It took me forever to get through Kelley Armstrong’s fourth Rip Through Time novel, Death at a Highland Wedding. I think I had the same problem I have with other series at times. Armstrong took her four sleuths out of Edinburgh, and sent them to the Highlands, away from all the tools and structure they would normally have, and still expected them to uncover a killer.

Detective Hugh McCreadie’s younger sister, Fiona, is marrying Archie Cranston, who owns a hunting lodge in the Highlands. McCreadie and Dr. Duncan Gray went to school with Cranston. Mallory Atkinson, who is in the body of housemaid Catriona Mitchell, after a violent time shift, accompanies Gray’s widowed sister Isla as her maid. But, all four of them know Mallory’s true identity as a police detective who now assists Gray.

There’s a great deal of tension when they all reach the estate. Cranston delights in picking on Gray as if they were still school boys. McCreadie’s former fiancee is Cranston’s sister, and she still seems uncomfortable years after their engagement ended. There are business arguments. And, when Gray and Mallory discover the murdered body of a houseguest in the middle of the night, it raises all kinds of questions since he was wearing Cranston’s coat.

Although the successful conclusion of the story hinges on McCreadie’s inability to take responsibility for the investigation, that was part of the problem for me with the book. Gray and Mallory did not have their normal tools used in dealing with a body, and McCreadie couldn’t take on his normal duties. All the sleuths seemed out of their comfort zones in this case.

Although there are hints that romances will proceed in the next book, those romances could also lead to difficult situations. The relationships and life styles in Victorian Scotland are always interesting. However, with the characters out of place, Death at a Highland Wedding had too much conversation and not enough action for me. I found it to be the slowest of the four books in the series, and my least favorite.

Kelley Armstrong’s website is https://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/

Death at a Highland Wedding by Kelley Armstrong. Minotaur Books, 2025. ISBN 9781250321312 (hardcover), 336p.

FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent an ARC, with no promise of a review.