Dorothy Dunnett, Ibiza Surprise

Lisa Hopkins (Sheffield Hallam University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.3: Scottish Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Gina Lyle (University of York), J. Derrick McClure (University of Aberdeen), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1970

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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The second Johnson Johnson book was published in 1970, between books four and five of the Lymond series,

Pawn in Frankincense

(1969) and

The Ringed Castle

(1971). Originally titled

Dolly and the Cookie Bird

, it was renamed along with the rest of the Dolly books, in this case as

Ibiza Surprise

. Its heroine and narrator is aristocratic Sarah Cassells, whose father, the louche, alcoholic Lord Forsey of Pinner, has been found dead in mysterious circumstances in Ibiza. Superficially it looks like suicide, but when the flat Sarah shares with her friend Flo is burgled and she receives a letter purporting to be from her father but addressing her by a pet-name he never used, she grows suspicious. At the funeral she meets Tony Lloyd, father of an old schoolfriend, and when she discovers that her…

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1540 words

Citation: Hopkins, Lisa. "Ibiza Surprise". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 June 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=42079, accessed 08 July 2025.]

Dorothy Dunnett, Ibiza Surprise

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