#MurderintheScottishHills (The Scottish Ladies' Detective Agency Book 2) by Lydia Travers (2023)
Publication Date: 26 May 2023
Page Count: 323
Rating: 🚂🚂🚂🚂
My thanks to Bookouture for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Murder in the Scottish Hills’ by Lydia Travers. I was also invited to take part in the publication week blog tour. This is my stop.
This is Book 2 in The Scottish Ladies' Detective Agency series of historical cosy mysteries. In the opening chapter there is background provided though it has a few spoilers about the initial cases covered in Book 1. However, as that previous book was such fun, I have no hesitation in recommending it.
September 1911. Maud McIntyre’s recently opened detective agency currently has no cases. She accepts an invitation to write an article for the Edinburgh Times on women’s rights. Following a positive response, the editor tells Maud that they have received a number of letters, some asking questions. He suggests that she might start an advice column. So together with Daisy, her former lady’s maid who has since become a close friend, they answer various letters.
One from Rose, a housemaid at a stately home in the Highlands near Balmoral, writes about unusual goings on at the house. They decide to take on her case pro bono. During their train journey north they change trains. As Maud opens the door of a seemingly empty carriage, the body of a man rolls out. The police conclude that he had taken his own life. Yet Maud is not convinced as apparently he was not a popular chap and plenty would welcome his demise. Could it have been murder?
Aside from that mystery when they reach their destination, they approach Rose’s employer and begin to investigate. No further details to avoid spoilers.
Again, this proved another delightful historical cosy in which Maud and Daisy investigate a few local mysteries. Maud also meets King George V, who is in residence at nearby Balmoral and encounters Lord Hamish Urquhart again. His presence causes her heart to speed up and Maud chastises herself for such feelings.
As someone interested in art history, I appreciated the inclusion of references to Picasso, Cubism, and the like as well as snippets of Scottish history. Maud’s enthusiasm for the stories of Sherlock Holmes continues with her referencing a few of his cases.
Overall, I felt that with ‘Murder in the Scottish Hills’ Lydia Travers has built on the promising first novel, establishing her resourceful lady detectives as they undertake further investigations. She blends in just enough humour to lighten the more serious aspects of the story.
Definitely a ‘must read’ for lovers of historical cosy mysteries and I am pleased that there’s not a long wait for Book 3, ‘Mystery in the Highlands’, which is due for publication in late July.