Catriona McPherson

(born 1965 - ) - South Queensferry, Edinburgh

Catriona McPherson

Catriona McPherson was born in South Queensferry in 1965. She claims she 'day-dreamed my way through twelve years at Queensferry Primary and High Schools constantly being told I was over-imaginative and full of nonsense'.

After finishing school, she worked in a bank for a short time, before going to university. She studied for an MA in English Language and Linguistics at Edinburgh University, and then gained a job in the local studies department at Edinburgh City Libraries, describing herself as 'far from being the ideal employee.'

She left this post after a couple of years, and went back to university to study for a PhD in semantics. During her final year she applied for an academic job, but left to begin a writing career.

It proved to be the right move as after two years of writing, and one failed attempt at a literary novel, she created the character Dandelion (Dandy) Gilver, and wrote After the Armistice Ball. The first Dandy Gilver novel was short-listed for the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger 2005 and the second was long-listed for the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year Award 2007.

These days, McPherson lives with her husband on a farm in the Galloway countryside, where she spends her time writing, gardening, swimming and running.

  • Cover scan of After The Armistice Ball
    After The Armistice Ball - Paperback
    Dandy Gilver is bored to a whimper in the spring of 1922 and a little light snooping seems like harmless fun. Before long though, the puzzle of what really happened to the Duffy diamonds after the Armistice Ball has been swept aside by a sudden, unexpected death in a lonely seaside cottage in Galloway.
  • Cover scan of The Burry Man's Day
    The Burry Man's Day - Paperback
    Summer 1923, and as the village of Queensferry prepares for the annual Ferry Fair and the walk of the Burry Man, feelings are running high.
  • Cover scan of Bury Her Deep
    Bury Her Deep - Paperback
    'Bury Her Deep' is set in Scotland shortly after the Great War and features Dandy Gilver, an upper-class amateur sleuth. The first Dandy Gilver book, 'After the Armistice Ball', was nominated for the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger of 2005.
  • Cover scan of Dandy Gilver And A Bothersome Number Of Corpses

    £16.99
    Dandy Gilver And A Bothersome Number Of Corpses - Hardback
    Before she was a detective, Dandy Gilver spent one perfect summer with the Lipscotts of Pereford. So when two of the Lipscott sisters beg her to help the third, she can hardly refuse.
  • Cover scan of Dandy Gilver And An Unsuitable Day For A Murder
    Dandy Gilver And An Unsuitable Day For A Murder - Hardback
    'Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for a Murder' is the new novel by Catriona McPherson.
  • Cover scan of Dandy Gilver And An Unsuitable Day For A Murder
    Dandy Gilver And An Unsuitable Day For A Murder - Paperback
    Danny Gilver is summoned to Dunfermline in the matter of a missing heiress. She had flounced off in a sulk over forbidden love. Suspecting elopement, Danny doesn't want to take the job of scouring guesthouses to find the little madam and her paramour. Before he can get out of it though, there's murder in the mix - or is it suicide?
  • Cover scan of Dandy Gilver And The Proper Treatment Of Bloodstains

    £19.99
    Dandy Gilver And The Proper Treatment Of Bloodstains - Hardback
    The fourth book in the CWA dagger-nominated series set in Scotland shortly after the Great War and featuring Dandy Gilver, upper class amateur sleuth.
  • Cover scan of Dandy Gilver And The Proper Treatment Of Bloodstains
    Dandy Gilver And The Proper Treatment Of Bloodstains - Paperback
    The fifth book in the CWA dagger-nominated series set in Scotland shortly after the Great War and featuring Dandy Gilver, upper class amateur sleuth.
  • Cover scan of The Winter Ground

    £19.99
    The Winter Ground - Hardback
    Amateur sleuth Dandy Gilver investigates murder when a Russian circus arrives in rural 1920s Perthshire.
  • Cover scan of The Winter Ground

    £6.79
    The Winter Ground - Paperback
    Amateur sleuth Dandy Gilver investigates murder when a Russian Circus arrives in rural 1920s Perthshire