Author: Fran Stewart
Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9780425270318
Berkley Publishing
294 Pages
$7.72; $3.99 Amazon
March 3, 2015
⭐⭐
While on a transatlantic hunt for some authentic wares to sell at her shop, Peggy is looking to forget her troubles by digging through the hidden treasures of the Scottish Highlands. With so many enchanting items on sale, Peggy can't resist buying a beautiful old tartan shawl. But once she wraps it around her shoulders, she discovers that her purchase comes with a hidden feature: the specter of a fourteenth-century Scotsman.
Unsure if her Highland fling was real or a product of an overactive imagination, Peggy returns home to Vermont -- only to find the dead body of her ex-boyfriend on the floor of her shop. When the police chief arrests Peggy's cousin based on some incriminating evidence, Peggy enlists her haunting Scottish companion to help figure out who really committed the crime -- before anyone else gets kilt...
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Peggy Winn owns The Scotshop, a Scottish store in the small tourist town of Hamlin, Vermont. When she discovers her boyfriend cheating, she dumps him on the spot. Then she continues with a planned visit to Scotland, where she's visited shops before to find treasures to sell back in America. But this time she finds another shop with the same name as hers -- and inside finds a lovely, ancient shawl that she is urged to purchase by the women at the shop. But when she wears it later on a picnic with the hosts of her B&B, the shawl conjures up the ghost of a fourteenth-century Scotsman, complete with full kilt attire and dagger.
Realizing she's stuck with him, she names him Dirk since she can't pronounce his given names, and once back in America she urges him to keep quiet so people won't think she's talking to herself. But when she finds the body of her ex-boyfriend buried under a bookcase after what appears to be a break-in, there's more than a ghost to worry about. Now her cousin is arrested for the crime, and if she doesn't find out what the burglar was looking for and who really killed her ex, her cousin might be sent away for good...
I really wanted to like this story because I love stories with ghosts in them, and there are several very good ones out there. Unfortunately, this isn't one of them. It started out with promise in Scotland, but when they got back to Vermont it steadily went downhill. More so because of the many unanswered questions throughout the book (and here you're going to have spoilers, so do not read on if you haven't read the book): Why are there spiders all around Dirk? What is the reason for this in the book? Why was the police chief so obnoxious toward Peggy? Do they have a past? Why was Mason killed? This was never explained. Why could women see Dirk but not men? This was just ridiculous. And last, why was Mason blackmailing someone?
I know that there are two more books in this series, but I won't be reading either of them because of this. I abhor cliffhangers and things that aren't explained, it makes me feel cheated as a reader. I just felt that I wasted my time on this book. Sorry.
More on Fran Stewart's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/fran-stewart/
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