Death in a Scottish Castle (The Scottish Ladies’ Detective Agency)
In this latest installment in The Scottish Ladies’ Detective Agency series, independent Maud McIntyre and her lady’s maid turned assistant, Daisy Cameron, journey to the Isle of Mull to investigate the theft of a valuable statue. They have been invited by the mysterious Lord Urquhart, Maud’s romantic and investigative foil in the series. The robbery investigation turns into a murder investigation when their main suspect, Mr. Tremain, is found dead in his bed. Naturally, the door is locked and all the windows are sealed. Maud and Daisy discover the missing statue hidden in a secret passage, but it does not help to solve the impossible crime – for it is a priest hole, with no other way in or out. A second murder follows, and when Daisy is accused of the crime, Maud must clear her assistant’s name.
Suspects abound, and their motives are imaginative and fairly clued. However, the novel breaks no new ground either as a mystery or in its depiction of Scottish country life in the face of the looming Great War. Instead, the author seems far more interested in the bantering relationship between Maud and Lord Urquhart. However, despite its clear leanings toward romance, this is a solid locked-room mystery, solidly delivered.
