Kilt Dead (Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries) [Paperback]

Kaitlyn Dunnett (Author)

Book Description

Series: Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries | Publication Date: July 1, 2008

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 neighbour, 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 neighbour 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 text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

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 Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Kensington; Reprint edition (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758216440
• ISBN-13: 978-0758216441
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #431,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars delightful cozy, August 4, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kilt Dead (Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Liss MacCrimmon is one of the few people who are ecstatically happy with her career. She is a professional dancer in the touring how Strathsprey and she knows every Scottish dance and each number in the show to perfection. Tragedy strikes when she injures a leg and the doctor tells her she can never dance again. She is depressed because her leg will work normally only as long she puts no extraordinary stress like dancing on it.

She returns to her child home of Moosetookalook, Maine where her aunt owns a store selling Scottish products. On the day she arrives, her aunt leaves for Scotland and Liss in charge during the Maine Highland Games. When Liss returns home from the fair, she finds the dead body of her third grade teacher, Amanda Norris in the stock room. The autopsy shows she was killed and state police officer LaVerdiere thinks Liss is the only suspect. Refusing to wait around to be arrested, Liss looks for other possible suspects, not knowing her actions could get her killed.

KILT DEAD is a delightful cozy, the first in what this reviewer hopes is a long running series. The heroine is feisty, determined, and strong-willed; when she believes she is right, she obstinately goes her own way and doesn't listen to the advice of others. The setting is a small quaint town in Maine (capital of American cozies) with a support cost of wonderful quaint characters. Mystery readers will welcome Kaitlyn Dunnett as a fresh author whose protagonist provides the audience with a delightful opening act.

Harriet Klausner

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reviewed by Barb Radmore, August 2, 2007

By 

Front Street Reviews www.frontstreetreviews.com - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kilt Dead (Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Liss MacCrimmon is devastated when a knee injury ends her dream job as a Scottish dancer. With her future up in the air, she returns to her hometown, the small Moosetookalook, Maine. Her aunt has asked her to take care of her business while she is gone, a Scottish store. But instead of the relaxing refuge she hoped to find, Liss is caught up in murder. She discovers the body of her elderly neighbor in the storage room of the shop. It is hard to imagine who would want to kill the retired third grade teacher, even if she is by far the nosiest woman in town. Liss is drawn into the investigation to clear her name by finding the real killer.

Ms Dunnett is an experienced, professional author. She weaves the tartan plaid of suspense into a bolt of solid mystery bound by a strong character thread. Her setting is detailed and realistic (as makes sense since she she just has to step outside her door to see matching surroundings.) The small world of rural Maine lends itself well to the cozy genre. This is the first of what should prove to be a long running Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries. Ms Dunnett has created Liss as a character that can develop over time; she lays the foundation for Liss to grow and progress without skimping on her character's strength in this debut. First books in a planned series can often feel like just an advertisement for the future. Ms Dunnett has not done that, she has written a solid mystery that could stand alone if desired. She paces the action with a structured rhythm that draws the reader into the story from the introduction to the truly surprise ending without pause.

The second and third books in the series will be Scone Cold Dead in August, 2008 and A Wee Christmas Homicide in October, 2009. It will be interesting to see what is planned for Liss in the future. The character is clearly enough defined in Kilt Dead that readers will care what happens to her. There is also enough romance left hanging to leave the curious reader dangling and coming back for more.

Kaitlyn Dunnett is best knows as Kathy Lynn Emerson, the author of the successful series of "Face Down in' historical mystery series, and many other works of fiction.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the Strongest Debut, March 25, 2009

By 

Mark Baker (Santa Clarita, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Kilt Dead (Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries) (Paperback)

After a career ending knee injury, Scottish folk dancer Liss MacCrimmon has returned home to Moosetookalook, Maine to run her aunt's store, the Moosetookalook Scottish Emporium. It's only a temporary assignment since her aunt just needs the help while she is gone for three weeks. But Liss hopes this will give her time to figure out where to go with her life.

Her aunt has just left for her trip when Liss finds Mrs. Norris dead in the stock room. Mrs. Norris had been Liss' third grade teacher. The old woman was a bit nosey, but she certainly wasn't a danger. Or was she? When the police focus only on Liss as the suspect, she feels she must catch the real killer or do time for a crime she didn't commit. But why would someone want to kill Mrs. Norris?

Based on the title alone, I wanted to like this book. And I certainly did like the characters. Liss may be facing some uncertainty in her life, but she is still a strong woman. The potential boyfriend is another strong character as are another couple supporting characters introduced.

The problem comes in the plot. It's just too shallow and slow. I honestly would go pages where I felt like hardly anything was going on. Things definitely picked up in the final 80 pages, and I had missed several clues that pointed to the killer.

Will I give the next book in the series a try? Most likely. But it won't be as high on my reading list as I had hoped.