By Catriona MacPherson
Bury Her Deep is the second book in the Dandy Gilver Series. Dandy Gilver is a wealthy farmer’s wife or so it appears to the outside world but the war and economy has altered their financial situation and Dandy has found a source for earning a little pin money. She has become a detective a secret she keeps from her husband Hugh by allowing him to think she is acting the society wife doing her husband proud by representing him in charities and the like. Dandy is approached by Hugh’s good friend and minister to solve the mystery of the Dark Stranger in a small village. The minister believes that the newly formed Women’s rural institute maybe the target of these attacks as all the woman have been at these meetings. The villagers like a lot of small villages keep to themselves and do not welcome strangers and their questions. Dandy has difficult getting to the heart of the mystery as the women who were attacked don’t want to even discuss it. When they do some of them raise the spectre of witchcraft being involved, Dandy dismisses it but then has to ask herself if she really has all the facts.
While the story of this book sounds interesting and compelling, I had trouble delving into this book simply because I could not like the protagonist Dandy. I found Dandy an unlikeable character and because of some of the dialogue being in Olde English found myself struggling to understand what was happening in the book.That said Ms. Macpherson is an interesting writer and I may try another in the series and see if I like that better.
*** 3 stars out of five
