Author: Traci Hall
Genre: Mystery
Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496739247
Kensington Cozies
304 Pages
$16.95; $9.99 Amazon
January 24, 2023
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Paislee's specialty sweater shop and yarn business Cashmere Crush, in the charming Scottish village of Nairn, is closed today for a special occasion. Her bonnie bestie Lydia is moments away from walking down the aisle of the church at Old Nairn Kirk to wed Corbin Smythe. Gramps and Paislee's eleven-year-old son Brody are seated in the pews with the other guests -- the only family not in attendance is their black Scottish terrier Wallace. As matron of honor, Paislee is at her friend's side when Lydia lets out a frantic cry. The Luckenbooth brooch her betrothed gave her is missing. A traditional Scottish love token, the gold heirloom has been in his family for generations and not wearing it could bring bad luck -- according to the superstitious Smythes.
But the real misfortune falls on a distraught cousin who suddenly disrupts the ceremony and dies with the brooch in her hand. The Smythes insist it's the curse. But Paislee much broach the subject of...murder. And was the intended victim the guest --- or the bride? Only Paislee can determine who to pin the murder on...
✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽
Paislee Shaw is at the Kirk, helping her best friend Lydia prepare for the latter's wedding. She's radiant in a silver wedding gown, and the only thing missing is the Luckenbooth brooch that her fiancé Corbin gave her. It is considered good luck in the Smythe family to wear it on one's wedding day, and she's frantic to find it.
But no amount of searching will recover it, and Lydia decides that if she wears another, a bit hidden by her flowers, no one might notice. Unfortunately, before Lydia can go down the aisle, a Smythe cousin emerges from the bathroom and promptly falls down the church stairs and dies. Now the family insists the wedding be postponed; and worse, some members make no bones about disliking Lydia.
To top things off, Paislee's grandfather is concerned for his missing son Craigh, and the police think he knows where Craigh is, even as Grandpa insists he hasn't seen him. Paislee has problems of her own, not the least of them her growing affection for Brody's principal and DI Zeffer.
Will anything get resolved? Will Lydia ever get married? Will the 'curse' be lifted? And most of all, will Paislee find a killer who might try to do her best friend in again...
This is the fourth book in the series and I have read them all. They have delighted me each one. In the first, I was a bit annoyed at the Scottish prose, but now I zipped through the book (I usually read a book a day) and felt almost like I was a local. It's an interesting twist that I was speaking Scottish in my head (ha).
The plot is so intriguing that I just could not put this book down. Having grown fond of the characters: Paislee, Grandpa, Brody, Lydia and even Wallace -- that I wanted them to have the best, and Lydia in this book seemed so sad and distraught for awhile that I actually felt like punching Corbin's stepmother. (You probably will, too).
There are many suspects as to whom the murderer is; the Smythe clan is tight, but there are many off them, and none of them are willing to give each other up. Paislee has her work cut out for her trying to figure it out...even if DI Payne is telling her to stay out of it each time she gives him another clue (no surprise there!) And Zeffer is on the hunt for someone so he's in and out of the story, but you see what is happening beneath the surface easily (and I won't tell you what).
The entire story is full of mystery, machinations, and secrets. It is well-told and has many twists, with the threads pulling in different directions. Yet when the ending comes and the murderer is revealed, we once again realize that no matter the intentions, you cannot understand the mind of a killer. I really loved this book and look forward to the next in the series. Highly recommended.
I received an advance copy from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Traci Hall's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/traci-hall/
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