being the 15th book in the series!

Dandy Gilver lives on a country estate in Scotland. A 50-something year old woman with a husband and adult children, in fact a grandmother. She and a (younger) male neighbour called Alec have had some success in solving mysteries with, I gather, some assistance from her husband Hugh and her lady's maid Grant. One sleepy Sunday afternoon Dandy receives a call from a magazine owner in Dundee asking her to intervene with a Punch and Judy show which is using copyrighted images of their cartoon characters in its act.

A rainy Bank Holiday Monday excursion with her female employees to Dundee to see the Punch and Judy show ends in tragedy when Dandy discovers his body, foully murdered (as they say). An impossible murder, with an invisible murderer in front of an observant audience, a plethora of red herrings and impossibilities, a link to a similar murder 50 years earlier and a behind-the-scenes look at the art of the theatre.

I came to this book fresh and, although it is the 15th book in a series, I found it easy to read as a stand-alone. I love the harking back to a different era, with different moral values, different standards and yet still an era in a state of change.

On to the mystery, I was on the right lines, I caught some of the clues, and yet I didn't guess the murderer. Satisfying, plausible, clever and ultimately satisfying. I will definitely read more of this series.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.