Review: Scot Mist

Scot Mist by Catriona McPherson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Catriona McPherson's Dandy Gilver series set in the 1920s in Scotland but I have avoided these because the covers have tartan edges and I have learned to avoid romances where the cover features kilts and/or tartan. Big mistake, huge!

The permanent residents of the last Ditch Motel are a motley crew: the motel is run by a lesbian couple, one of whom is a germaphobe; there are a couple of gay doctors, one of whom is terrified of creepy-crawlies and is therefore on extended medical leave; and there's a single mother and her new (much younger) husband and son.

As California is on the verge of shutting down due to Covid-19 Lexy comes up with Operation Cocker to fill the vacant rooms at the motel with the vulnerable and families of first responders so that they can't be forced to take in strangers, and then lock down as Kathi's germaphobia is reaching dangerous levels. Two of the newcomers are escaping abusive partners and when vague but threatening messages are left draped over the fence the gang aren't sure which spouse is responsible. Reporting the messages to the local police, in the form of Detective Molly, leads nowhere, until another incomer, a doctor's wife, goes missing, leaving behind her two small children, and the place is bathed in blood.

Can Lexy and the gang uncover who killed her?

This is the fourth book in a series set in the Last Ditch Motel, featuring Dundee-born therapist Lexy Campbell. The blurb suggests it would suit fans of Janet Evanovich and I can see the similarities with Janet's early books, before they became repetitive. I loved it but I can see other people might find the humour a bit grating. Basically, there is a lot of humour gained from the fact that Lexy is from Scotland and so she shares a language but not a vocabulary with the other guests.

Anyway, I found it high-octane, funny and great fun. Having read this I have already purchased the first two books in the series, read the first and I halfway through the second.

Very different to Dandy, but enjoyable nonetheless.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.


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