When the Tartan Army was here in June, they made one thing clear. The Scots like to party as Lucy Connelly shows in her latest Scottish Isle mystery, Death at a Scottish Halloween. They may not actually celebrate Halloween, but the people of Sea Isle observe All Hallows’ Eve for a week, interrupted only by two deaths.
Dr. Emilia McRoy has been recruited to design a room in the local haunted house. It’s for charity, so Em and her assistant, Abigail build a mad doctor’s office. They enjoy scaring people all evening. It’s only when they’re clearing the house that they find the body across the hall. One of the artists is dead, stabbed with the butcher knife from Dr. Em’s next door office.
Together with Constable Ewan, Dr. Em and Abigail return to her actual office with the victim’s body. The next day, they’re at the practice with the victim’s sister and best friend when a woman bursts in with her daughter, insisting she wants to see the body. She heard her husband was killed, and she wasn’t notified. In a strange case of mistaken identity, the current victim is only the first dead man with the same name. So, which man was the intended victim?
In the year she’s lived in Sea Isle, Scotland, the doctor from Seattle has built a found family, a group of close friends, her “Scooby gang” who are up to short trips and conversations with suspects. Together they search for answers as to why two men with the same name are dead in Sea Isle. And, best of all in a cozy mystery, Dr. Em works closely and is protected by the local police force, maybe because Constable Ewan has grown to admire the community’s ME and general practitioner. Readers who enjoy cozy communities and a fun cast of characters along with a holiday celebration, should enjoy Death at a Scottish Halloween.
Lucy Connelly’s website is https://www.lucyconnelly.com/
Death at a Scottish Halloween by Lucy Connelly. Crooked Lane Books, 2026. 250p.
FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent a copy of the book, with no expectation of a positive review.
