Helpful Score: 4
This was a very good cozy mystery. I found the heroine and most of the characters to be very likeable and realistic. The detective was the only one I did not find ot be likeable but I guess that was what the author wanted. I would definitely recommend this book to cozy lovers looking for something new from a new author.
Helpful Score: 3
My biggest complaint about this book is that it ended very abruptly. I turned the last page fully expecting to see at least another paragraph or chapter, but that wasn't the case. Another small complaint is that I figured out who the bad guy was very early on and it was starting to get annoying that they weren't figuring it out in the book. But, overall, I really enjoyed it. I will definitely read the next book in the series, no doubt about it. I hope the characters evolve a little and that should make for a very good sequel. :)
Helpful Score: 2
Super new series by Kathy Lynn Emerson's nom de plume. A cozy Maine town is the setting and the main character (a former professional Scottish dancer) comes home to re-think her life after a career-ending injury. Just enough Highland lore to tantalize the reader, and an ending full of surprises. I'm looking forward to "Scone Cold Dead" and the further adventures of Amaryllis Rosalie MacCrimmon.
Helpful Score: 1
The author obviously enjoys the Scottish trivia, but her writing is cliche and stilted. Towards the end it appeared that she was running out of ideas to finish the book and rapidly had the killer confess when confronted. I also had the killer picked out the first time they appeared in the text.
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this first mystery in the new series by Kaitlyn Dunnett (pen name of Kathy Lynn Emerson). Liss MacCrimmon has returned to her small Maine hometown of Moosetookalook to mind her Aunt Margaret's shop which sells all things Scottish. But when Liss finds the body of her elderly neighbor in the store's stockroom, she finds herself as the police's prime suspect. I really liked the characters in this story and look forward to reading the rest of this series.
The main character Liss is returning to her childhood home and getting reacquainted with friends and neighbors while helping her aunt for a few weeks. The murder of a long-time resident keeps Liss busy as both a suspect and an amateur snoop. Characters are well described and the author isn't afraid to delve into touchy family relationships. Everyone is suspect - with good reason.
As the owner of a Scottish shop, I found the author had a good grasp of Scottish festival and items found in a Scottish shop. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
From Publishers Weekly
This promising first in a new series from the pseudonymous Dunnett, aka Kathy Lynn Emerson (Face Down Beside St. Anne's Well), introduces spunky Liss MacCrimmon, a 20-something dancer forced into early retirement by a knee injury. Adrift and depressed, Liss returns home to Moosetookalook, Maine, to help her aunt run a small store specializing in Scottish kitsch. Soon after she learns that the Scottish Emporium is in precarious financial shape, she discovers one of her former schoolteachers dead in the shop. Suspicions that Liss did the deed herself only grow when, much to Liss's shock, she turns out to be the woman's sole heir. Meanwhile, her first cousin is telling fibs about his job, neighbors gossip about sparks flying between Liss and her old buddy Dan, and a shady real estate developer may be using underhanded tricks to snap up local properties. Strong local color and a surprise ending will make this a hit with the cozy crowd. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Product Description
As a professional Scottish dancer, Liss MacCrimmon has performed strathsprays and reels, jigs and Highland flings until a knee injury cuts her career short. Returning to her hometown of Moosetookalook, Maine, she decides to help her aunt run her Scottish emporium. But when murder rears its ugly head in the idyllic, quiet village, Liss will have to add sleuthing to her repertoire...
Liss hasn't been in Moosetookalook in over ten years, but the quaint little town, nestled in the hilly terrain of western Maine, looks exactly as she remembers it. Only home a day before her aunt takes off on a tour of Scotland, Liss mans the emporium's booth at the annual Western Maine Highland Games. There she gets reacquainted with some old friends and new local characters, including an obnoxious real estate agent and his spoiled girlfriend who insists on ordering a custom-made kilt sewn from a plaid called the Flower of Scotland.
Liss knows a sale is a sale and returns to the emporium that night exhausted yet happy. But her bliss soon turns to dread when she finds the dead body of her aunt's nosy neighbor, Amanda Norris, under a bolt of the Flower of Scotland fabric in the stock room. And if things weren't bad enough, the state police hone in on Liss as the prime suspect.
With the help of Dan Ruskin, a neighbor and former high school classmate, Liss begins her own investigation that uncovers secrets about the residents of Moosetookalook-secrets she wished had stayed buried. Now Liss will have to do some fancy footwork to prove she's innocent while avoiding becoming the killer's next victim...
This promising first in a new series from the pseudonymous Dunnett, aka Kathy Lynn Emerson (Face Down Beside St. Anne's Well), introduces spunky Liss MacCrimmon, a 20-something dancer forced into early retirement by a knee injury. Adrift and depressed, Liss returns home to Moosetookalook, Maine, to help her aunt run a small store specializing in Scottish kitsch. Soon after she learns that the Scottish Emporium is in precarious financial shape, she discovers one of her former schoolteachers dead in the shop. Suspicions that Liss did the deed herself only grow when, much to Liss's shock, she turns out to be the woman's sole heir. Meanwhile, her first cousin is telling fibs about his job, neighbors gossip about sparks flying between Liss and her old buddy Dan, and a shady real estate developer may be using underhanded tricks to snap up local properties. Strong local color and a surprise ending will make this a hit with the cozy crowd. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Product Description
As a professional Scottish dancer, Liss MacCrimmon has performed strathsprays and reels, jigs and Highland flings until a knee injury cuts her career short. Returning to her hometown of Moosetookalook, Maine, she decides to help her aunt run her Scottish emporium. But when murder rears its ugly head in the idyllic, quiet village, Liss will have to add sleuthing to her repertoire...
Liss hasn't been in Moosetookalook in over ten years, but the quaint little town, nestled in the hilly terrain of western Maine, looks exactly as she remembers it. Only home a day before her aunt takes off on a tour of Scotland, Liss mans the emporium's booth at the annual Western Maine Highland Games. There she gets reacquainted with some old friends and new local characters, including an obnoxious real estate agent and his spoiled girlfriend who insists on ordering a custom-made kilt sewn from a plaid called the Flower of Scotland.
Liss knows a sale is a sale and returns to the emporium that night exhausted yet happy. But her bliss soon turns to dread when she finds the dead body of her aunt's nosy neighbor, Amanda Norris, under a bolt of the Flower of Scotland fabric in the stock room. And if things weren't bad enough, the state police hone in on Liss as the prime suspect.
With the help of Dan Ruskin, a neighbor and former high school classmate, Liss begins her own investigation that uncovers secrets about the residents of Moosetookalook-secrets she wished had stayed buried. Now Liss will have to do some fancy footwork to prove she's innocent while avoiding becoming the killer's next victim...
First in series...Liss MacCrimmon returns to Moosetookalook when a serious knee injury ends her career as a dancer. She has come to help in her aunt's Scottish shop. When a nosy neighbor is found dead in the store, Liss naturally becomes the prime suspect . I was disappointed how narrow minded the chief investigator was. He decided that Liss was guilty and he seemed to do very little investigation to the other potential culprits. I found that very disconcerting and I hope, unrealistic....I figured out who dun it, but overall I found the book enjoyable, and I will read the next in the series....
First book that I have read in this series. I would read more of this cozy.
