From Publishers Weekly
Daheim's enjoyable 23rd B&B mystery (after 2006's
Saks and Violins) takes Judith McMonigle Flynn, her cousin Serena Renie Jones and their husbands to a remote town in Scotland. The idea is to get away from the stresses of running an inn, and from Judith's pesky habit of stumbling over corpses and solving murders, but when a new Scottish acquaintance mysteriously dies, Judith can't help poking around. Why would anyone kill Harry Gibbs? Perhaps his wife, now twice widowed, had developed a romantic relationship with someone else, or perhaps a complex business deal lies behind Harry's demise. The tight-knit locals aren't always willing to open up to Judith, and soon more people die. The many eccentric Scottish characters aren't especially well developed, but the local color—fine wool, romantic castles, freely flowing whiskey and tea—is charming. This cozy makes a good vacation read, whether or not your destination is Scotland.
(Aug.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
In this twenty-third Bed-and-Breakfast novel, cousins Judith Flynn and Renie Jones travel to a restored castle in Scotland for a vacation with their husbands, who promptly go fishing. Harry Gibbs, grandson of the castle's caretakers, promptly dies in a fiery explosion, leaving his wife as the chief suspect. Judith, never one to let anyone get away with murder, decides to find the killer and, with Renie's reluctant assistance, begins investigating. Daheim describes the setting effectively and does a good job developing the cousins' characters, especially the feisty Renie, but the other players, not so well delineated, are often difficult to keep straight. Only for longtime fans of the series. O'Brien, Sue
