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When Scottish dancer Liss MacCrimmon injures her knee she doesn't want to accept the fact that her days touring in the Scottish dance theater show Strathsprey (think Scottish Riverdance) are over. When her aunt asks her to help run her store back in Liss's hometown of Moosetookalook, Maine, Liss accepts. She always loved her aunt's store, the Scottish Emporium, where all things to do with Scotland are sold. Also, her aunt has been offered a job as a tour guide in Scotland and really needs Liss's help, so back home Liss goes to take over running the shop – just for a while. Her aunt goes off with Liss's promises that the store is in good hands, and that she'll keep an eye on her adult cousin Ned for her aunt. On her first day there's a Scottish festival a few miles from the town and Liss opens a stall at the festival. She is thrilled when it shows that they had a great day in sales. Unfortunately, she arrives back home late and finds the dead body of her neighbor Amanda Norris, her old schoolteacher, when she walks into the shop. For some reason, the policeman in charge gets it into his head that Liss is the murderer and he won't look elsewhere. Luckily Liss has some friends in town, including a next door neighbor, an unmarried man, Dan, who has had a crush on her ever since they were kids, and who vow to help her clear her name. But soon the case against Liss looks even worse and she becomes fearful that she might indeed go to jail for a murder she didn't commit! KILT DEAD is the first of a new series and it's a nice light cozy. There is very little violence here – right away we discover that Amanda Norris's death could have been an accident, and that the one who did it is mostly in trouble for not calling the police and trying to hide their involvement. The town, Moosetookalook, Maine is a cheery name for a lovely old town where the inhabitants seem to be, on the most part, friendly and neighborly. Along with the leading characters, writer Kaitlyn Dunnett (actually established writer Kathy Lynn Emerson of the Diana Spaulding Mystery series) has seeded the town with plenty of interesting people who will keep the new series going strong. Though the story slows down a bit in the middle as Liss spends a little too much worrying about her future, as she doesn't get anywhere asking neighbors questions, the story is still appealing. The readers also get to learn a little bit about Scotland and Scottish lore as we hear about the things that are sold in the shop. KILT DEAD is a nice addition to anyone's cozy reading list, and it looks as though the series might just be another set of books to look forward to reading.
Reviewed by A. L. Katz, August 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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