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ashleylm's review against another edition
4.0
She's great. Every one of her books (so far) has felt quite different in milieu, and they're always fun, but (just to be clear) not in an overly-cosy, punny, pink cover with cat and food kind of way. I'm not a huge fan of dark/morbid/gory/mean-spirited etc. (I once picked up a James Patterson on the assumption that the Woman's Murder Club would be fun, and it began with someone shooting a mother and her baby in a car park, so I threw that away).
There's nothing truly horrible here, and in fact the main mystery isn't that of a murder at all, it's a series of ... can't even call them assaults ... a series of "accosts," let's say. And all the clues are there, and she has a real go at detecting (I'm losing patience with mysteries where the protagonists don't detect, they're just there).
But start with the first if you can (no reason not to), and if you can't, it's not like (so far) these are terribly dependent on order. She's already met her Watson by now and established a bit of a reputation for solving crimes, but otherwise there are no massive differences.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
There's nothing truly horrible here, and in fact the main mystery isn't that of a murder at all, it's a series of ... can't even call them assaults ... a series of "accosts," let's say. And all the clues are there, and she has a real go at detecting (I'm losing patience with mysteries where the protagonists don't detect, they're just there).
But start with the first if you can (no reason not to), and if you can't, it's not like (so far) these are terribly dependent on order. She's already met her Watson by now and established a bit of a reputation for solving crimes, but otherwise there are no massive differences.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
verityw's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not quite sure what I think about this, but as I read this quite quickly (when I had it on me to read), I've given it 3*s on the basis that it was clearly very readable, even if I wasn't entirely convinced. It does fill in some gaps in Dandy's relationships with the men in her life, but I found the mystery a bit confusing and unsatisfactory.
bananatricky's review against another edition
3.0
Our intrepid private detective Mrs Dandy Gilver is invited by one of her husband's friends the Reverend Mr Tait to his small hamlet near Fife to investigate a series of attacks on women as they leave the monthly Scottish Women's Rural Institute (SWRI or the Rural) meetings. The local police have dismissed the claims as hysteria, others claim the attacker is a spirit in thrall to the Devil, others claim it is a newcomer to the area, Jockie Christie, some wonder if it is a local man trying to prevent the Rural from meeting.
Dandy enters a region of superstition and secrets, but there doesn't seem to be any pattern to the attacks, although there seems to be a tenuous connection to the excavation of a local ancient burial chamber and the discovery of a skeleton of a young girl lying on the floor of the chamber. Half the villagers want to give her a christian burial in the churchyard, the other half fear she was a witch or other criminal and don't want her on sacred ground.
As her trusty side-kick Alec masquerades as an artist drawn to the local scenery things build to a crescendo.
I liked this least of the four books I have read in this series. I found it difficult to distinguish one farmer's wife from another and the premise was a bit fanciful, or perhaps I should say there were two plots each of which was a bit fanciful, put the two together and I was left a little underwhelmed. However, I loved the insights into the reason for a morning room (makes so much sense) and I was amused that neither Dandy nor Alec had ever made coffee in their lives!
On to the next one.
Dandy enters a region of superstition and secrets, but there doesn't seem to be any pattern to the attacks, although there seems to be a tenuous connection to the excavation of a local ancient burial chamber and the discovery of a skeleton of a young girl lying on the floor of the chamber. Half the villagers want to give her a christian burial in the churchyard, the other half fear she was a witch or other criminal and don't want her on sacred ground.
As her trusty side-kick Alec masquerades as an artist drawn to the local scenery things build to a crescendo.
I liked this least of the four books I have read in this series. I found it difficult to distinguish one farmer's wife from another and the premise was a bit fanciful, or perhaps I should say there were two plots each of which was a bit fanciful, put the two together and I was left a little underwhelmed. However, I loved the insights into the reason for a morning room (makes so much sense) and I was amused that neither Dandy nor Alec had ever made coffee in their lives!
On to the next one.
jmeston's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoy Dandy and the way the narration makes me think of Diary of a Provincial Lady with flashes of Wodehouse. Not sure about the grand (or petit) guignol plot elements.
kimmerp's review against another edition
3.0
Probably closer to a 3.25. I did like it. I think I found this, the third book, really witty and fun at times when Dandy is on her own and sort of 'thinking out loud'. I also liked some series plot points moved forward and am interested to see what is next in the series.
celiaedf12's review
4.0
(I picked this up because of the 20s style drawing on the cover, and thought the concept (upper class female detective in the 20s) might be a disappointment after reading several novels in that vein. Bury Her Deep was actually great - Dandy Gilver, the main character, living a staid middle class life in the country, is asked to visit the small town of Luckenlaw to investigate a mysterious dark stranger who accosts the women of the town as they're walking home at night. The characters are fantastic, as is the insular atmosphere of the town - while there are some creepy moments, it's mostly a light hearted and funny mystery, particularly with Dandy's sarcastic asides to the reader - I really enjoyed it.
wyvernfriend's review
3.0
Strange blend of mystery and superstition. Dandy investigates a stranger who is pouncing on ladies in the village and she's lured there by the pastor to investigate and to do a speech to the local ladies institute about budgeting. It didn't engage me like many others I've read.
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