7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Series moves to Scotland and it is a hit!, September 6, 2007
This is 23rd in the series of Bed and Breakfast mysteries featuring Judith McMonigle Flynn and her cousin Renie, this one is set not in Judith's Seattle Hillside Manor B & B, but in Scotland.
Judith is aging, her hip replacement surgery has slowed her down. Her husband Joe, a retired police detective, and her cousin Renie and her husband Bill conspire to set up Judith with a surprise vacation. Her B & B is staffed with substitute innkeepers, and they are off. Judith is sure the locale is southern California, and packs accordingly.
Unfortunately it is Scotland, a stay in remote Grimloch castle due Joe's police connection, with a promise of some great fishing. The men skip off soon after arrival to fish, leaving Judith and Renie to get to know the Gibbses, the surly and unhappy couple running the castle. They venture into town to get Judith some warm clothing and meet many more eccentric and dysfunctional people, including Moira Gibbs, her husband Harry (grandson of the Gibbses working in the castle); and cranky Mrs. Gunn. Wealthy Moira Gibbs has inherited a large petroleum company, and Mrs. Gunn is running her husband's transport firm and believes in the supernatural.
Soon Philip Fordyce and his young wife Beth, owners of the castle, return early from an island vacation to stay in the private wing. Fordyce runs a company making Scotch whiskey and has a very strange young son, Chuckie, who skulks around the castle being obtuse and nasty.
An explosion on the beach signals the death of Harry Gibbs. Who could have wanted him dead? Was he meddling in his wife's Blackwell Petroleum company too much? The accidental death months ago of Moira's personal assistant, the dashing Italian Davey, is suddenly questioned when his bloodstained coat is found with a note. Then Chuckie begins hinting he knows who killed Harry. Judith and Renie have sporadic and sketchy phone contacts with their fishing spouses, until suddenly they seem to have disappeared.
Judith is her usual kind and inquisitive self; Renie as usual, is always hungry, argumentative and pushy. There are several truly hilarious episodes as they careen around the village of St. Fergna trying to ferret out the facts.
Armchair Interviews says: 23rd in series, and still doing just fine, thank you.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Confusing and just OK, November 14, 2007
I generally like Mary Daheim and her B&B novels, but this one was just OK. The plot was confusing with a lot of superfluous characters, nonessential subplots, holes, and murders that made no sense, even after everything was explained. It still is not quite clear to me, in fact, exactly why the main murder was committed. The motivation behind some of the other deaths is even murkier. The quirkiness of some of the characters, and the interesting setting -- as well as hopes for a real surprise ending -- kept me reading, but in the end, I was dissatisfied.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Too Long, November 2, 2009
This review is from: Scots on the Rocks: A Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery (Bed-And-Breakfast Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)
About 100 pages TOO LONG! 360 pages for a mystery? Ridiculous. After 250 pages I couldn't follow it and could not care less.
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