The Hunting Party

 The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (2018), 406 pages

A group of thirtysomething friends meet up in the secluded Scottish Highlands for their annual New Year's Eve party. What could go wrong? Everything. bwahahaha

I enjoy Lucy Foley's mysteries. While her characters are not particularly innovative, she does keep you guessing as to who was actually murdered and by whom. It must have been over halfway through the book before we even know who died. She very cleverly and slowly reveals those answers. Of course, there are red-herrings and intricate back stories, but it is a satisfying mystery and quick read.

The Author's Guide to Murder

 

The Author's Guide to Murder by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White (2024) 404 pages

Three [real] women authors collaborate to write a mystery about three women authors who are collaborating on a book based on people who lived in a castle in Scotland where a murder occurred 100 years ago. The three fictional authors are quite different from each other: Kat de Noir writes erotica, Cassie Pringle, mother of 6 kids, is juggling multiple mystery series, but seems to most relish her series with cats and cooking, and Emma Endicott writes historical fiction that is extremely well-researched and foot-noted. The women end up going to Castle Kinloch on a remote island in Scotland. A male author, Brett Saffron Presley has leased the castle and turned it into a resort for writers. BSP, as he is referred to, has made it clear that he will not be meeting with the writers that attend. It soon becomes clear that each of the women writers has a unpleasant history with BSP, but their stories take some time to unfurl.

The nearby town is small and not all the residents enjoy the American women's presence. The women don't always get along with each other, either, so there's more than a spot of conflict among them. And when BSP is found dead, they are all suspects. The point of view changes from chapter to chapter, and several of the chapters begin with one of them being questioned by Detective Chief Inspector Euan Macintosh. When the women decide to try to solve the murder themselves, to clear their names, they don't always make the best decisions, but the mystery does get solved. I enjoyed the "meta" nature of the work, as well as the different personalities of all the characters.

Past Lying

Past Lying by Val McDermid, 452 pages

It's late March 2020, and DCI Karen Pirie and her team at the Historic Crimes Unit are bored to tears with nothing to do during COVID lockdown when a call comes in from the National Library with a possible lead in a cold case. Late thriller author Jake Stein donated his personal archives to the library upon his death, and as archivists started to go through his belongings, they discovered an unpublished manuscript that matches very closely the details of an unsolved case of a missing woman. Now Pirie and her team must figure out how to reopen the case under the tight restrictions of lockdown.

I love the premise for this book, the seventh in McDermid's Karen Pirie series, though I was a bit surprised by how mobile the HCU team was during Scotland's strict lockdown regulations — I seriously thought they'd be doing all of the interviews via Zoom, yet they were meeting people in the park and sitting 6 feet away instead. That said, this was a remarkably quick and engaging read for 450 pages, and even though I figured out several of the twists WAY early, I still enjoyed the book, particularly the relationship between Pirie and her two teammates. I haven't read the other books in this series, but I'll probably put them on my TBR to check out at some future date.

The Island Between Us

 The Island Between Us by Wendy Hudson (2021, 320 pages)

Love and adventure on a remote Scottish island. Survival skills and drama. Storm surges, lack of food, and finding shelter. New year's day 20 years before.

Georgia hosts excursions on a Scottish island for people looking for outdoor skills, bonding time, and just a space to get away. She teaches her group how to build shelter; find, hunt, and prep food; and take care of themselves and others. Kelsey is a successful actor in LA looking for some privacy and a connection to a familiar name. While their romance blossoms, a cast of characters causing trouble and creating comedy end up stranded on the island. Trying to keep the group calm, Georgia tries to lead the group she's responsible for to safety.
Highly recommend the audiobook purely for the narrator's adorable Scottish accent.

 

Whirligig

Whirligig by Magnus Macintyre  (2015) 301 pp.

My first read of this novel was a constant laugh-out-loud.  On re-reading it several years later I am still amused by Claypole, the protagonist, who has problems. He is a failing London entrepreneur, grossly overweight, and has no prospects. His constant refrain is BRR, which perfectly correlates with his missteps and faux pas.  Fate intercedes when he reunites with Coky, a childhood acquaintance (and one-way romantic interest), who cajoles him into being a consultant -- trying to convince a wary community in Scotland to agree to the construction of a wind farm. Life changing hijinks take place at windmill-turning velocity.  The bodacious humor and on-the-money caricature of rural Scottish life offset the rather tired and rushed ending. Looking forward to another romp by Macintyre.

Confessions of a Bookseller

Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell 323 pp.

This book isn't so much "confessions" as it is a diary of the day-to-day goings on in the life of a man running the second largest used bookshop in a small town in Scotland. Besides a running tally of the days online orders and in person sales, Bythell relates the day to day activities, frustrations, and encounters during a year in his shop. There are a variety of characters who work in or frequent the shop, some who are serious and others perplexing. The winter months are relatively slow while the other seasons are much more active due to special events and book festivals. While I didn't find this book particularly engrossing, apparently some liked it so much there was talk of making it into a television series. There is a sequel of sorts called Diary of a Bookseller but I don't know if I'm interested in it enough to read it.

Once There Were Wolves

 

 Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy (2021) 258 Pages

Inti Flynn, doctor in conservation specializing in wolves and rewilding, arrives with a pack of wolves to reintroduce them to the Highlands of Scotland. With her is her identical twin sister, who is mute having been through some traumatic incident. We don't learn what happened until later, as most of the story is intertwined with these events. The small town is up in arms, literally, about the new neighbors, the wolves. Many are terrified their livestock will be attacked. Inti is frustrated with the community, she knows the wolves will keep clear of humans and tries to explain if the wolves are reintroduced, the Highlands ecosystem will once again thrive. Inti becomes involved with the local police chief. A local man, Stuart is known for beating his wife, but nobody does anything about it. Inti cannot handle the complacency and fights with Stuart, when Duncan, the police chief also gets involved. That night Inti is taking a walk in the woods and discovers Stuart's body, gutted. She makes a decision that will change the course of the next 8 or 9 months. 

I enjoyed this book as it wasn't entirely about trauma and healing, but those themes were tied in nicely with the storyline.

The Hunting Party

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (2019) 327 pages

A group of friends from Oxford has been getting together to celebrate New Year's Eve for each of the ten years since graduation. The women are Miranda, who is glamorous and perfect; Katie, Miranda's best friend from childhood, who is an attorney and not at all glamorous; Samira, who used to be a hell-raiser, but is now a somewhat anxious mother of a baby. The men include Julien, Miranda's husband, who is into finance; Giles, husband of Samira; Mark, who may have an anger management issue; and Nick, a gay man who has brought along his partner Bo, an American. Emma, somewhat of an outsider, has been dating Mark for the past four years. 

Emma wants to become closer to the group, and she has gone all out in choosing the location for this year's reunion: a fabulous hunting lodge that is open for outside guests only a couple times a year. It's in a remote area of Scotland's highlands, cut off from most of civilization. Employees of the lodge are Heather; Doug, the gamekeeper; and Iain, who is the handyman.

As it turns out, a snowstorm hits on New Year's Eve. A guest goes missing, and is finally found dead outside in the blizzard. It's likely this person has been murdered. The police cannot get there until the weather clears, so the guests and employees must wait. Much of the story is told in Foley's usual - and effective - flashback style: we don't know for the longest time who it was that died. Everyone looks guilty, everyone has their personal demons, and many have made bad choices or said things that can't be forgotten. Another great book by Foley, with a large share of suspense.

Hide and Seek

 

Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin  288 pp.

This is an early book in the Inspector Rebus series. John Rebus is called to the scene of a dead body in a squat in a derelict part of Edinburgh. The young man is laid out on the floor with candles around him. Witchcraft symbols are painted on one of the walls. Death was by an overdose of heroin, or was it? Rebus believes there is more to it and begins an investigation, trying to find the "Hyde" that seems to be at the heart of the mystery. While this is happening, Rebus is tagged by his boss to be the face of a new anti-drug campaign to be funded by some of Edinburgh's movers and shakers. He doesn't want the job but after being forced to socialize with the elite, he finds much to be suspicious of. Soon Rebus finds connections between the dead boy and the same elites he is supposed to work with and their illegal and violent activities. Lots of twists and turns in this one but Rankin got a little cutesy with character names - Rebus's boss is Watson, his assistant is Holmes, and the criminal they are looking for is named Hyde.   

A Song for the Dark Times

 

A Song for the Dark Times by Ian Rankin  328 pp,

Retired Police Inspector John Rebus just moved into his new apartment but before he can settle in a phone call sends him out trying to find his daughter's missing partner. Soon it turns into a murder investigation when the man's body is found at an abandoned WWII prisoner of war camp in the Scottish wilderness. Rebus butts heads with the local constabulary while doing his own, unofficial investigation. Then  evidence connects this murder to that of a Saudi college student who lived in London with business connections in Scotland. After many twists and turns, and the involvement of a local crime boss and blackmailer, the crimes are solved, both together and separately. The audiobook narrator does a good job but occasionally the Scottish accent is a bit thick and the odd word was lost to a non-native speaker.

The Lighthouse Witches

The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke, 368 pages

When single mom Liv gets commissioned to paint an odd mural in a remote lighthouse in Scotland, she packs up her three daughters and moves them to a nearby house. However, strange stories of witches and changeling children abound in the village, and before long, two of Liv's three children have disappeared. Twenty-two years later, one of them turns up — but instead of being 29 years old, she's still the 7-year-old she was when she went missing. This is creepy, and haunting, and twists and turns in ways that I truly didn't expect. A lovely atmospheric tale.

Death of a Ghost

Death of a Ghost by M.C. Beaton (2017) 246 pages

For my first time reading M.C. Beaton, I chose a book with her colorful character Hamish Macbeth. He's a police sergeant in present-day Scotland, in the town of Lochdubh. Macbeth and his constable, Charlie Carson, are summoned to a castle by a retired police superintendent from Glasgow, who has taken up residence in nearby Drim. Apparently there is all kinds of moaning and groaning from the more decrepit part of the castle at night. Hamish and Charlie spend the night, find a dead body, and then it disappears when they step away for a bit. Eventually they find the body again in the Loch and retrieve it. When the body is identified as that of a professor, there are many suspects: A minister and his sister, a wealthy man and his wife, and even the retired police superintendent himself. There's almost a sense of slapstick as Hamish keeps bringing his dogs with him, except for the times when he feels guilty for leaving them behind, while wishing he hadn't let his feral cat go back to the woods, while also breaking up with his current girlfriend by offering to marry her. Charlie, the constable, is constantly knocking things over and breaking them. There is also lots of drama within the police department itself, especially with Detective Chief Inspector Blair. One thing is evident: Macbeth seems to take great care to avoid being promoted. This is not the usual murder mystery!

The Butchering Art

The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris  304 pp.

This is not a book to read or listen to while having lunch but I did it anyway. The history of the medical and surgical professions in the 1800s is horrifying to those of us used to the rigors of germ prevention and sterile practice of modern medicine. Physicians and surgeons didn't wash their hands before or after examinations and used no anesthesia. Surgical instruments were not cleaned between uses. The concept of germs was, in most cases, disbelieved by most in the profession and those promoting the importance of cleanliness were even laughed at. Doctors in other parts of Europe began to adopt sanitary practices long before those in Britain. Rivalry between Lister and other prominent physicians presented further obstacles to the adoption of his methods. Slowly the idea that microbes were the cause of infections and deadly sepsis became the standard and surgery was no longer an almost guaranteed death sentence. Lister was eventually lauded for his work and received many international awards. While frequently gross and gory, this is a well written history of Lister's challenges and accomplishments. Aside from one error where the narrator misspoke and said 1967 and 1968 instead of 1867 and 1868 the audiobook is very well done. It is read by Ralph Lister and I'm still researching whether he is related to Joseph Lister.

Now We Shall Be Entirely Free

Now We Shall Be Entirely Free / Andrew Miller, 410 p.

In the midst of the Napoleonic wars, a young officer is returned to his English home, unconscious and seemingly near death.  The story of the recovery of his body and mind, and what happened in northern Spain to cause his condition, form the core of the novel. As the officer, John Lacroix, travels north to the farthest Scottish isles to rest, he is pursued by events from the war, and by, in particular, a soldier on a mission to exact retribution.   Excellent historical detail and unusual characters make for an often intriguing read. 

Dead Souls

Dead Souls by Ian Rankin  406 pp.

I haven't read many of the books in the Inspector Rebus series but I generally enjoy them because Rebus is far from the perfect cop. This episode, however, was hard to get through. There are so many story lines going on it was hard to keep track of all the characters. A police colleague of Rebus's committed suicide with no explanation, a known pedophile has come under Rebus's suspicions, a released convicted murderer deported from the U.S. is targeting Rebus and his friends and family, the son of old friends has gone missing, and Rebus's love life becomes convoluted. To add to my confusion the pedophile is named Darren and the missing man is named Damon. Everything is resolved satisfactorily at the end but it was a slog to get there. 

A Duke by Default

A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole, 376 pages

When picking out novels to read, I generally tend toward science fiction and fantasy, quirky characters, and often, a wicked sense of humor. Because of that, I don't often venture into the land of romance — I could probably count the number of romance novels I've read on one hand. But Alyssa Cole, you may be changing that with your Reluctant Royals books. The first book, A Princess in Theory, came out earlier this year, and it's made my list of favorites of 2018. Its followup, A Duke by Default, is just as good, with a great mix of three-dimensional characters, humor, female empowerment, romantic tension, and a surprising streak of nerdiness running throughout.

In this book, rich and flighty Portia has taken her "look, a squirrel" self to Edinburgh, Scotland, for an apprenticeship at a small armory that makes historically accurate swords. When she gets there, she finds out that the armory owner, gruff and sexy Highlander Tavish McKenzie, is also a Luddite who has no idea how much business he's missing out on by ignoring the internet. Determined to stay professional for once, Portia dives headlong into helping out the struggling business, taking on the marketing and website for Tavish, despite her boss's skepticism. Along the way, sparks fly (and not just in the forge) as Portia struggles to figure out herself and her role both at the armory and in Tavish's life.

Based on how great the first two books were, I'm going to go ahead and reserve the third book, which comes out next spring.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, 327 pages.
So I am the last one I know among the readers with whom I work to read Eleanor Oliphant. Here is what Linda, Kathleen, Christa, and Kara all had to say about it.
Eleanor, a woman who had had a horrific childhood, slowly comes to a sense of her life over the course of this book. She discovers that she can move on after a disappointing obsession with a local semi-celebrity, and she learns to start interacting with her co-workers. With the help of her new friends and the advice they give, she slowly puts some of her past behind her.
I listened to this book, mainly because I am listening to a lot of books this year, and I really enjoyed Cathleen McCarron's narration. McCarron does a wonderful job showing the cold and distant Oliphant's depth and her hidden warmth.

Conan Doyle for the Defense

Conan Doyle for the Defense: the True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World's Most Famous Detective Writer / Margalit Fox, 319 p.

First-rate true crime writing and much more: Fox takes the story of a brutal 1908 murder of a wealthy Glasgow woman and the Jewish foreigner who was punished for it and draws smart, intriguing connections to both the Holocaust and the present day.  Eloquent discussions of otherization, racism, and profiling that enhance rather than distract from the specificity of the crime and its investigation. 

Helpful footnotes, plentiful photos, and strong indexing and bibliography.  Highly recommended. 

Macbeth

Macbeth: a novel by A.J. Hartley & David Hewson  328 pp.

I admit I haven't read the original Shakespeare Macbeth since high school so I can't comment on all the differences between this book and the play. The most prominent one is the author's decision to give Lady Macbeth the first name of Skena (Scottish meaning: from Skene). Because of the novel format many things are given more detail than in the play. The relationship between Macbeth and his Lady, and her torment over the death of her infant and subsequent barrenness are elaborated upon. As a stand alone novel it works. It isn't necessary to be familiar with the play to find this version entertaining if a bit specific in the blood and gore department. However, many of the familiar quotes you expect from the play are missing e.g. no "Double double toil and trouble...". It's not a replacement for the play but a nice addendum. The Scottish actor Alan Cumming did an nice job of narration on the audiobook.

Greyfriars Bobby

Greyfriars Bobby by Eleanor Atkinson  242 pp.

This is the fictionalized version of the legend of the Skye Terrier who remained faithful to the elderly shepherd who cared for him, even after the man died of pneumonia. The story goes that this little dog insisted on sleeping on the man's grave in Edinburgh's Greyfriars Cemetery for sixteen years. It's a nice story about the spunky little dog, the pub owner who fed him, the cemetery caretaker who let him stay, and the children of the local tenement who adored him. The true story of Bobby is much less romantic than Atkinson's tale but is less fun to read (once you get used to the Scottish patois). But the legend is important enough to warrant a statue of the little dog outside Greyfriars Cemetery.