Ho-Ho-Homicide

September 22, 2014
At the outset of Dunnett’s enjoyable eighth Liss MacCrimmon Scottish mystery (after 2013’s Vampires, Bones, and Treacle Stones), old high school friend Gina Snowe asks Liss to check out the Christmas tree farm that Gina recently inherited. As the owner of the Moosetookalook, Maine, Scottish Emporium, Liss feels qualified to judge whether the farm has a viable future. With husband Dan, she turns the trip into a pre-Christmas break, but the two soon realize that a pall hangs over the farm. Seven years before, a body was found in a shipment to New York, and the farm’s owner disappeared. The engaging, level-headed Liss starts asking questions and raising police hackles. Could she and Dan be involved in solving a seven-year-old murder case? While the dynamic between Liss and Dan lacks spark, Dunnett (the pseudonym of Kathy Lynn Emerson) skillfully uses misdirection to keep the reader guessing to the end. Agent: Christina Hogrebe, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

October 15, 2014

Liss is working at her store, the Scottish Emporium in Moosetookalook, ME, when her high school friend Gina stops by. Gina asks if Liss and husband Dan would check out her recently inherited Christmas tree farm since she has to get back to her law firm in Chicago. Envisioning a quiet, romantic week with Dan, Liss agrees. When they arrive, however, they soon find that Gina neglected to tell them a few important details--such as the unexplained disappearance of the tree farm owner seven years ago and the body found wrapped up in a Christmas tree shipment. Liss can't resist asking a few questions around town, but it appears that someone is trying to silence her and Dan--permanently. VERDICT Dunnett's eighth series entry (Vampires, Bones, and Treacle Scones) is an enjoyable small-town Christmas cozy.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2014
In between leaf season and skiing season, Liss MaCrimmon Ruskin, owner of a Scottish-themed shop in rural Maine, falls for a request from a high-school classmate, Gina Snowe, now a Chicago lawyer, to spend a week evaluating the business prospects of the Christmas tree farm Gina has just inherited several hours farther north. Hoping for a relaxing week, Liss and her husband, Dan, head to the farm, which has been uninhabited since the unexplained disappearance of Gina's uncle, Simeon. Given a tour of the farm by the businesslike young woman who had been Simeon's assistant and now serves as caretaker, they learn that Simeon's disappearance isn't the only mystery. The last shipment of trees received before he disappeared included a dead body. Then Liss notices that the newest trees are planted as a maze, rather than in regular rows, and sinister coincidences accelerate, prompting her to seek answers. What she discovers rocks the small village. Fans of Carolyn Hart's Death on Demand series will enjoy this Yankee version of a plucky shop owner.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)