Review by Booklist Review
The residents of Inversgail, Scotland, are excited to welcome noted environmentalist and writer Daphne Wood as author-in-residence. However, Daphne manages to insult the town, libraries, environmental restorationists, and others with her downright rudeness and capricious ways, causing one resident to label her a bampot (idiot). Janet; her daughter, Tallie; Christine; and Summer who together own Yon Bonnie Books as well as the associated tearoom and bed-and-breakfast host Daphne for a book signing at the store, and when a tourist is murdered outside their favorite pub, Daphne wants to join the four of them in conducting an investigation of the crime. The quartet, who had previously helped solve a murder (Plaid and Plagiarism, 2016), decline to become involved until Daphne, too, is murdered, apparently by a poisoned scone from their tearoom. They put forward various theories and disprove them one by one until, with a final plot twist, they uncover a killer, almost losing their lives in the process. Details of small-town life on the western coast of Scotland enliven this smooth-flowing cozy, populated by a cast of engaging characters.--O'Brien, Sue Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The deaths of an author and a tourist pose complications for the operators of Yon Bonnie Books in MacRae's lively follow-up to 2016's Plaid and Plagiarism. The bookstore and café partners-motherly Janet Marsh, sharp ex-lawyer Tallie (Janet's daughter), imperious Christine Robertson, and gifted baker Summer Jacobs-have their hands full when environmental author and former resident Daphne Wood returns to the Highland town of Inversgail with a long list of demands for her accommodations and her signings. Daphne alienates much of the town through her rude and cruel behavior as well as her fixation on an American tourist who died outside a local pub, so it is little surprise when her body is found. The bookshop investigators wonder whether her death might relate to that of the tourist, the disappearance of a high school teacher who moonlights as a photographer, and the members of a mysterious secret society. An array of neighbors, such as a clueless mystery writer who styles himself a supersleuth, adds color, humor, and even wisdom to the proceedings. Cozy fans are in for a treat. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Janet Marsh, the co-owner of Yon Bonnie Books in Inversgail, Scotland, having previously solved a murder in Plaid and Plagiarism, is pushed to investigate once again by the local author-in-residence when a man is killed outside the local pub. Daphne Wood, author and environmental activist, once lived in Inversgail before immigrating to Canada. Now, as she digs around, she irritates almost everyone in town, demands special treatment, and stirs up trouble. When Daphne ends up dead, poisoned by scones from the bookshop's tea room, Janet and her friends realize they may be the next targets of a killer. VERDICT With its cast of appealing amateur sleuths and quirky town residents, this leisurely paced mystery will attract cozy fans of Paige Shelton's "Scottish Bookshop" mysteries, as well as lovers of biblio-mysteries by Carolyn Hart or Vicki Delany.-Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A second murder mystery for four intrepid Highland sleuths.Janet Marsh, her daughter, Tallie, Tallie's friend Summer Jacobs, and Janet's friend Christine Robertson have moved from Illinois to the Scottish coastal town of Inversgail. They run a bookshop, an attached bakery, and an upstairs BB and are active in local affairswhich is why they're involved in plans to welcome Daphne Wood, who will spend the next three months as author-in-residence. Daphne, like Christine, grew up in Inversgail, but she's lived a hermitlike existence for many years in the Canadian wilderness with only her Pekingese, Rachel Carson, for company. Writer and dog are much more demanding than Gillian Bennett, the high school English head who arranged the visit, had expected. Somehow Janet and company find Daphne a house after their original choice is foiled by a no-pets rule. Unfortunately, Daphne's rudeness and sudden changes of attitude antagonize the villagers despite her impressive talents as a writer and environmentalist. When a young American visitor who had stayed at the BB is found murdered outside their favorite pub, the ladies have no plans to get involved despite their experience helping the police solve another murder (Plaid and Plagiarism, 2016). But Daphne insists they would make a great crime-solving team. Daphne's sleuthing efforts introduce her to many of the locals, a few of whom remember her girlhood, but she makes so many new enemies that when she's found dead, the suspects are almost too many to count, leaving the four friends no choice but to confront the profusion of likely killers.Enough motives and suspects to provide plenty of twists and turns, but once again MacRae draws out her tale too long to sustain interest till the denouement. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
