A View to a Kilt (Liss MacCrimmon Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
13th in Series
Setting – Maine
Publisher: Kensington (January 28, 2020)
Hardcover: 288 pages
ISBN-10: 149671265X
ISBN-13: 978-1496712653
Kindle ASIN: B07R8QR5FV
A series of blizzards have kept tourists away from Moosetookalook, Maine, and shoppers out of Liss MacCrimmon’s Scottish Emporium. But as warmer weather brings promises of tartan sales and new faces, melting snow reveals cold-blooded murder . . .
Liss has suddenly found herself in charge of the March Madness Mud Season Sale, a town-wide celebration created to boost the local economy during the slushy weeks of early spring. With businesses ailing after a rough winter, the pressure is on to make this year’s effort the can’t-miss-event of the season. But before Liss can get her hands dirty, her husband makes a horrifying discovery. There’s a dead man on their property, and he didn’t die of natural causes . . .
Stunned by the murder mystery developing in her own backyard, Liss receives another shock. The victim is identified as Charlie MacCrimmon, an uncle believed to have died eleven years before Liss was born. No one has seen or heard from Charlie since he went off to fight in Vietnam. What secrets could he have been hiding for so many years, and who would want to kill a man long thought to be dead?
Enlisting the help of her family, Liss uncovers more questions than answers as she delves into her uncle’s murky past. One thing is clear—before he met his end, Uncle Charlie was desperately trying to warn her about something sinister. And unless Liss can soon track down a maniacal criminal as elusive as the Loch Ness Monster, she just might be the next MacCrimmon to disappear . . .
Dollycas’s Thoughts
We arrive in Moosetookalook, Maine just before the March Madness Mud Season Sale. Our protagonist Liss MacCrimmon of MacCrimmon’s Scottish Emporium is in charge of this year’s event. With many details to iron out, she knows she is going to busy. When her husband finds, or I should say Scotties, Dandy, and Dondi find a dead body in the backyard, a body who is soon identified as Charlie MacCrimmon, an uncle who was thought to have died serving in the Vietnam war, Liss knows she is going to be way beyond busy. Where had he been all these years? Why did he come back to Moosetookalook now? Liss and her family try to answer these questions, plus another, Who killed Charlie MacCrimmon?
I love the idea of a long lost uncle. Sadly Liss never got to meet him but her mother is determined that she will find his killer, in fact, dragging her all the way to Florida to uncover the man’s past. Liss is strong and smart but her mother Vi is a force to be reckoned with. Both in solving the mystery and inserting her own event into the March Madness Mud Season Event. This being only the 3rd book in the series I have read I am still learning the family dynamics but I am glad to see these two women get closer. All the other supporting characters are well-developed too. The dialogues are crisp and realistic. This series would be the same without the pets, Scotties, Dandy and Dondi, and Glenora the cat. They always bring a smile to my face.
I was totally caught up in the mystery and the reason Charlie MacCrimmon came back to Maine when he did. I don’t want to give anything away but I was impressed the issue really involved the entire community. It included several twists and a moment that could have gone totally wrong. The author has laid out a very believable plot that kept me glued to the pages.
As a Wisconsinite, it is easy to identify with the muddy or not so muddy March weather. What a fun idea to celebrate the terrain left after the snow melts away. The events sounded like a lot of fun. Who doesn’t love slipping and sliding around with a group of neighbors and friends?
My one critique is that I am sorry that Liss is not happy running the family store and is thinking about just handling online sales. I hope she reconsiders, as in real life though many shops like this one are closing. I hope she can buck the trend and find joy in running the Scottish Emporium for a long time. I just love the word Emporium 🙂
and Kate Emerson
. She is also the author of Crime and Punctuation
, the Deadly Edits series. You can read my review here. 
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
In the review you say, “This series would be the same without the pets, Scotties, Dandy and Dondi, and Glenora the cat. They always bring a smile to my face.”
Do you mean the series would NOT be the same without the animals?
Sounds like a fun book!