Dandy Gilver and a Bothersome Number of Corpses

This is book #7 in Catriona McPherson's "Dandy Gilver" series of cosy Scottish mysteries -- there are 11 so far. Mrs. Dandy Gilver (nee Dandelion Dahlia Leston) is the mother of two growing boys and wife of husband Hugh Gilver, who is less than enthusiastic about her chosen profession as a detective. Nevertheless he holds down the fort when Dandy and sleuthing partner Alec Osborne must travel for their work. This time they head to Portpatrick, on the coast of Scotland to track down the youngest Lipscott sister, Fleur, at the request of the two older sisters. When Dandy was 18, she spent an idyllic summer at the Lipscott country manor and feels a sense of obligation to the family. Supposedly, Fleur is working as a schoolmistress at St. Columba's College for Young Ladies. Dandy goes undercover as Miss Gilver, English mistress, and finds that Fleur is not happy to see her, that several other school mistresses have inexplicably disappeared from the school in recent months, and that the current head mistress has some very odd priorities for running the school. Meanwhile, Alec has taken on a case of his own in town, agreeing to find the missing wife of a local shopkeeper. Not surprisingly, their cases will collide. When a woman is washed up on the town's beach, nearly unidentifiable after days in the water, Alec wonders if it's the missing wife, and Dandy fears it may be the latest missing school mistress. Set in the 1920's, the book is full of detailed settings, well-developed characters, and a twisty plot. At the end we learn the reason for Fleur's bizarre behavior, restore her to her family, find out what the devious head mistress of St. Columba's has been up to, and catch the murderer. I will certainly seek out other books in the series and perhaps also some of McPherson's stand alone novels, which sound intriguing. Just for fun, you can visit the Gilver estate online, and learn some background about the characters.