A Wee Dose of Death
A ScotShop Mystery, Book #2
By Fran Stewart
ISBN 9780425270325
Author’s website: www.franstewart.com
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Jeanie
Synopsis:
While business is booming at the ScotShop in Hamelin, Vermont, proprietor Peggy Winn doesn’t have time to toast her good fortune thanks to her hot-tempered, fourteenth-century Scottish companion. Being thrust into the modern world hasn’t been easy for Dirk, but Peggy is at her wit’s end trying to keep the ghostie galoot in line.
But when the local police chief finds the body of Peggy’s friend Karaline’s college professor in a deserted mountain cabin, everyone is thrown for a loop. It seems the secretive professor may have been killed over his ecological work, an idea that’s only reinforced when Karaline herself is shot. Now Peggy and Dirk must set aside their differences to put the cold-blooded killer under loch and key…
Review:
What a fascinating mystery! A Wee Dose of Death is second in A ScotShop Mystery Series, and can be read as a standalone. If you haven’t read the first-in-series, ‘A Wee Murder in My Shop’, the 14th-century Scottish companion referred to in the synopsis is Dirk Farquharson, the ghost of a Scotsman who died in Scotland. What is a bit quirky here is that the ghost died in the 1300’s! The author weaves the background into this mystery very well. Peggy Winn owns a lovely store in Vermont called the ScotShop, which carries Scottish merchandise that both the locals and the tourists appreciate.
Peggy is not the favorite person of Mac Campbell, CHIEF of police in Hamelin since she helped solve the murder that occurred earlier that year. A crabby curmudgeon, he took some time from the force and went skiing. After breaking his leg on a slope, he hobbled to a typically-vacant cabin nearby to find the dead body of one of the professors from the local college. By the time he gave up on being rescued and hobbled away, it would be harder to find the victim’s killer. The plot twists begin quickly: Emily, the professor’s widow and a friend of Peggy’s,is one of the suspects, but odd things were beginning to occur around town. Some of the things that the professor had taken with him were not in his personal effects. With Mac in traction in the hospital, Peggy’s BFF Karaline to go up to the cabin where the victim had been found because she knew him quite well from college. Off Peggy went, searching for the murderer, with the help of Karaline (who was the only other person who could see Dirk) and the Scotsman. Their investigation did open up evidence and questions, and gave the murder more targets to aim for.
Whew! This mystery required a little thought when reading, and I think that the reason why also produced the most humor. The conversations between Peggy and the Scotsman, Dirk were not only a source of language and cultural differences, but also the differences that over 600 years of change and the last century’s technological advances. Even watching him try to pronounce the things he didn’t understand was funny, yet it had to be a challenge for Peggy to explain to Dirk in terms he could understand what various items, concepts or studies are. No wonder the lovable Scot is a bit cantankerous! My tamoshanter is off to the author for her creativity and clearly thinking through what a 14th-century Scot would find unusual in 21st-century America! And what Peggy sees as unusual in his 1300’s mindset and ideas! I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what history and technology he will be introduced to in future tales!
Peggy and Karaline are three-dimensional; through the course of the book, Emily becomes much more so. Each of the three ladies are people we could enjoy meeting, possessing a depth of character that helped them endure through good and tough times. I think we will learn more and more about Dirk in successive novels, but there is enough seen to show his ability to adapt, even if rolled up in the scarf or challenging Peggy’s belief systems. Peggy also finds more situations in which Dirk can be of help. The police CHIEF provides sufficient comic relief for the townspeople. I do hope to see much more of Scamp in the future!
The plot is interesting, the reader can’t assume anything about anybody as to whether they are the bad guy or gal. Harper, Peggy’s potential sweetie, is one of the wiser people in the police department; he is diligently trying to solve the murder in spite of his personal troubles. For Peggy and Karaline, business still had to continue even as they searched and brainstormed the who and the why. I couldn’t identify the individual responsible, even though the motive was at least partially revealed. This cozy keeps one guessing until almost the end. I highly recommend A Wee Dose of Death to anyone enjoying a cozy mystery chock-full of humor and suspense, one that aids the reader to use imagination with Dirk and wisdom to solve a challenging mystery. It is a real treat!
